![]() And the people initially responsible for the theft of the irreplaceable manuscripts and not apprehended by the FBI are following their own agenda. No one knows whom to trust and what to do. Elaine hopes that Mercer can infiltrate the island’s literary scene in time to discover whether Bruce Kable is somehow involved with the disappearance of the Fitzgerald manuscripts and whether they are indeed hidden somewhere on the island.Ī cat and mouse game ensues. Mercer’s assignment is to start on her second novel, get close to the other writers based on the island and, most importantly, to the mysterious bookseller at the centre of the literary community. She returns to Camino Island where she used to visit her beloved grandmother every summer when she was a child and where she still part-owns the cottage which she inherited when the grandmother died eleven years ago. To escape her predicament she agrees to help Elaine who makes her a financial offer she can hardly refuse in her situation. She has a short-story collection and a highly acclaimed novel to her name, but has been experiencing a few years of a creative drought since her last publication and is desperate to write again. Mercer is a young, talented writer with a crippling university debt to pay off and on the verge of losing her job. The Fitzgerald originals are believed to be in his hands. Her approach boarders on illegal, but seems to have been far more effective in the past than official routes, and her latest plan looks like it might have a chance to succeed again.Įlaine recruits Mercer Mann, the protagonist of Camino Island, to spy on Bruce Kable, a bookshop owner located on the titular island in Florida and suspected of dealing in stolen rare books and manuscripts. Working closely with the FBI, Elaine Shelby begins an investigation on their behalf. The FBI’s Rare Asset Recovery Unit is doing its best to find the manuscripts insured at a value of $25 million – the amount at stake for the prestigious insurance company which has to pay out if the goods are not recovered. A single drop of blood from one of the thieves leads to the first arrests of suspects, but they refuse to talk to the authorities and the trail to the missing treasure goes dead. The opening chapters focus on the tense choreography of the criminal plan. Scott Fitzgerald’s five only novels are stolen from the Princeton University during a nearly perfectly executed heist. The story is relatively simple: the priceless manuscripts of F. How they are written, when do their manuscripts become precious and why, how do they change hands when they are published and when does their possession become a criminal offense are only some of the questions that perhaps not all readers ask themselves, but Camino Island answers in the most entertaining fashion. This crime thriller is set in a world which will feel familiar to anyone who has ever been interested in the secret lives of books. The premise of Camino Island sounded too intriguing for a reader and writer like me to resist. I read some of his other titles at the time, have watched a few of the films based on his books since then and loved all, but have not longed to return to reading Grisham until recently. Grisham had me fooled as much as the main character had been fooled by the real “partner” of the story. Twenty years on, and I still remember the shock and delight of the final revelation. His The Partner was my introduction to the thriller genre and, thinking back to the impact the brilliant twist at the end of the novel had on me, I still think I could not have asked for a better one. ![]() John Grisham has published two dozen books since I last read him at university. ![]()
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