Camino Island

Camino Island by John Grisham

Recently my husband and I took a long road trip.  While I am an avid audio book listener, he is not.  However, we decided to find a book that we would both likely enjoy, get it on audible and listen to it on the 10 hour car ride.  John Grisham seemed like a good choice, and when I found a Grisham novel about books I was sold!

While the book was labeled as a thriller, I would call it a ‘gentle mystery’.  It’s perfect for people who don’t want stressful and scary, but still want to puzzle out what happened. 

The Premise: A priceless F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscript is stolen from the Princeton Library and suspected to be on the black market for rich collectors of rare books.  A bookseller, who is under suspicion, happens to own a big and very popular book store on Camino Island. The insurance company that will be responsible for paying a huge sum of money to Princeton if the manuscript is not recovered, is taking the investigation into their own hands.

Reps from the insurance company find an author who is struggling financially, needs to focus on writing her next book and also happens to have ties to Camino Island.  They offer her a fabulous deal to help them investigate.

There are many interesting and artsy characters in this book and a puzzle to solve.  The story line was straight forward enough to be easy to follow while driving unfamiliar roads, but the story was still twisty enough to keep you wondering.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves a little mystery, but still wants to sleep well at night (if you consider yourself a highly sensitive person, I’m talking to you!) or anyone who simply loves books about books!  (books about books…it really is a thing)