Camino Island

Last updated

Camino Island
Camino Island John Grisham.jpg
First edition (US)
Author John Grisham
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Crime fiction
Publisher Doubleday (US)
Hodder & Stoughton (US)
Publication date
June 6, 2017
ISBN 978-0-385-54302-6
Followed by Camino Winds  

Camino Island is a crime fiction thriller novel written by John Grisham and released on June 6, 2017, by Doubleday. The book is a departure from Grisham's main subject of legal thrillers and focuses on stolen rare books. [1] Grisham made his first extensive book tour in 25 years to publicize the book. [1]

Contents

Plot

The book begins with the theft of five rare F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts from the Firestone Library at Princeton University and then embarks on a journey to a resort town on a Florida island in search of clues about the heist. [2] Although the Federal Bureau of Investigation and an "underground agency" of investigators working for Princeton's insurance company pursue the perpetrators in the black market, the story focuses on a novelist who becomes involved in the search and pursues an investigation of the heist. [3] [4]

Background

Author John Grisham John Grisham 2009.jpg
Author John Grisham

Grisham conceived of the subject with his wife on a lengthy road trip to Florida when they discussed a work incorporating "stolen books, stolen manuscripts, bookstores, [and] booksellers". [2] [5] In February 2017, Doubleday books announced that Grisham would publish a crime heist novel in June in addition to his usual fall legal thriller. [3] Publicity for the book included Grisham's first major book tour in 25 years, which included 12 cities and was scheduled from June 6 through June 29. [1]

Reception

Sales

The book appeared at the top of several best seller lists including USA Today , [6] The Wall Street Journal , [7] and The New York Times . [8]

Critical review

USA Today critic Jocelyn McClurg praised the book as "sheer catnip for book critics" that resembles Grisham's legal thrillers with many similar character types but that might appeal to people who are not generally Grisham fans. [4] Ken Tucker from The New York Times said that occasional flaws "don't impede the jolly appeal of the novel's storytelling". [2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Mitchell, Jerry (April 19, 2017). "John Grisham ready for 1st big book tour in 25 years". USA Today . Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Tucker, Ken (June 12, 2017). "In 'Camino Island,' John Grisham Takes a Vacation From Writing John Grisham Novels". The New York Times . Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Biedenharn, Isabella (February 7, 2017). "John Grisham announces new summer thriller, Camino Island — exclusive: John Grisham announces his 30th novel, Camino Island. The heist thriller is due out June 6, 2017". Entertainment Weekly . Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  4. 1 2 McClurg, Jocelyn (May 28, 2017). "'Camino Island': Grisham's tasty thriller about a literary heist". USA Today . Retrieved June 14, 2017.
  5. "John Grisham On His Latest Heist Novel, 'Camino Island'". NPR. June 4, 2017. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  6. McClurg, Jocelyn (June 14, 2017). "Grisham is No. 1 with 'Camino Island'; Kevin Hart lands at No. 4". USA Today . Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  7. McClurg, Jocelyn (July 6, 2017). "Wall Street Journal-Best Sellers: Best-Selling Books Week Ended July 2 (Fiction)". USA Today . Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.
  8. "The New York Times Best Sellers: Combined Print & E-Book Fiction". The New York Times . July 16, 2017. Retrieved July 11, 2017.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Grisham</span> American writer (born 1955)

John Ray Grisham Jr. is an American novelist, lawyer, and former member of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his best-selling legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 37 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three anglophone authors to have sold two million copies on the first printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kate White</span> American journalist

Kate White is an American author, former magazine editor, and speaker. From 1998 to 2012, she served as the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan and left to concentrate full time on writing suspense fiction. She is the author of eighteen novels: eight books in the Bailey Weggins mystery series, including Such a Perfect Wife, which was nominated for an International Thriller Writer’s Award, and eight stand-alone psychological thrillers, including, most recently, The Last Time She Saw Him. White has also written five non-fiction books with business advice for women, including The Gutsy Girl Handbook: Your Manifesto for Success, based on her groundbreaking bestseller Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do, and I Shouldn't Be Telling You This: How to Ask for the Money, Snag the Promotion, and Create the Career You Deserve. Her books have appeared on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today best seller lists and have been published in thirteen countries. She is also the editor of The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook. In June 2022 White was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by Union College.

Steve Hamilton is an American mystery writer who is known for the series of novels featuring private investigator Alex McKnight. Apart from his Alex McKnight books, Hamilton has written Night Work (2007) and The Lock Artist (2010). His works have won the Edgar Award, Shamus Award Award and Barry Award.

<i>Sex on the Moon</i> 2011 book by Ben Mezrich

Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History is a 2011 book by Ben Mezrich, author of New York Times Best SellerBringing Down the House and of The Accidental Billionaires. It retells the theft and attempted sale of lunar samples plus a Martian meteorite from a vault at NASA's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center by a cooperative education student assisted by another co-op, an intern, plus an acquaintance.

<i>The Litigators</i> Novel by John Grisham

The Litigators is a 2011 legal thriller novel by John Grisham, his 25th fiction novel overall. The Litigators is about a two-partner Chicago law firm attempting to strike it rich in a class action lawsuit over a cholesterol reduction drug by a major pharmaceutical drug company. The protagonist is a Harvard Law School grad big law firm burnout who stumbles upon the boutique and joins it only to find himself litigating against his old law firm in this case. The book is regarded as more humorous than most of Grisham's prior novels.

Thomas Mullen is an American novelist.

<i>Calico Joe</i> 2012 novel

Calico Joe is John Grisham's first baseball novel. It was released on April 10, 2012.

<i>The Racketeer</i> (novel) John Grisham novel

The Racketeer is a legal thriller novel written by John Grisham that was released on October 23, 2012 by Doubleday with an initial printing of 1.5 million copies. It was one of the best selling books of 2012 and spent several weeks atop various best seller lists.

<i>Support and Defend</i> 2014 novel by Mark Greaney

Support and Defend is a thriller novel, written by Mark Greaney and published on July 22, 2014. The book is a spinoff from the Tom Clancy universe and features FBI agent and The Campus operative Dominic “Dom” Caruso, who is President Jack Ryan’s nephew. It is the first novel in the franchise written after Clancy’s death during the previous year, as well as Greaney’s first solo contribution to the overall series.

Charles Belfoure is an American writer, architect and historian specializing in historic preservation, author of several histories and fiction works, including The New York Times best-selling novel The Paris Architect.

<i>The Paris Architect</i> 2013 novel by Charles Belfoure

The Paris Architect is a 2013 novel by Charles Belfoure and the author's debut in fiction writing. Published by Sourcebooks Landmark, it follows the story of French architect Lucien Bernard, who is paid to create temporary hiding places for Jews in Nazi-occupied Paris. The book reached The New York Times best seller list in July 2015.

<i>Into the Water</i> 2017 novel by Paula Hawkins

Into the Water (2017) is a thriller novel by British author Paula Hawkins. It is Hawkins' second full-length thriller following the success of The Girl on the Train.

<i>"Y" Is for Yesterday</i> 2017 mystery novel by Sue Grafton

"Y" Is for Yesterday is the twenty-fifth and final novel in the "Alphabet" series of mystery novels by Sue Grafton. Grafton intended to write a Z novel, but she died before she was able to do so. It features Kinsey Millhone, a private detective based in the fictional city of Santa Teresa, California.

<i>Thrawn: Alliances</i> 2018 novel by Timothy Zahn

Thrawn: Alliances is a 2018 Star Wars novel by Timothy Zahn, published on July 24, 2018 by Del Rey Books. It continues the chronicles of Grand Admiral Thrawn, a character that Zahn originated in his Heir to the Empire trilogy published in 1991–1993. It is the sequel to Zahn's Star Wars: Thrawn novel, the second installment of the newer Thrawn trilogy, and the ninth Thrawn novel overall.

<i>City of Endless Night</i> Book by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

City of Endless Night is a thriller novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. The book was released on January 16, 2018, by Grand Central Publishing. This is the seventeenth book in the Special Agent Pendergast series.

<i>The Reckoning</i> (Grisham novel) 2018 novel by John Grisham

The Reckoning is a best-selling novel by John Grisham. In addition to Grisham's typical legal thriller, the book was also characterized by reviewers as "a murder mystery, a courtroom drama, a family saga, a coming-of-age story," "a period piece", and a war novel.

<i>Camino Winds</i> 2020 novel by John Grisham

Camino Winds is a novel by the bestselling author John Grisham, set against the backdrop of a hurricane in the fictional resort town of Camino Island, Florida. The narrative unfolds around the murder of Nelson Kerr, a friend of the protagonist, Bruce Cable, who owns a local bookstore.

<i>Harlem Shuffle</i> (novel) 2021 novel by Colson Whitehead

Harlem Shuffle is a 2021 novel by American novelist Colson Whitehead. It is the follow-up to Whitehead's 2019 novel The Nickel Boys, which earned him his second Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It is a work of crime fiction and a family saga that takes place in Harlem between 1959 and 1964. It was published by Doubleday on September 14, 2021.

<i>The Judges List</i> 2021 novel by John Grisham

The Judge's List (2021) is a legal-suspense novel written by American author John Grisham, published by Doubleday on October 19, 2021.