*Camino Island

I watched John Grisham on CBS This Morning during his latest book launch for “Camino Island.” He said after years of being accused of writing beach reads, he decided to write one. “Camino Island” is his version of a beach read. No court room drama here. Just the theft of the priceless original handwritten manuscripts of F. Scott Fitzgerald, kept in the vaults at Princeton University.

In the warm July temperatures, what could be better than a beach read for my book club.

But what exactly is a beach read? This term is thrown around so often, that I decided to find out. According to an article in the Washington Post, beach reads are “marketed exclusively to women… not worth a man’s time.” Beach reads are private affairs for private consumption, escapes from care, easy and disposable.

With all the time and effort it takes to conceive and write a novel, as an author to hear the word “disposable,” would be heartbreaking. “Camino Island,” is certainly not a disposable read, and I’m sure my husband will like it as much as I did. Beach read my ass!

The members of my book club really enjoyed the novel. Yes, it’s a fast read, but maybe that’s because the plot has plenty of tension and keeps you engaged. As a group, we were fascinated by the thought of original handwritten manuscripts being stolen. What would happen to such treasures in the hands of thieves and killers?

Grisham took us inside the book selling world with his character Bruce Cable. Cable not only sold books in his book store on Camino Island, but played in the underground market of stealing and selling rare first editions.

Cable, with his considerable charms, is cast against Mercer Man, a young novelist suffering from writing’s block who grew up on Camino Island. Mercer is approached by a security and investigations company who offers her a lot of money to get close to Cable, just in case the Fitzgerald manuscripts come his way.

Rounding out the cast are the local literati. These gems are exactly what I would expect to find on a sleepy Florida beach community.

We talked at our meeting about the stealing of art in all its forms. We moved then to Grisham’s conversations regarding the literary versus popular fiction brought up at one of the writer’s dinners in the book and which each of us prefers. Of course, we all tried to figure out which island in Florida Grisham was writing about.

We definitely recommend this for book club.

I can only hope that John Grisham continues writing his style of novel. Myself and my book club will continue to read his works. “A Time to Kill,” is still one of my all-time favorites novels.

Rating: 8.0