| "All trails became dead ends. Tips that had at first seemed urgent now faded away. the waiting game began. Whoever had the manuscripts would want money, and a lot of it." — John Grisham, Camino Island |
This Side of Paradise. Tender is the Night. The Beautiful and the Damned. The Last Tycoon. The Great Gatsby.
The original manuscripts of these five F. Scott Fitzgerald novels have been snatched by a team of thieves right from the vaults of Princeton University's library. The FBI manage to apprehend two of the thieves quickly, but they won't talk. And worse, the manuscripts have been moved by the remaining thieves to a new, safe location that even they don't know about.
Ruling the trail officially cold, the FBI throw in the towel, but Princeton's insurance company refuses to. It's them who are on the hook for $25 million owed to the university as recompense if the manuscripts are not returned undamaged within six months. So the hunt is on, and Mercer Mann, a failed novelist and lame duck visiting professor, suddenly finds herself playing spy on behalf of the insurance company. Her loans—and potential payout— are too high to resist.
She's got to cozy up to the target, an eccentric businessman in her hometown on Camino Island, Bruce Cable. Cable owns a thriving bookstore, which possibly contains a backroom full of first editions and sundry book valuables. All this so far is merely set up. Grisham's thriller rolls through its twists and turns effortlessly as Mercer's lover-spy mission unfolds. Plus, how is a book nerd like me supposed to say no to a book about book heists? [JG]
The original manuscripts of these five F. Scott Fitzgerald novels have been snatched by a team of thieves right from the vaults of Princeton University's library. The FBI manage to apprehend two of the thieves quickly, but they won't talk. And worse, the manuscripts have been moved by the remaining thieves to a new, safe location that even they don't know about.
Ruling the trail officially cold, the FBI throw in the towel, but Princeton's insurance company refuses to. It's them who are on the hook for $25 million owed to the university as recompense if the manuscripts are not returned undamaged within six months. So the hunt is on, and Mercer Mann, a failed novelist and lame duck visiting professor, suddenly finds herself playing spy on behalf of the insurance company. Her loans—and potential payout— are too high to resist.
She's got to cozy up to the target, an eccentric businessman in her hometown on Camino Island, Bruce Cable. Cable owns a thriving bookstore, which possibly contains a backroom full of first editions and sundry book valuables. All this so far is merely set up. Grisham's thriller rolls through its twists and turns effortlessly as Mercer's lover-spy mission unfolds. Plus, how is a book nerd like me supposed to say no to a book about book heists? [JG]
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
| John Grisham is the author of more than thirty novels, including many New York Times bestsellers such as The Firm (my favorite), Runaway Jury, A Time To Kill, and others. His latest, The Rooster Bar, follows a group of law-school students secretly moonlighting to take down their own university program after discovering its shady dealings. I would love to read more Grisham, but am not sure where exactly to dive in. If you have any recommendations, let me know! For those interested, you can follow Grisham's news and tour schedule on his website. |
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