A Time to Kill. Pelican Brief. The Firm. The Client. The Street Lawyer. The Rooster Bar. etc. My reading of John Grisham predates my use of Goodreads so I can’t be sure which I’ve read (as the titles start to blend together) but I have a post from 2016 that said I read “all of his fiction work” so yeah, I am pretty DEEP with Grisham.
I’ve found him enjoyable but as the years have gone by a bit less believeable, and a bit more formulaic. “This is a great beach, or in my case tent read. Brain candy, plain and simple. Leave your disbelief upon entry and you will enjoy your time spent in his world (from my 2018 review of The Rooster Bar)”
I saw John Grisham in big font on a book at my library and figured, its summer let’s throw the dice. This book is a departure from his usual fare because it’s not a legal thriller, but has a literary bend as it’s about a rare bookseller and his (two-dimensional) friends who survive a hurricane, only to be thrust into a whodunnit of one of their island compatriots.
Hilariously, I didn’t realize that this novel was #2 in a series until I went to look it up on Goodreads and realized I had tag the wrong book on Goodreads. Oops. Makes a bit more sense now, but he rehashes so much of the plot of the first that I don’t think I missed much. It reminds of when I skipped one of the middle books of the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse novels but didn’t realize it until 3/4 through.
The only real surprise was when Grisham made fun of an author in the book who wrote legal thrillers that were predictable and didn’t really write for women. “I see you John, making fun of you. Touche.”
Camino winds is perfectly serviceable for summer when you want to read something that uses and stimulates minimal brain cells.
Would I read the next one? Maybe. Will I go back and read the first one? Nah.