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| Categories | Thrillers & Suspense |
| Author | John Grisham |
| Publisher | Anchor (February 23, 2021) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 336 pages |
| Item Weight | 8 ounces |
| Dimensions |
5.2 x 0.69 x 8 inches |
I. Book introduction
#1 NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLER • “The perfect crime scene … in the type of wild but smart caper that Grisham’s readers love.”—Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing
The master of the legal thriller sweeps you away to paradise for a little sun, sand, mystery, and mayhem. With Camino Winds, America’s favorite storyteller offers the perfect escape. Welcome back to Camino Island, where anything can happen—even a murder in the midst of a hurricane, which might prove to be the perfect crime…
Just as Bruce Cable’s Bay Books is preparing for the return of bestselling author Mercer Mann, Hurricane Leo veers from its predicted course and heads straight for the island. Florida’s governor orders a mandatory evacuation, and most residents board up their houses and flee to the mainland, but Bruce decides to stay and ride out the storm.
The hurricane is devastating: homes and condos are leveled, hotels and storefronts ruined, streets flooded, and a dozen people lose their lives. One of the apparent victims is Nelson Kerr, a friend of Bruce’s and an author of thrillers. But the nature of Nelson’s injuries suggests that the storm wasn’t the cause of his death: He has suffered several suspicious blows to the head.
Who would want Nelson dead? The local police are overwhelmed in the aftermath of the storm and ill equipped to handle the case. Bruce begins to wonder if the shady characters in Nelson’s novels might be more real than fictional. And somewhere on Nelson’s computer is the manuscript of his new novel. Could the key to the case be right there—in black and white? As Bruce starts to investigate, what he discovers between the lines is more shocking than any of Nelson’s plot twists—and far more dangerous.
Camino Winds is an irresistible romp and a perfectly thrilling beach read—# 1 bestselling author John Grisham at his beguiling best.
Editorial Reviews
“In American icon John Grisham’s new novel, Camino Winds, an odd assortment of mystery and crime authors, some of them felons themselves, discover one of their colleagues has been murdered during the fury of a massive hurricane—the perfect crime scene. Since officials are preoccupied with the aftermath of the storm, the authors set out to solve the mystery themselves, in the type of wild but smart caper that Grisham’s readers love.” —Delia Owens, author of Where the Crawdads Sing
“Escapist entertainment…with elements of a more traditional Grisham thriller.”–Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“A cat-and-mouse caper…Mr. Grisham is an irresistible writer. His prose is fluent and gorgeous, and he has an ability to end each segment with a terse sentence than makes it all but impossible not to turn the page.”–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
About John Grisham
John Grisham (born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 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 authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing.
Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.
Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series which continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel. Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
John Girsham lives on a farm in central Virginia.
II. Reviewer: Camino Winds
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1. MANDY WHITE reviews for Camino Winds
Love a good Grisham novel! This is not a legal thriller, but a murder mystery set on Camino Island. It is the second book in this series but can absolutely be read as a stand alone. It is a fun, twisty read that I read in a weekend.
Bruce Cable returns in this book after his adventure Camino Island. He is the owner of Bay Books, the indie bookstore that everybody wants to visit. The store is about to welcome back Mercer Mann, the writer with a connection to the Island. But Hurricane Leo has other ideas and is headed straight for them. Most people head for the mainland but Bruce stays to try to protect his store.
In the aftermath of the storm. Bruce is told of the death of writer and friend Nelson Kerr. At first look it appears that it was the storm that killed him but the closer they look the more it appears to be murder. Local police get nowhere with the case so Bruce and his friends start investigating . Who would want Nelson dead and why? Could his unpublished manuscript hold the key?
I really enjoyed this fast paced and thrilling story. Grisham fans will love it, even if it is not a legal thriller. His writing is brilliant and his characters full of life. Highly recommend.
Thank you Hachette Australia for my copy of this book to read.
2. MONNIE reviews for Camino Winds
This, the author’s second adventure set on Camino Island, puts some of the characters from the first (appropriately titled Camino Island) back in the eye of the storm. This time, though, it’s literally; not long after the story begins, Hurricane Leo threatens to disrupt the festivities honoring successful author Mercer Mann that are to take place in Bruce Cable’s Bay Books store. Mercer, who has a college teaching gig, has returned to the island with her latest boy toy, Thomas, expecting to be wined and dined by her old friends.
But it’s not long before all those plans are blowin’ in the wind; Leo, it seems, has set his eye on the island’s downtown. Evacuations are ordered, but Bruce and a couple of his friends decide to ride it out. Luckily, they survive the devastation; but no such luck for Nelson Kerr, a thriller writer and one of Bruce’s friends. He’s found dead at his damaged home; but an up-close-and-personal look determines that Leo may not have been the killer.
Since Nelson died in the storm when debris was flying everywhere, the local police aren’t quite ready to buy the murder angle – and even if they did, they’re up to their eyeballs in clean-up efforts and making sure looters don’t start running rampant. Bruce, though, is positive he’s right. As he and his friends, including Mercer and Thomas, put their heads together, the consensus is that somebody, somewhere, didn’t want Nelson’s not-yet-published manuscript to see the light of print.
But who might that be? Surely not one of their own – each of whom has a background and secrets that are slowly revealed as the story unfolds – and issues are resolved – over a period of a year or so. As was the first book, it’s told in a narrative style, although there seems to be more dialogue here (and, maybe because of that, I think I slightly prefer this one). Those expecting courtroom theatrics will be disappointed, although lawyers do get involved in some of the goings-on. All in all, this one is thoroughly enjoyable – and I’ve definitely taken a liking to this series. More, please!
3. FEDERICA RAMPI reviews for Camino Winds
Camino Island is a resort island in Florida inhabited by some of America’s most popular writers
Nobody knows that Hurricane Leo is heading straight for the island.
With hurricane changing direction, the governor orders an evacuation of the island, but some of the residents decide to remain including Bruce Cable of Bay Books.
The Hurricane is devastating, killing many people and leveling houses, hotels and businesses.
While Bruce survives, his writer friend Nelson Kerr (a former trial-layer who had written several spy thrillers) dies
The local police is overwhelmed with the disaster management tasks and Nelson’s death appears to have been an accident, but Bruce, mystery author J. Andrew Cobb and Bay Books intern Nick Sutton spot some clues that suggest another explanation and they begin to search for the real killer.
Camino Island is not a hub of crime and no one can recall the last time a homicide occurred there.
The Bay Books trio start their own investigation before seeking the assistance of state authorities, private investigators and the FBI.
Their inquiry focuses on Nelson’s recently completed novel, which has not even been sold to a publisher.
Maybe something in that manuscript lead to his death…
According to Grisham’s style, simple becomes complex, the first clues lead to more clues but the most fascinating character is Leo, the category four hurricane that grows, pauses, regains strength, stalls, turns away and back again
Grisham’s prose is both powerful and brilliant, he still still leave you wondering where it is all leading right to the very end.
4. Z.LQBAL reviews for Camino Winds
The latest novel of John Grisham namely,Camino Winds, is an important piece of fiction. The book revolves around the prevalent intensity of the world of Global Crimes. The characters of the novel are living ones and can easily be identified in our daily life The antagonists are the rich businessmen who make millions through fraud,tax evasion and money laundering.The proceeds of crime are put behind a maze of off shore shell companies to avoid tax and money trail, obviously criminals have no morals, as they are motivated by their own goals which are based on cheating and fraud . The character of contract killers – who kill people for the sake of money stands well exposed in the novel.The author has smartly done the anatomy of the role of mafia and organized crime syndicates.
The central theme of the novel is the mystery murder of Nelson Kerr in a stormy night. Nelson was a well known crime novelist. There was a rumor in the air that Nelson was writing a new novel to expose the Nursing Home Frauds. Bruce Cable, the owner of Bay Books, the lone book store in the Camino Island, knew this fact.Bruce is an interesting character who entertains his friends while offering them wine and Coffee in order to make them merry and happy.He is a popular figure among the writers community living in the island.
Bruce is informed by Police about the death of Nelson and he stood shocked to learn that . After seeing the scene of occurrence he and his friends reviewed the events of the past week and carried out an anatomy of the happenings. They came to the conclusi that it was not a natural death but a planned murder bringing in the element of mystery in the novel.
The author has successfully established that we live in the world of informers,snitches ,whistle blowers and rats .One of the main motive behind killings , as per author , is to punish culprits of bad business deals.
Espionage and contract killings are rampant and spy services thrive on the strength of beautiful women whom they recruit and these charming ladies know how to seduce the wanted person. The spy services recruit typical ex-servicemen who in their career had never responded to authority and worked for their own motives. The author brings out that equity and equality are scarified to extend beneficial actions to undeserved. People stand cheated as usual and the state authority bestows gains to the thugs of the society.And it all happens through corruption and unlawful means. The state organs as usual fail to check the formation of monopolies .The fraudesters thrive while defeat the state regulatory framework through the use of illegal means, In the end all these lopeholes are unearhed and character of state police force is exposed who are invoved in the ongoing crimes to provide shelter to the gangsters,
The novel is built on a simple but powerful plot possessing all the key elements of a thriller.The charcters are fully developed who know their role perfectly. The protognist Bruce is liked by the readers and they cheer for him for his dynamic role and the way he helps to net the culprits, the antognists inspite of their powerful tools and the protognist forces them fail tin their endaveour to succeed in theplanned ugly designs. The character of county police is flat and static.The convolutions of the human personality, under the stress of artfully selected experience, are the chief fascination of the novel. The author has succesfully constructed the maze of lust greed,and desire which are basic causes for antognists to exploit the ordinary people whoes hearts are free from impurities of the soul. Zafar Iqbal Choudhry.
5. MAL WARWICK reviews for Camino Winds
John Grisham is widely regarded as a master of suspense. His facility with plots that steadily build anticipation toward a shattering and often surprising climax is legendary. But in his latest, he departs from the pattern. Camino Winds is a curious example of a novel that’s really two books in one. The first is all about a hurricane, the second, a corporate scam. Both are compelling. Each could stand alone. The upshot is a reading experience that will be unfamiliar to many of Grisham’s fans.
In the first of the two “books” that comprise Camino Winds, Grisham tells the tale of a Category 4 hurricane that strikes head on against an island off the Florida coast. The storm wreaks catastrophic damage, and Grisham’s description of its power is impressive. It’s enough to give you the impression that he has actually sat through a hurricane. There’s a murder mystery slowly unfolding in the background, but it’s only in the second half of the novel that it becomes top of mind as it becomes clear that the murder is at the heart of a massive corporate scam.
A colorful cast of literary characters
The mystery at the heart of Camino Winds is vintage Grisham. A former lawyer has moved to the island to write novels after blowing the whistle on a massive fraud perpetrated by one of his clients. He is murdered in the midst of the hurricane. The local police, and later the Florida state police, reluctantly agree that a murder was committed but seem loath to investigate seriously. The job is left to the lawyer’s friends on the island—a cast of literary characters familiar to readers of the book’s prequel, Camino Island.
Can a scam artist uncover a corporate scam?
The ringleader of the island’s literary mafia is Bruce Cable, who owns and runs a successful independent bookstore. As we learned in Camino Island, he also is a collector of rare books who operates close to the legal limits of his field—and sometimes darts over them. Cable presides over a gaggle of full-time writers, most of them successful, including the murdered ex-lawyer.
If Agatha Christie had written this novel, we’d suspect every one of these characters, one after the other. But it’s Grisham’s book, and the backstory for the murder is compelling. It’s no whodunit. Apparently, the lawyer was writing a new novel sure to be a bestseller that would blow the lid off an enormous Medicare scam involving low-end nursing homes.
In the end, Camino Winds fits nicely into the Grisham ouevre: it’s an exposé of how crooks operate on the fringes of an industry that victimizes some of the most vulnerable people in our society. And as a bonus you’ll learn a little about the publishing industry.
6. L.M.KEEFER reviews for Camino Winds
When I read a summary of the plot, it sounded like something Dame Agatha Christie might have written: amateur sleuth outfoxes the professionals and solves the crime.
We met the characters in an earlier book. The setting – an island in Florida – was a fun escape during this pandemic. The plot was pretty fresh and entertaining. One of the writers on the island dies of unnatural causes during a hurricane. The local cops are incompetent and busy with the destruction after a hurricane, so mystery authors work to uncover who done it.
That part was like Christie. As the story unfolded, Grisham’s storytelling style dominated. Amateur sleuths unearth that the motive for the killing is complex and involves trips off the island and a tangled web.
At times the plot seemed a tad choppy – but the action moved fast and I was grateful for that. If you like Grisham, I think you’ll enjoy this diversion. Grisham offers some thoughts on being a writer throughout the story. It’s obvious that Grisham thinks that one has to be willing to work hard to be a best-selling author. I enjoyed his insights on that.
7. ARHUELSENBECK reviews for Camino Winds
Do you ever wonder what else happens to the characters after a story ends? This novel revisits the scene and some of the characters of Grisham’s 2017 book, Camino Island, three years later.
Mercer Mann’s last stop on her book tour is Bruce Cable’s Bay Books. This time she really is just signing books, not trying to infiltrate Bruce’s circle in order to find stolen F. Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts. Unfortunately, after a dinner party thrown by Bruce in her honor and before her scheduled appearance the next day, a category 4 hurricane steers toward the Florida island and an evacuation is ordered. Mercer and her fiancé leave, but some diehards remain. This lapse of judgment causes several deaths, including Bruce’s thriller writer friend, Nelson Kerr.
But Nelson’s fatal injuries were not caused by the storm.
I love John Grisham’s work. Unlike most of his novels, this is not a legal thriller, but a murder mystery. Suspense builds as a conspiracy is uncovered. In their efforts to piece together what happened to Nelson, Bruce and his friends unwittingly put other people in danger.
I have to admit, I wish Camino Island was a real place, and Bruce Cable was a real person. I’d love to do a book signing some day at Bay Books. I wonder if there are booksellers like him, who take good care of “their” authors.
8. DARLA reviews for Camino Winds
A breezy return to Camino Island with a chilling insight into a nursing home abuse issue. This is a new angle for Grisham and I appreciate the varied plots of his books. “The Guardians” was heavy on the courtroom drama end. This one begins with a murder for hire. I loved the theories of wannabe novelist Nick and the contributions he made to moving the investigation along. The local and state police don’t come out looking too bright and shiny, unfortunately. There are interesting twists and turns with out friends from the first Camino Island novel with plenty of possibilities for a third down the road. I am giving this one an amazing rating for Grisham’s creativity and ability to make me look over my shoulder when running errands. I will also be more vigilant should I need to look for a nursing home for a loved one in the future.
9. JINY S reviews for Camino Winds
This is a very well-written story. A slow burn novel that really puts the reader in the mood. The pace of the story is slower than what I usually read but I really enjoy the way the author described the characters and events.
For a crime novel, the progression is very steady. There are many opportunities for a twist, but the plot treaded on slow and steady. For example, in the beginning I thought for sure Bob had something to do with the murder. What are the chances that a girl that he only meet went to the victims house. His claim just seems like what a guilty person would say.
Not all parts of the story are believable. Notably, if I’m behind the massively powerful organization trying to protect a scandal, I would probably go ahead and let the author write a fictional story about it. After all, someone crazy enough to believe a fictional novel won’t gain many sane followers. Thus the foundation of this murder story stands on shaky grounds.
Buried underneath an adventure of writers and book lovers trying to uncover a murder mystery that happened to someone in their inner circle, there is a recurring theme: sometimes beneath terrible things are hidden heinous acts, if only waiting for someone to discover it at the right time. On the surface, the main characters discover a murder buried under a deadly hurricane. Later on in the story when they try to infiltrate someone inside the facility, they were given a story even more shocking and disgusting.
Ugliness is everywhere: behind closed doors and in offshore accounts. Sometimes when you uncover a wreckage of rotting abhorrence, you only find more the same stuff at the bottom.
10. WENDY reviews for Camino Winds
Camino Winds is John Grisham’s 2nd novel in his “Camino Island” series. I thoroughly enjoyed being back on the Island again.
Hurricane Leo veers from its predicted path heading straight for Camino Island. Florida’s governor has ordered an immediate mandatory evacuation but Bruce Cable (owner of Bay Books) decides to stay put and ride out the storm.
The hurricane is devastating: insurmountable damage, severe flooding and a dozen people lose their lives. One of the supposed victims is Nelson Kerr, thriller writer and a friend of Bruce’s. His injuries suggest that the hurricane wasn’t the cause of his death, he was murdered.
Who would want Nelson dead and why?
A great mystery!
I hope John Grisham has us returning to Camino Island.
III. Camino Winds Quotes
The best book quotes from Camino Winds by John Grisham
“Reed will pull a Trump, file for bankruptcy and hide behind the courts for protection”
“Nick Sutton, a college boy who spent his summers on the island tending to a fine home owned by his grandparents.”
“Amy Slater was the youngest of the group and was making more money than the others combined.”
“You’re thinking somebody came over here, in the middle of a Category 4 hurricane, caught Nelson in the den, whacked him in the head, dragged his body outside, tried to clean up the blood, and then ran off? Seriously?”
“Over its twenty-three-plus years, the bookstore had become the center of downtown Santa Rosa.”
“Okay, I talked to my lieutenant and he said don’t touch the body. He’s trying to find our homicide guy.”
“I didn’t know we had a homicide guy,” Bruce said. “I can’t remember the last murder on Camino Island.”
Nat said, “It’s Hoppy Durden. He also does bank robberies.”
“I can’t remember the last bank robbery.”
“He’s not very busy.”“He ordered another glass of rosé, and the second one proved as ineffective as the first.”
“Bruce said, “Well, dear, you’re not sticking me in one of those places. I’ve always said that when it’s time for the diapers it’s time for the black pill.” “Let’s talk about something else,” Mercer said.”
“His wife and kids would stick by him, weather the embarrassment and move on. It was, after all, Texas, a land where pasts were easily forgotten if one picked up the pieces and made more money. There was also a certain admiration for outlaws.”
“It’s far cheaper to pay bribes than to provide quality care.”
“But old playboys don’t exactly fade away. As a general rule, they go down swinging.”
“poisoning himself. With that project complete, they decided that the next priority was returning Nelson’s car. Bruce checked the doors and locked the house, set the alarm with his remote, and left in his Chevy Tahoe. Bob and Nick followed in Nelson’s BMW, and it took an hour to wind their way around the devastation. Not surprisingly, there was no one at the condo—no homicide team sifting for clues, no neighbors picking up debris. No one had touched the yellow crime scene tape. Bruce lifted it and Bob returned the BMW to its spot. The three met in the garage and stared at the golf clubs, but said nothing. They closed the overhead door, walked into the kitchen, and discussed Nelson’s keys. If they left them behind, there was the chance that someone”
Excerpted from Camino Winds by John Grisham
Chapter 1 – Camino Winds
The landing
1
Leo spun to life in late July in the restless waters of the far eastern Atlantic, about two hundred miles west of Cape Verde. He was soon spotted from space, properly named, and classified as a mere tropical depression. Within hours he had been upgraded to a tropical storm.
For a month, strong dry winds had swept across the Sahara and collided with the moist fronts along the equator, creating swirling masses that moved westward as if searching for land. When Leo began his journey, there were three named storms ahead of him, all in a menacing row that threatened the Caribbean. All three would eventually follow their expected routes and bring heavy rains to the islands but nothing more.
From the beginning, though, it was apparent that Leo would go where no one predicted. He was far more erratic, and deadly. When he finally petered out from exhaustion over the Midwest, he was blamed for five billion in property damages and thirty-five deaths.
But before that he wasted no time with his classifications, advancing swiftly from tropical depression to tropical storm to a full-blown hurricane. At Category 3, with winds of 120 miles per hour, he hit the Turks and Caicos head-on and blew away several hundred homes, killing ten. He skirted low beneath Crooked Island, took a slight left, and aimed for Cuba before stalling south of Andros. His eye weakened as he lost steam and limped across Cuba, once again as a lowly depression with plenty of rain but unimpressive winds. He turned south in time to flood Jamaica and the Caymans, then, in a startling twelve-hour period, he reorganized with a perfect eye and turned north toward the warm and inviting waters of the Gulf of Mexico. His trackers drew a line straight at Biloxi, the usual target, but by then they knew better than to make predictions. Leo seemed to have a mind of his own and no use for their models.
Once again he rapidly grew in size and speed, and in less than two days had his own news special on cable, and Vegas was posting odds on the landing site. Dozens of giddy camera crews raced into harm’s way. Warnings were posted from Galveston to Pensacola. Oil companies scurried to extract ten thousand rig workers from the Gulf, and, as always, jacked up their prices just for the hell of it. Evacuation plans in five states were activated. Governors held press conferences. Fleets of boats and airplanes scrambled to reposition inland. As a Category 4, and veering east and west along a steady northbound trek, Leo seemed destined for a historic and ugly landfall.
And then he stalled again. Three hundred miles south of Mobile, he faked to his left, began a slow turn to the east, and weakened considerably. For two days he chugged along with Tampa in his sights, then suddenly came to life again as a Category 1. For a change he maintained a straight course and his eye passed over St. Petersburg with winds at a hundred miles per hour. Flooding was heavy, electricity was knocked out, flimsier buildings were flattened, but there were no fatalities. He then followed Interstate 4 and dumped ten inches of rain on Orlando and eight on Daytona Beach before leaving land as yet another tropical depression.
The weary forecasters said farewell as he limped into the Atlantic. Their models ran him out to sea where he would do little more than frighten some cargo ships.
However, Leo had other plans. Two hundred miles due east of St. Augustine, he turned north and picked up steam as his center spun together tightly for the third time. The models were reshuffled and new warnings were issued. For forty-eight hours he moved steadily along, gaining strength as he eyed the coast as if selecting his next target.
….
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