Frank H. (perryfran) reviewed on 11/27/2017 + 1223 more book reviews

Another very good thriller from Grisham. This one was a little outside of Grisham's usual legal thriller but very satisfying nonetheless. In this one, a gang of thieves pull a daring heist of the original manuscripts of all five of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novels from the library at Princeton University. The manuscripts, needless to say, are priceless and are insured for $25 million. Early on, two of the thieves are captured but the trail for the documents soon runs cold. Then a young writer, Mercer Mann, is recruited by the insurance company to get close to the owner of a bookshop on Camino Island in Florida who they suspect may have the stolen goods. The bookstore owner, Bruce Cable, trades in rare books and first editions and is known to sometimes use the black market. Mercer used to visit her grandmother on the island when she was young and seems the ideal candidate to penetrate Cable's world and determine if indeed he has the manuscripts.

This was a very well written page-turner which I would rank as one of Grisham's best. But I really enjoy all of his novels. The ending of the book was a real surprise and not what I was expecting. In addition, the novel was full of fascinating information about publishing, book-selling, rare books, and first editions. I always enjoy books about books!

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