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Tom LA's Reviews > Camino Island
Camino Island (Camino Island, #1)
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** spoiler alert **
I'm a great Grisham fan, and I can say without a doubt that this is not one of his best works.
The truth is, the book goes from very fast and very gripping to very slow and very girly far too quickly. It's like reading two different books intertwined, and I couldn't care less about the second one.
I seriously doubt John Grisham wrote the whole thing. Some of the portions where the girl's POV is adopted are just too intimately "girly" in style to have been written by him. I'm not saying "girly" in a negative sense at all, just a matter of tastes, but I have this very strong feeling that he had some help from a female ghostwriter, one who writes VERY differently from John Grisham.
When I buy a Grisham book, I DO NOT want to end up reading a ghostwritten novel where the innocent girl with no personality ends up in bed with the rough, handsome and mysterious boss of the local literary world. WTF?
Loved the beginning and the end, that actually sound like Grisham, but the middle section was a huge letdown, and it has a COMPLETELY "off" sound.
My guess - and warning - is, this is ghost-writing gone too far.
Also, the main character (Mercer) is an absolutely unbearable, pretentious woman with no likable feature at all. Maybe the woman who wrote that part of the book put her own personality into Mercer? I don't know what to think.
The truth is, the book goes from very fast and very gripping to very slow and very girly far too quickly. It's like reading two different books intertwined, and I couldn't care less about the second one.
I seriously doubt John Grisham wrote the whole thing. Some of the portions where the girl's POV is adopted are just too intimately "girly" in style to have been written by him. I'm not saying "girly" in a negative sense at all, just a matter of tastes, but I have this very strong feeling that he had some help from a female ghostwriter, one who writes VERY differently from John Grisham.
When I buy a Grisham book, I DO NOT want to end up reading a ghostwritten novel where the innocent girl with no personality ends up in bed with the rough, handsome and mysterious boss of the local literary world. WTF?
Loved the beginning and the end, that actually sound like Grisham, but the middle section was a huge letdown, and it has a COMPLETELY "off" sound.
My guess - and warning - is, this is ghost-writing gone too far.
Also, the main character (Mercer) is an absolutely unbearable, pretentious woman with no likable feature at all. Maybe the woman who wrote that part of the book put her own personality into Mercer? I don't know what to think.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
June 18, 2017
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Comments Showing 1-50 of 92 (92 new)
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Matt
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rated it 3 stars
Jun 19, 2017 05:37AM
In the middle of this one... I can see some of what you are saying already. Thanks for the review, Tom!
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I can definitely see this, I was reading it and wondering... wait, did I get the books on my Kindle mixed up?
Agreed. Maybe co-written with a teen girl.
great observations. Worst Grisham book I've read and I've read them all :-(((
What Del said. Spot on.
With you all the way. I keep forgetting that I am reading a Grisham novel. Reads like a woman has written it.
Hmmm Agree. Was disappointed as not gripping at all. More of a romp with a background story. The writing was mostly engaging, but not in a way that advanced the plot. The perpetrators only given lip service after the initial heist.
Just added my own review. I agree with you fully: the beginning and then end were pure Grisham, the middle was a ghost writer - yes, a girly one.
I agree. Thought it got very slow in the middle, almost as if it were disconnected from the main point of the story. And definitely dragged!
Can't say it was gripping but it is an easy read. Kept waiting for real drama, twists, and turns. Was disappointed with the ending. It left me think that he simply couldn't think of something clever. I enjoyed reading references to Fitzgerald and Hemingway. I liked reading about people who enjoy reading and writing. That was the best part.
You are bang on. I disliked this book a lot, and only persevered in the hopes that it would get better, which it did not.
Sandy wrote: "You are bang on. I disliked this book a lot, and only persevered in the hopes that it would get better, which it did not."Moral: Don't ever persevere. Books aren't about punishment, they are about enjoyment. Sure, give it a good go, but once you reach the point of no return, move on. Too many books, not enough time to read (or listen) to them. You MIGHT miss a couple of good ones this way, but you more than make up for it by getting to really good ones that you otherwise wouldn't have had time to get to. :)
I agree. John Grisham should not write from a woman's pov. She was very unlikable. The beginning was great. Ending was a true let down.
So happy to read these comments. I thought surely this was not written by Grisham! The female protagonist was do dull. all she did was walk along the ocean ordering lattes at every establishment in town. there was no character arc for any of the characters. all kinda pointless. no drama, no intrigue, no conflict. no plot
I agree with you. It starts out great but halfway through I keep waiting for a plot twist or turn which never happens. I found the ending a bit unsatisfying. I will have to go back to his earlier works. If indeed he had help on this then the other author should be disclose Of course, in that case , I would not have chosen it in the first place.
Hi S - thx for your comment. I think for big writers there is an extremely blurry area between "ghost-writing", "assistance", "research" and "general help". For example, Ken Follett is today a 16 people business. Do they do "only" research or do they actually write drafts ? Or does he write sketched-out drafts and then they go over them and plump them up / finalize them ? It's probably a bit of everything. So while it's certainly not fair to accuse Grisham of having had a section of his book ghost-written, as a seasoned reader I had a VERY funky feeling about most of the mid-section of this book.
Tom Tabasco wrote: "Hi S - thx for your comment. I think for big writers there is an extremely blurry area between "ghost-writing", "assistance", "research" and "general help". For example, Ken Follett is today a 16 p..."Fair comment, but for me anyway, I don't really care who wrote it, it is junk, regardless. I guess the point for most is that when they see the Grisham 'brand' they expect a certain quality, and this time, it didn't deliver. It was well after its 'best before' date. :) Fred, the guy down the steet could write it under Grisham's name for all I care, PROVIDED it 'reads' like a Grisham. This bit of tripe reads like a high school composition.
I think you were very generous describing it as a 'blurry area' :)
Not my favorite. The whole storyline was...huh?
Perhaps you should take up something other than reading, if you did not enjoy this novel. What? Were you just dying for yet another legal thriller? Diversify people!
Jim wrote: "Perhaps you should take up something other than reading, if you did not enjoy this novel. What? Were you just dying for yet another legal thriller? Diversify people!"No, I was just expecting a decent book. Given the amount I read, and the diversity, I think I can expect a Grisham to be a Grisham. Anyway, regardless of me or anyone else's diversity level, I don't think that is too much to ask. Painted House was about as un-legal as it gets, but it was still a Grisham. This junk isn't even close.
So you are saying that John Grisham can't diversify his style? He has to cater to your expectations? LOL
Jim wrote: "So you are saying that John Grisham can't diversify his style? He has to cater to your expectations? LOL"Not sure if you are trolling, or totally missing the point. I don't care what style Grisham writes in. I love Painted House, and that is hardly a normal Grisham, so I really don't understand what you are saying. The only 'expectation' I have from a Grisham, is that a) he wrote it, and b) it is a decent book (see 'a'). I don't think these are unreasonable expectations. I couldn't care less if he is writing about knitting or the trial of the century. Anyway, I think everyone else gets what I am saying, which by the way is simply me agreeing with the OP.
Yep! Huge disappointment esp. the ending...non-ending... boo! I hate to give up on a book by an author I usually enjoy but should have done so early!
Absolutely agree with this review. Bad writing. The last half reads like a newspaper.
Agree with your review, except one part...when I was reading Mercer’s thoughts/actions, I immediately thought, “That was written by a man!” Lol! But after the opening scene, I, too, was disappointed.
Agree completely. Main female protagonist was absolutely unlikable and blah.
I totally agree but I thought you were too generous - I gave the book only one star.
Agree,was an ok book but not his best ,not even close.to one of his better ones.
I agree. I have read all Grisham's books and when I started chapter 3, I immediately felt like I was not reading Grisham anymore. Only the last two chapters were in his fast paced, thriller style again. So sad.
I have never heard or thought of a ghost writer, but this is so far off the mark from Grisham’s earlier work, that it’s very believable. Disappointing!
Agree! Unlikely that Mercer would sleep with him and even more unlikely he’d show Mercer the manuscript when he hadn’t even shown Noel.
Completely agree! Only gave this 2 stars because of the first half of the book. It was still hard to do that.
Totally agree. Felt really let down and suspicious about 3/4 through the book. Really dislike the pat, no twists in sight, and hastily written ending
I’m 3/4 in and very disappointed. Started out with promise and by 1/3 in turned into something very predictable and lightweight. Where I am in the book I would like to slap the main character and perhaps the author (not sure Grisham actually wrote this) Am hoping it redeems itself in the final 1/4.
Storyline was slow and boring after the initial heist
Agree. I totally thought it was a different writer.
I can't decide what was worse, this or Gray Mountain. The part where Denny got arrested was so mundane I should've quit then.
I thought it was just me who though the style was a bit off for Grisham. I hadn’t thought about a ghost writer!
Totally agree. I almost abandoned reading it.Had to speed read most of the book just to get to the end.
Also some gaps in the narrative.
It writing became extremely pretentious, the ending was awful, it ended with a whimper. Love Grisham but I'd say pass on this.
not good john grisham
You took the words right out if my mouth! Agree 100% I expect much more from Grisham, because I know he is much better than this.
I must admit I felt the same it was very different in the middle section from the beginning and end. The only other Grisham book where I felt similarly was The Testament which seemed to go very religious in the middle. I've read almost all of his books and I did enjoy this but was a very different style in the middle.
Thanks for the review.was on my to read list and chaned my mind
Ha! Listen to Eka, Mr Grisham! We want authenticity.
