A bit different from other Grisham novels but a very good read. It's not really a legal thriller or a mystery but rather the story of Lovely, descendent of the people of Dark Island, who has for years asserted ownership and now wants to stop its development. Bruce, the Camino Island bookshop owner gives Mercer a novelist, a copy of Lovely's self published history and we're off. In some ways Nalla, who was kidnapped in Africa and trafficked to the US, is the most compelling character but Lovely is dynamic as well. Mercer and Bruce convince her to sue the State of Florida (thus setting up the conflict) and again, while the legal machinations are interesting, they are less so than the history of the island and Nala's curse. I missed the first two Camino books (not sure how) but this was fine as a standalone. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. While it's not a thriller, it's definitely a page turner and you'll find yourself rooting for Lovely.

This third Camino Island installment begins with a beach wedding. Thomas and Mercer tie the knot. Before they even head off on their honeymoon, Bruce sends Mercer off with an idea for her next book. A long-time Camino Island resident named Lovely Jackson was once a resident on The Dark Isle just two miles away. It was an island populated with escaped slaves. Casino developers want to turn the island into a vacation getaway. Lovely wants to preserve the graves of her ancestors. The race is on. Can they prove that Lovely even has a connection to the island she claims to have left in 1955 with her mother? Will Mercer be able to get her book to the publisher and not have the whole shebang tied up with the ownership of the island in jeopardy?

Grisham's storytelling seemed a bit uneven in this one. The historical facts were gripping as was the voodoo aspect of the island and the curse that was to be reckoned with. As the trial regarding the title of the island is going on I kept waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop. If you are looking for a legal thriller, this is not it.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for a DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Camino Ghosts, the third book in John Grisham's Camino Island series, takes a surprising turn. While familiar characters like Bruce and Mercer return, the spotlight is on Lovely Jackson and a haunting family history.

The story unfolds through two narratives. In the present, Lovely fights a powerful developer for Dark Isle, her ancestral home. Interspersed are excerpts from Lovely's memoir, detailing the struggles and triumphs of her ancestors who escaped slavery and lived on Dark Isle.

Grisham weaves a suspenseful tale, blurring the lines between the past and present with the question of whether the island is truly haunted. Fans of the series will enjoy catching up with Bruce and Mercer, but Camino Ghosts is Lovely's story, one that's both heartbreaking and inspiring.

This book is a good choice for those who enjoy Grisham's legal thrillers with a twist of historical fiction and a touch of the unknown.

Grisham returns to Camino Island with this book that centers around Lovely Jackson, a Black woman who claims she has the rights to an uninhabited island that has been untouched - and haunted - for over half a century. Now developers want to build a casino and resort on the island and the fight to save it from development forms most of the plot of the book. I was uncomfortable having a white man write Lovely's story but Grisham did it with as much care as I think he could. I was expecting a bit more suspense in this book as well and it just wasn't there.

Camino Ghosts - Another interesting story by Mr. Grisham filled with courtroom drama, voodoo priestesses, and a 260-year-old history of escaped slaves living on an island off Florida. Interesting story lines and believable characters mixed with plenty of drama, emotions, and humor. Typical Grisham, an excellent book. Source: Netgalley. 4*

My thanks to Net Galley and Doubleday for allowing me to read this arc.

Bruce Cable is back along with friends to help a former slave, Lovely Jackson obtain sole ownership to Dark.Isle, and island they lived on as former slaves. Lovely is the last survivor and goes against a big development mogul who wants to.build on the sacred ground, unaware of the dark secrets the island possesses.

Another great Grisham story teller winner.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for letting me review the book
I like this one I love the setting and the gulf coast history is a bonus.
Grisham is the king of the legal thriller

Thank you to NetGalley for the advance ecopy of this title. The book opens with the wedding of professor/author, Mercer to her fellow writer, Thomas. Before they leave on their Scottish honeymoon, their bookstore owner/friend, Bruce gives them a self-published book to read, and asks Mercer if she would like to weave her own book around this story. The book was written by Lovely Jackson about a small island off the coast of Florida that was a haven for escaped slaves from 1760-1955, when Lovely and her mother (the last inhabitants) left the island. To spice things up, Lovely's ancestor was a Voodoo priestess who cursed any white man who set foot on the island. Bruce also involves environmental lawyer, Sam, to stave off developers who want to turn the island into a Casino and Resort. The story is well-crafted, and extremely readable with great characters. I was waiting for a twist at the end, but that did not occur. This story is almost "Grisham Lite", but the absence of anxiety for the characters isn't entirely a bad thing!

I love legal thrillers, especially when they can be mixed with some historical fiction. Even though I haven't read the first two in this series, I thoroughly enjoyed the plot of this one and found some delightful characters. I definitely feel that it can be read as a stand alone.

The setting of this legal thriller was fabulous - Camino Island (off of the Floridian coast) and then Dark Island, a long abandoned neighboring island that was home to escaped slaves (both runaway and shipwrecked).

Enter Bruce, a local bookstore owner and promoter of local authors; enter Mercer Mann, an up and coming author, who already has one best seller; and maybe most importantly, enter Lovely Jackson, the last inhabitant of Dark Island from 65 years ago (but now living on Camino Island).

Bruce gives Mercer the idea of her next book being a non-fiction expanded take off on a book that Lovely Jackson wrote years ago, an account of her life and her ancestors' lives on Dark Island. Mercer and her new husband, Thomas, are both intrigued and enthralled by Lovely's short book written after she and her mother came to live on Camino Island when Lovely was 15. Lovely Jackson is now 80 years old.

Throw in a money hungry Florida development company whose goal is to build a bridge to Dark Island, re-name it Panther Cay, and fill it with hotels, casinos, and condominiums. The problem is...Lovely Jackson claims ownership to the island as she and her mother were the last living inhabitants and all of her ancestors are buried there. The court case blossomed into quite the showdown with the mammoth law firm vs the diminutive one. Who will prevail? Who does Dark Island in actuality belong to...is it Lovely Jackson and her ancestors since they were its only ever inhabitants, or is it the state's possession since it has been abandoned over 6 decades? Will the state allow sacred burial grounds to be covered in concrete so hotels and casinos can be built? It's up to the court to decide.

Grab this one May 28th and find out. I know one thing...after reading it, I want to hang out at Bruce's bookstore for his signings and parties;-)

Thank you, NetGalley and Doubleday for this ARC, which should satisfy any reader's appetite who loves legal thrillers. Let's even throw in a bonus lesson in history.

This is the third of Grisham’s Camino Island series. I’ve not read the previous two books and read this easily as a stand alone. There is some catch-up with who I presume are regulars in the series like Bruce Cable who runs the local bookshop and dabbles in rare books and author Mercer Mann who he once was involved with but they have both moved on. Bruce has a new story suggestion for Mercer, who has had two successful books but is looking for another hit so she may give up her college teaching job. He introduces her to Lovely Jackson who is 80. She was born and raised on an island off the coast called Dark Island. It once was an enclave for runaway slaves of whom she is a descendant. She claims ownership of the island although she hasn’t lived there since she was 15.

The story gets the Grisham spin as it becomes a court case. A large corporation with politicians in their pockets wants to build a casino on the island. The state of Florida is claiming ownership under their own state laws. I like Grisham’s easy way of writing and the story is straightforward to follow. I did not feel much connection to Bruce, Mercer or Thomas (the regulars) like I probably would if I had read the previous books in the series. I did feel more educated on slavery, especially the difference in treatment by the Spanish and the British.

This is a captivating story about a small island off the coast of Florida where escaped slaves made their home for hundreds of years. They were protected by their own grit and maybe some voodoo. It hadn't been practical to develop the island until a fierce hurricane had reconfigured the island and the waters around it.

Lovey is the last resident of the island still alive. She and her mother had left 65 years before because life wasn't sustainable there anymore for just the two of them. But Lovey always considered herself and her ancestors to the be owners of the island - until developers contested the ownership.

This story goes back to the brutality of the slave capture in Africa and the terrible passage over. It continues through modern day with Lovey having written a book about the island and her ancestors. She also had created logs with all sorts of historical information.

Much of this book concerns the legal machinations to gain the knowledge to fight the corporations and to build a case.

The reader will come away satisfied, but the book does hit some slow spots. I enjoyed reading it and I'm glad I had the opportunity.

This is the third in the author's Camino Island series, and in many ways, I'll call it my favorite even though I gave each of them 5 stars as well. It's a happy, sad, bittersweet, intriguing, well-written story that held my attention throughout. I will not, though, calll it a "thriller;" nothing in here was the least bit frightening or scary to me.

Back to the forefront is Bruce Cable, owner of a bookshop on Camino Island. His friend, author and college teacher Mercer Mann, is looking to write a follow-up to her successful novel but having trouble finding a topic. Ever helpful, Bruce turns to a small self-published history of nearby Dark Island written by local resident Lovely Jackson. Now 80 years old, Lovely claims not only to have lived on the long-deserted island, but is the owner; she was the last inhabitant to leave, and many of her relatives are buried there. She also claims that the island is cursed - and any people not of color (a.k.a. white) will not be welcomed there.

But progress, apparently, has no use for claims like hers; a large development company has set its sights on turning Dark Island into a tourist attraction now that a huge storm carved a path for a bridge to be built between the two islands. Despite offers of huge sums of money, Lovely says no deal; so the company, in the belief that Lovely can't prove ownership of Dark Island, decides to take the matter to court.

From there, it's a matter of history - readers learn what Lovely knows first-hand and by way of her ancestors, almost all related to the slave trade, kidnapping and worse. In the present, we see how the trial develops, proceeds and ends as an aging Camino Island lawyer who opposes the Dark Island development project takes on Lovely's case in true David v. Goliath fashion.

I should note that this book stands alone well, although those who read the first two will have an advantage of being familiar with several of the characters (and besides, they're really good books as well). As for this one, I once again thank the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review a pre-release copy. Loved it!

Celebrated local novelist Mercer Mann and the affable but sometimes dodgy bookseller Bruce Cable return in Camino Ghosts as master storyteller John Grisham takes us back to paradise with the third novel in his Camino Island series.

When you have a plot that includes the last surviving descendant of Africans formerly enslaved on plantations in the region who escaped and adapted to living in isolation for hundreds of years on a tiny barrier island off the coast of Florida plus a greedy Miami commercial real estate developer, it’s a recipe for an absorbing and heart-warming book you won’t regret reading.

I’m a longtime time fan of both John Grisham and his Camino Island series which represents a departure from the taut legal thrillers Grisham is best known for. I found the first two novels entertaining and immersive reads and the third book, Camino Ghosts, doesn’t disappoint. There is enough that takes place in a courtroom to remind us we’re reading a Grisham novel, but the true thrust of the plot lies elsewhere.

The story opens with Mercer returning to Camino Island for her wedding during the summer break from Old Miss where she is a professor. Mercer still hasn’t found a story for a second book to follow up her chart-topping debut novel when the ever-helpful Bruce introduces her to the true story of Dark Isle, and he suggests Mercer could fictionalize the story as her second novel. Dark Isle is one of two deserted barrier islands between Georgia and Florida. Sometime around 1750 it became a sanctuary for runaway slaves from Georgia. And Bruce says around 1760 a few of the surviving slaves from a slave ship returning from West Africa and bound for Savannah washed ashore after the ship broke up and sank during a storm. Bruce presses Mercer to read a self-published book written by Lovely Jackson, the last remaining descendant of the people living a life of isolation on Dark Isle.

Lovely Jackson claims ownership of Dark Isle as the last remaining descendant and heir. She claims in the book she was born there, lived there for the first fifteen years of her life, and all her people are buried there. Mercer reluctantly takes the book, but when she begins reading it on the plane on the way to her honeymoon in Scotland with her new husband Thomas, she can’t put it down. She wants to write a book about Dark Isle, but decides the story is better suited to non-fiction than a novel. After returning from the honeymoon, Bruce introduces Mercer to Lovely Jackson. They strike an agreement for Mercer to “borrow” Lovely’s story and to write a non-fiction book expanding the story of Dark Isle.

The stakes get raised when a Miami commercial real estate developer announces a plan to develop Dark Isle into a resort with a casino. Bruce brings Lovely together with a friend, a semi-retired famous environmental attorney, Steve Mahon. Steve opposes the proposed development of Dark Isle on environmental grounds and sees Lovely’s ownership claims as the best way to keep it from happening. After Bruce brings him and Lovely together, she agrees to allow Steve to represent her in a lawsuit against the state of Florida to gain legal title to the island.

I hesitate to categorize Camino Ghosts as a thriller like many of Grisham’s other books. Yes, there is tension and suspense at play, but I think it’s more of a general fiction literary work. It doesn’t make the book any less of an entertaining and worthy read. In addition to meeting again many of the main and supporting characters from the earlier books, Grisham introduces us to many fresh nuanced characters in this third installment. I’ve been a fan of Mercer and Bruce since the first book, but the character I loved most in this one was Lovely Jackson. I think she really steals the show, and her story overshadows that of the more familiar characters. After reading the excerpts from Lovely’s self-published book on the history of Dark Isle that Grisham sprinkles throughout the narrative, you can’t help but emphasize with her in her battle for justice against the greedy real estate developer. She is such a sympathetic and likeable character even when at times you aren’t completely certain about how much of her story is fact and how much is fiction.

Forget about taut, courtroom drama. Grisham’s signal triumph in this one is a tightly plotted, feel good read with a few nifty surprises in store for Grisham fans who expect nothing less.

Doubleday, a division of Penguin Random House LLC will publish Camino Ghosts May 28, 2024. I received an advance review copy of the book from the publisher via NetGalley used for this review, which represents my honest opinions.

Suspense Filled Masterpiece!

Thank you NetGallary for an early review copy of Camino Ghosts!

This book was so good!

Storytelling at its Best by the Best Storyteller in the business John Grisham!

This book has it all! Suspense that keeps you engaged throughout the entire book!Character development was excellent!

You know a book has you hooked when you can’t stop thinking about it and this was that book for me! I am thrilled that I received an early release copy!

I gave this book 5 stars! I could not turn the pages fast enough!

This book kept me engaged the entire time! Loved it!

No spoilers with my review!

Well done!

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. I have been reading John Grisham novels since I was in middle school. I love his legal thrillers, but even his non-legal set books are hits and this one was no exception. This is the perfect read for the beach and for this summer.

I have read all of Grisham's books and honestly, this has to be one of his best and it definitely needs to be a movie! This book will take you on a rollercoaster ride of history, sorrow, joy, cheering for the "good" guys, shouting at and hating at the "bad" guys, ghosts of the past, friendship and commitment. At times I forgot I was reading a fiction book. I love the Camino series and all the returning characters!!! Thanks for the advanced copy!!

Another entertaining Grisham book. The Camino series is a good one, although I felt the ending was a bit flat. I was waiting for a more interesting twist or unexpected development. But all in all a solid book and one that any Grisham fan will enjoy.

Mercer Mann returns to Camino Island in this third book in the Camino Island series, to get married. Thanks to local bookstore owner, Bruce Cable, she finds the subject for her next book. She takes on the challenge of writing a non-fiction book. Lovely Jackson is a descendent of escaped enslaved people who made their home on Dark Isle off the coast of Camino Island. When a developer wants to build a resort and casino on the island a question of ownership arises. Grisham masterfully weaves history in this courtroom drama. Another page turner, by Grisham.

While this might be the third book in a series, I do think it can be treated as a stand-alone. We go back to Camino Island and see some favorite characters return. Some new characters enter as an out of state developer has set its sights on Dark Isle, a small island with a haunted and cursed past. A mystery and court battle unfolds as Lovely Jackson fights the development of her home. Might be my favorite in the series.

Lovely Jackson is the last living descendent of a group of former enslaved people who had found their own freedom on an island off the coast of Florida that is now known as Dark Isle. When land developers, Tidal Breeze, set their sights on Dark Isle as their next project, Lovely is persuaded to pursue her rights to the island that she left at age 15. Lovely has plenty of help but she is insistent on doing things her way and honoring her ancestors in the process. One thing that Tidal Breeze hasn't counted on is that rumors that have surrounded Dark Isle for centuries just might be true.

John Grisham has pulled at all my heart strings with this powerful and extremely relevant story. I am never surprised at how effectively I am moved by the characters and the fight for justice in a blatantly corrupt world. I have already told many people about the premise of this book and they cannot wait to read it either. I highly recommend!