Camino Ghosts: A Novel

Camino Ghosts: A Novel

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Will an ancient curse darken the skies over Camino Island? Bruce Cable and Mercer Mann are about to find out. Look for John Grisham’s forthcoming legal thriller, The Widow . This time, the verdict isn’t the end of the story. Mercer Mann, a popular writer from Camino Island, is back on the beach, marrying her boyfriend, Thomas, in a seaside ceremony. Bruce Cable, infamous owner of Bay Books, performs the wedding. Afterward, Bruce tells Mercer that he has stumbled upon an incredible story. Mercer desperately needs an idea for her next novel, and Bruce now has one. The true story is about Dark Isle, a sliver of a barrier island not far off the North Florida coast. It was settled by freed slaves three hundred years ago, and their descendants lived there until 1955, when the last one was forced to leave. That last descendant is Lovely Jackson, elderly now, who loves her birthplace and its remarkable history. But now Tidal Breeze, a huge, ruthless corporate developer, wants to build a resort and casino on the island, which Lovely knows, deep down, is rightfully hers. Mercer befriends Lovely, and they plunge into an enormous fight over who owns Dark Isle, taking on Tidal Breeze Corporation, its lawyers, lobbyists, and powerful Florida politicians. But Lovely knows something about the island that could seriously cloud the dollar signs in the developer’s eyes: the island is cursed. It has remained uninhabited for nearly a century for some very real and very troubling reasons. The deep secrets of the past are about to collide with the enormous ambitions of the present, and the fate of Dark Isle—and Camino Island, too—hangs in the balance. Look for all of John Grisham’s rollicking Camino novels: Camino Island Camino Winds Camino Ghosts Praise for Camino Ghosts “Light-hearted . . . The Camino books have felt like palate cleansers for Grisham, something fun to do before tackling the weightier issues that usually form the backbone of books such as The Client . . . . Grisham makes sure the book moves like the winds that buffet his fictional island.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune Praise for the Camino Island series “A fresh, fun departure . . . sheer catnip . . . a most agreeable summer destination.” — USA Today   “The type of wild but smart caper that Grisham’s readers love.” —Delia Owens, bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing “A happy lark [that] provides the pleasure of a leisurely jaunt periodically jolted into high gear, just for the fun and speed of it.” — The New York Times Book Review “Escapist entertainment . . . with elements of a more traditional Grisham thriller.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times Praise for John Grisham “The best thriller writer alive.” —Ken Follett John Grisham is the author of fifty consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include Camino Ghosts, The Exchange: After the Firm, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series. 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 lives on a farm in central Virginia. Chapter One The Passage 1. None of the fifty or so guests wore shoes. The invitation specifically ruled them out. It was, after all, a beach wedding, and Mercer Mann, the bride, wanted sand between the toes. The suggested attire was beach chic, which may have had one meaning in Palm Beach and another in Malibu, and probably something else in the Hamptons. But on Camino Island it meant anything goes. But no shoes. The bride herself wore a low-cut white linen gown with an entirely bare back, and since she had been on the island for the past two weeks she was superbly tanned and toned. Stunning. Thomas, her groom, was just as lean and bronzed. He wore a brand-new powder blue seersucker suit, a starched white dress shirt, no tie. And of course no shoes. Thomas was just happy to be included. He and Mercer had been together for three years, sharing an apartment for the past two, and when Mercer finally got tired of waiting for a proposal she had asked him, three months earlier, “What are you doing on Saturday, June sixth, at seven p.m.?” “Well, I don’t know. I’ll have to check.” “Say nothing.” “What?” “Say you’re doing nothing.” “Okay, I’m doing nothing. Why?” “Because we’re getting married at the beach.” Since he was not exactly a detail person, he had little input into the planning of the wedding. However, had he been detail-oriented it would not have mattered. Life with Mercer was