Jeri Jones

What do I think about this book? Not much. It starts off with a hook that draws you in: the well-crafted theft of rare F.Scott Fitzgerald manuscripts of his greatest works. Who doesn’t love a good heist narrative? It is in the pursuit of recovering the manuscript that this story goes off the rails. The main pursuer is a semi-successful first time, but now struggling writer who is plucked from obscurity to “find the goods”. The thieves, more interesting than the flat, whiny “heroine”, are pretty much either dispatched early on or entirely sidelined through the rest of the story. I kept reading thinking Grisham was working up to a dramatic big reveal, but after a meandering cat and mouse tale (a generous characterization) the issues are resolved in maybe the last 40 pages and that’s that. Grisham phoned it in.