Author: John Grisham
Year published: 2024
Category: Adult fiction (historical)
Pages: 304
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Location: (my 2025 Google Reading map): Congo, USA (FL)
Summary: 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.
Review: I often grab a Grisham novel when the book I am reading isn't working for me. I know what to expect from Grisham's novels and know that I will be pulled in right away. I read Camino Island (link to my review), the first book in this trilogy, and liked it. This one is quite different from Grisham's other novels, and in a good way.
First off, there is a back history. And I mean, way back in history, like the mid-1700s in the Congo. Think slavery, kidnapping, abuse, white supremacy, the worst of humanity. However, there is also redemption, freedom, and survival as the formerly enslaved live for generations on Dark Isle. The story is equal parts historical fiction (the lives of the Africans on Dark Isle) and current day Camino Island and the legal battle against Tidal Breeze Corporation and their efforts to development the island.
I liked all the characters from Nalla, the matriarch of Dark Isle, to Lovely, her descendent, to the white environmental lawyers and authors. They were all well-rounded, caring, and smart. They knew when to use "lies" and trickery (even curses) to make life work for them. Though there is a mostly happy ending, there is also reality, which makes the story even more realistic. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel.
Challenges for which this counts:
- Alphabet (Title)--C
- Cover Lovers--somewhere you could happily sit and read all day
- Immigration--(to the USA from Africa due to enslavement)
- Literary Escapes--Congo (the book doesn't say which one), Florida
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