Today we’re talking about Ken’s surprising appearance as a villain in John Grisham’s rare books heist thriller, Camino Island. Well, not Ken exactly, but someone very much like him. Oscar Stein is the fictional proprietor of the three story Old Boston Bookshop on West Street in downtown Boston, a shop that was founded by his father, Loyd Stein. Sound familiar? The only problem is that Oscar Stein is also a thief, his bookshop is failing, he’s weary of the book trade, and would rather pop pills in his cluttered office than run the shop. After reading Camino Island, Ken, baffled and understandably concerned about the possible damage it could cause to his reputation, does some investigating of his own, ultimately leading to a phone call from Grisham himself.
Brattlecast #51 - The Camino Island Saga
Ken receives a popular new novel as a birthday gift. Much to his dismay he finds an evil twin lurking in its pages. The book contains a character who is nearly identical to him, but with some sinister variations. Ken is an honest, well respected bookseller and his shop is thriving; his fictional doppelgänger is the criminally unethical proprietor of a failing book shop on the very same Boston street. An edge-of-your-seat legal thriller ensues as Ken tries to solve the mystery of why best-selling author John Grisham, a total stranger, would want to hurt his feelings like this.
