The Camel Club by David Baldacci

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
When four decidedly eccentric members of a Washington, D.C.–based conspiracy watchdog organization witness the brutal murder of a National Intelligence Center employee, they become entangled in an all-too-real drama that includes an intricate terrorist plot to kidnap the president -- and ignite WWIII.

The purpose of the Camel Club is to scrutinize those in power: to find the real truth behind the actions of political leaders. Led by an enigmatic cemetery groundskeeper who calls himself Oliver Stone, the group of misfits -- who include a rare books specialist, a former Jeopardy! champion, and a former Defense Intelligence operative -- meet weekly to discuss possible conspiracy theories and what, if anything, to do about them. But during a late-night meeting on the secluded Theodore Roosevelt Island, the group witness two men murder a man in cold blood and then take steps to make it look like a suicide. As Stone and crew try to figure out who the murderers are, a terrorist cell in and around D.C. -- led by a high-level government leader -- mobilizes for an event what could be very well be the beginning of the end of the United States…

Thanks to its combination of chilling real-world events with radical conspiracy theories, fans of political thrillers will absolutely devour Baldacci's The Camel Club. With a cast of misfit characters that is as endearing as it is memorable and an intrigue-laden plot to rival any contemporary suspense thriller, this is Baldacci (Absolute Power, Total Control, et al.) at his very best -- action packed, thought provoking and, above all else, wildly entertaining! Paul Goat Allen

From the Publisher

It exists at the fringes of Washington, D.C., has no power, and consists solely of four eccentric and downtrodden members whom society has forgotten. Their simple goal is to find the "truth" behind their country's actions.

One man leads this aging, ragtag crew. He has no known past and has taken the name "Oliver Stone." Day and night, Stone and his friends study wild conspiracy theories, current events, and the machinations of government, hoping to discover some truth that will hold America's leaders accountable to its citizens. Yet never in Stone's wildest nightmares could he imagine the conspiracy the Camel Club is about to uncover...

After witnessing a shocking murder, the Club is slammed headfirst into a plot that threatens the very security of the nation, full of stunning twists, high-stakes intrigue, and global gamesmanship rocketing to the Oval Office and beyond. Soon the Club must join forces with veteran Secret Service agent Alex Ford, who becomes an unwilling participant in one of the most chilling spectacles to ever take place on American soil. It's an event that may well be the catalyst for the long-threatened Armageddon between two different worlds, and all that stands in the way of this apocalypse are five unexpected heroes.

In The Camel Club, bestselling author David Baldacci paints a frighteningly vivid portrait of a world that could be our own very soon, and the few people who have a chance to stop the chaos...

David Baldacci is the author of ten previous consecutive New York Times bestsellers and #1 international bestsellers: Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner, The Simple Truth, Saving Faith, Wish You Well, Last Man Standing, The Christmas Train, Split Second, and Hour Game, as well as his Freddy and the French Fries children's series. With his books published in over 35 languages in more than 80 countries, and with nearly 45 million copies in print worldwide, David Baldacci is one of the world's favorite storytellers. He's also the cofounder, with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America.

Publishers Weekly

If anyone can make terrorism entertaining and ironically exciting, it's thriller vet Baldacci. New York stage actor Davis helps to brighten up a bleak subject with almost perfect pitch (his female characters' voices are often disconcertingly lodged in the baritone range), as he brings to audio life the adventures of a gang of four Muslim men who live in the Washington, D.C., area and meet regularly in isolated places to discuss and argue about international politics. Led by a likable chap who calls himself "Oliver Stone" because he and the film director share a supersized fascination with conspiracies, the Camel Club is basically an excuse for its members to feel involved and important. But when they accidentally witness a real high-level conspiracy in action, the four are suddenly at the center of a world class disaster which could lead to an American nuclear attack on Damascus. Baldacci works hard to balance all his many characters and their connecting stories, and Davis holds up his end with clever, sharp-edged subtlety that helps listeners stay in the picture. Simultaneous release with the Warner hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 22). (Nov.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A lukewarm would-be potboiler of uninvolving intrigue about a kooky quartet of conspiracy theorists-one by the name of "Oliver Stone"-who witness the murder of a federal agent. Almost 8,000 Americans have died in attacks on U.S. soil. Rocket-propelled grenades have pierced the White House, there's been another prison fiasco in Afghanistan, a dozen soldiers are dying every day and the war has opened a new front on the Syrian border. Thus the author's bleak imagining of the near future. Throughout, Baldacci (Hour Game, 2004, etc.) drops reliable twists, revealing the federal agent murder to be-surprise-a minuscule piece of a much bigger plot involving snipers, nukes, a presidential kidnapping and an even gloomier vision of the future. Baldacci is not a particularly graceful writer, e.g., "Like all Secret Service agents, his suits were designed a little big in the chest, to disguise the bulge of the weapon." Worse is the author's chronic inability to draw convincing characters. Scooby-Doo had villains more complicated than these; distinctive quirks of the characters, such as one wearing 19th-century clothing, make them only mildly interesting. Baldacci himself seems only partly engaged in the task here. He writes as if he imagines his typical reader to be a business traveler staring down a long layover. Sure to be a bestseller, but the guy's phoning it in.

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