Product Description

Known by his alias, 'Oliver Stone', John Carr is the most wanted man in America. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who hid the truth of Stone's past and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced. But Stone's freedom has come at a steep price; the assassinations he carried out have prompted the highest levels of the United States Government to unleash a massive manhunt. Joe Knox is leading the charge, but his superiors aren't telling him everything there is to know about his quarry - and their hidden agendas are just as dangerous as the killer he's trying to catch. Meanwhile, with their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club must fend for themselves, even as they try to protect him. As Knox closes in, Stone's flight from the demons of his past will take him far from Washington, D.C., to the coal-mining town of Devine, Virginia - and headlong into a confrontation every bit as lethal as the one he is trying to escape.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1277 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

Review
Baldacci (The Whole Truth, 2008, etc.) moves his recurring Camel Club characters far enough offstage to let tough guy hero Oliver Stone take on a mean mountain town singlehandedly (for a while, at least) in something of the fashion of Lee Child's Jack Reacher.The dark American hole in need of a flushing out is Divine, a tiny burg in Virginia's far southwest coal country where quietly modest Vietnam hero Stone, ne John Carr, has landed. It's not where he was going. He had been getting the hell out of Washington, D.C., where heavy-handed, stonehearted, government forces were about to close in on him, but he couldn't help stepping into an unfair fight brewing in his Amtrak coach. Handsome, youngish ex-high school quarterback Danny Riker was stupid enough to accuse knuckle draggers with whom he had been playing cards of cheating, leading to a knock down drag out in which Stone wasted all of the thugs and incurred the wrath of the Amtrak conductor, making it necessary for all involved to get off at the next stop. Stone takes Danny under his wing and Danny reluctantly takes Stone back home to Divine and his pretty mother Abby, owner of Divine's best diner. Stone notes quickly that Divine has a gloss of prosperity very unlike the neighboring hellholes. That sheen doesn't extend to the downtrodden miners whose hideous labors keep them gobbling methadone day after day. Where's the money coming from? There is one other visible industry, a supermax prison run by the brother of the handsome, straight-shooting sheriff, but that doesn't explain the prosperity. Stone begins to nose around the place, running up against numerous unsavory characters, saving lives when possible, getting mad when not, dodging the usual falling safes until his probing causes him to wake up buried alive in a dead coal mine. There is a dalliance with Abby, but the evil feds close in on Stone so it is necessary for his Camel Club cohorts to dig him out in the end.Tighter than the writer's most recent efforts, but far from spellbinding. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
David Baldacci is the author of fifteen previous consecutive New York Times bestsellers. With his books published in over 40 languages in more than 80 countries, and with nearly 70 million copies in print, he is one of the world's favorite storytellers. David Baldacci is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America. Still a resident of his native Virginia, he invites you to visit him at www.DavidBaldacci.com, and his foundation at www.WishYouWellFoundation.org, and to look into its program to spread books across America at www.FeedingBodyandMind.com.

Customer Reviews

Just lacking that certain something
I have liked the Camel Club series albeit they are easy reads and the characters are a bit one-dimensional.

That said, Baldacci writes easy going thrillers and this is no exception. The characters are interesting (a librarian, ex-serviceman, a con artist, and former CIA operative) but they don't go anyhwere, there are cliff hangers at the end of each chapter, but it generally lacks that killer punch to make it a great novel.

Baldacci meets Lee Child
The fourth (and probably the last) in the Camel Club series.
The Camel Club was an interesting diversion for Baldacci, the books started off very light and then got darker as the series progressed. I would not recommend Divine Justice unless you have read the previous novels in the series.
This starts off with our hero John Carr (aka Oliver Stone) on the run having taken out two senior US officials (who were bad guys). A manhunt is underway and Carr is looking for somewhere to disappear when he gets involved in a fracas and ends up in Divine, a small town which is hiding a lot of secrets. Does he keep his head down or does he get involved?
Meanwhile tenacious CIA tracker Joe Knox is on his trail and getting closer, as are Carr's friends from the Camel Club who want to help their friend....
As other reviewers have mentioned much of this did remind me of Lee Child's latest (Nothing To Lose) where his hero Reacher ends up in a small town called Despair which also has many secrets.
This ends up as a hit and miss book, the Joe Knox and Camel Club elements are the most interesting but the stuff in Divine was so similar to Lee Child's latest that it really did jar and the scenario around the bad guys felt too contrived.

Oliver Stone/John Carr on the Lam

If you haven't read the earlier books in this series (The Camel Club, The Collectors, and Stone Cold), stop right here. You will like all of those books much more than this one . . . and you will like this one less than you otherwise would if you start with The Camel Club.

So what's it all about? Oliver Stone (John Carr) has just finished assassinating intelligence chieftain Carter Gray and Senator Roger Simpson as repayment for old and recent wrongs (including the death of Milton Farb, Camel Club member). He knows that he must escape quickly and completely . . . and that the Camel Club will be at risk while he runs. Stone's trail is soon picked up by Joe Knox, with more than a little help (and some stonewalling from shadowy Gray protégé Macklin Hayes).

Stone has paid more attention to getting revenge than he has to his escape. There's a vague plan to head towards New Orleans and to fade into the post-Katrina construction industry. All those plans are changed when Stone interrupts a beating on a train and is threatened with arrest. Quickly leaving the train with the beating victim, Stone decides to follow the man home to Divine, Virginia. Once there, more violence flares and Stone finds himself drawn into the middle of someone else's fight. Much of the rest of the story alternates between the manhunt and Stone's investigation into what's going on in Divine, Virginia. A lot of the suspense in the book involves decisions that the Camel Club members need to make.

Unlike the earlier books in the series, the story line and the characters aren't nearly as compelling. If you plan to stay with the Camel Club series, you'll need to read this book . . . but I doubt if you will like it nearly as much as the others in the series.