Product Description

Oliver Stone and the Camel Club are back for their most dangerous adventure yet.

Casino king and vicious thug Jerry Bagger is hunting Annabelle Conroy, who conned him out of millions. Stone and his colleagues must marshal all their resources to protect her.

Yet their skills may not be enough when a deadly new opponent rips off the veneer of Stone’s own mysterious past: Bagger’s menace pales next to Harry Finn’s lethality.

As bodies and institutions topple, the story rockets toward a shattering finale that will leave the survivors of this explosive tale changed forever . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4876 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-04
• Released on: 2008-06-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author

David Baldacci is the thirteen-times New York Times bestselling author of Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner , The Simple Truth, Saving Faith, Wish You Well, Last Man Standing, The Christmas Train, Split Second, Hour Game, The Camel Club, The Collectors and Simple Genius. He lives in his native state of Virginia.

Customer Reviews

The Camel Club gets a bit darker
This is the third in the Camel Club series. A series that started off very light-hearted and got more serious as it has moved on. The author has also taken the focus off many of the characters to focus on just two or three and almost as much time is given to the main bad guy, an ex-special forces operator who is killing ex intelligence agents.

No light touch in this one and the author is comfortable with the characters and the supporting players. The plot blends the back-story of Annabel as her past starts to catch up and likewise with Stone his past also starts to come back to haunt him and he has to decide how to protect those he cares for.

This is an efficient thriller and possibly the best of the Camel Club books. No classic but good enough to keep you well entertained for a few hours.

No longer at his earlier heights?
I have read of lot of Baldacci, including one prior Camel Club effort. I have rated most of them highly, but I can't help feel that there's been a slide in quality. (I did not read the prequel to this one, however, so it may have lost some of its intended impact on me). Judging by other positive reviews, however, I am not going to bring the average rating down too much here with this somewhat negative review.

There are two sub-plots, one a conspiracy involving the past of one of the Camel Club members, and another involving the aftermath of a con-job executed by a Camel Club friend. They are unrelated, so I suspect both were there to make sure Baldacci could produce 400 pages - neither would have satisfied that test on its own.

It is an easy read without a great deal of real depth - but it has short, punchy chapters, some twists, and a lot of action to produce a good ride. But there are holes in the sub-plots, inaccuracies (which Baldacci admits to, to be fair) and a lot of coincidences to keep the plots moving. And there are bad guys at the highest levels of government, as usual, in an attempt to sustain interest. The writing is nothing special and there is little characterisation, although readers will have established favourites from the prequels.

In view of a couple of things that happen, the Camel Club will be different if Baldacci keeps it live. To me, however, the theme is wearing thin and Baldacci is struggling to come up with new ideas to keep the members actively engaged.

Here, I would say, he has just used too much licence to create his story and I suspect he will do more of the same next time. I would feel a lot better if Baldacci started with a new sheet to allow him to get back where he once was (then again, just prior to reading this book, I had finished a far-fetched Andrew Gross novel, and perhaps two of similar ilk, in a row, is one too many!). 7/10

STONE COLD is a continuation from DAVID BALDACCI'S earlier works
STONE COLD is a continuation from DAVID BALDACCI'S earlier works The Collectors and The Camel Club which are both worth reading. As for STONE COLD, the speed of this thriller is incredible as both subplots move out at an extraordinary pace yet the key players seem fully developed and plausible especially Harry and the CAMEL CLUB members. Both Oliver and Annabelle recognize the problems they respectively face as each knows they are in trouble, but in some ways welcome the confrontation. Underlying this strong thriller is a caution that government secrets are rarely security issues, but more likely the hiding of embarrassments usually caused by a lack of adequate checks and balances on arrogant imperial power!!! I would also recommend, if you missed reading TINO GEORGIOU'S masterpiece--THE FATES, go and read it. With fascinating and brilliantly created characters in `THE FATES' coupled with two intertwining plots makes for a completely enjoyable and page-turning read.