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I have to confess that the motley and ill-assorted collection of characters comprising David Baldacci's Camel Club are particular favourites of mine. The combination of brain, cowardice, bravery and brawn makes an endearing mix. Annabelle Conroy returns in this adventure. In the previous outing, THE COLLECTORS, Annabelle had conned Jerry Bagger, the casino owner who had murdered her mother, out of forty million dollars. She has always carried a grudge against her father, Paddy, for not protecting her mother but Paddy makes an appearance in this tale and an uneasy truce is established. Oliver Stone's alter ego, John Carr, assassin for the government elite's Triple Six outfit, is also disinterred and plays a major part in the adventure. This time, he becomes the target of another killer, Harry Finn, son of Rayfield and Lesya Solomon. Rayfield had been assassinated by John Carr, thinking he was under orders from the government. Lesya remains alive but determined to avenge the murder of her husband. Annabelle knows she must be on her guard against Bagger but the Camel Club are still doing their best to protect her. She is not terribly interested in the forty million dollars out of which she conned Bagger but is reasonably convinced he will eventually catch and kill her. Bagger never lets any money out of his grasp when he is unwilling to do so Oliver Stone is far from being a cute and cuddly character. He possesses abilities to kill that, at times, seem almost supernormal. He is motivated to assassinate by way of revenge against the people who killed his wife. His daughter is lost to him but not through death – she has been brought up by one of his most loathed enemies. Annabelle is a credible person (given her profession, she needs to be). Her ability as a con artist is admired even by her reprobate father, Paddy. Reuben, the Vietnam Vet, complete with killing skills that could rival John Carr's own, is surprisingly vulnerable. Caleb Shaw, the rare books expert and coward extraordinaire, is very endearing in his cowardice but Milton Farb, the genius, is difficult to differentiate from his fellow Camel Club member, Caleb. Alex Ford, an honorary member of the Club and also of the Secret Service has, fortunately, been stripped of the love interest he acquired in the previous adventure and so is available as a potential interest for Annabelle. The reader must, naturally enough, suspend a certain amount of disbelief for the story to work – but then, given the machinations we so frequently read about in the popular press, perhaps that is not too hard. The plot is excellently constructed and not always predictable. The Camel Club trilogy comprise my favourites of Baldacci's work so I trust, most sincerely, that he doesn't make this the final volume in the series.
Reviewed by Denise Pickles, November 2007
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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