Adult Readers Advisory: "The Camel Club" by David Baldacci

The Camel Club
By David Baldacci

Synopsis

The Camel Club, a group of misfit conspiracy theorists in Washington D.C., stumble upon a complex and tangled plot that reaches all the way to the White House. When Camel Club leader Oliver Stone (not his real name) and his friends witness a murder, they discover that it’s just part of a plan that puts the nation’s safety and security at risk. The Camel Club teams up with Secret Service agent Alex Ford to uncover the plot - and save the country.

Thriller Elements

Pacing: “The Camel Club” is densely written, with many threads of plots working independently and an impressive attention to detail. However, chapters are short and almost always end on a cliffhanger, driving the pace of the book. Plotline slowly but surely come together into an explosive confrontation. The book does have a strong political message, and Baldacci occasionally pauses the action in order to make a political point.

Frame & Setting: It’s obvious that Baldacci is from the Washington D.C. area, because “The Camel Club” is immersed in the characters, motives, and setting of the nation’s capital. The book also goes into great detail about the lives of secret service agents, politicians, terrorist cells, and, of course, conspiracy theorists. It’s well-researched and has a definite political thriller feel.

Story Line: “The Camel Club” has twists and turns galore, and it does get complicated, especially because there are some characters that have aliases. It’s like watching a complex puzzle slowly come together. The story focuses on a fictional post-9/11 world where there have been terrorist attacks on American soil and, while some of those aspects feel topical even 10 years later, some of the portrayals of terrorists feel less-than-modern.

Characterization: Oliver Stone and Alex Ford are sympathetic and heroic characters, and they play nicely off each other; they are both out for justice and come down firmly on the side of good, but they go about their mission in very different ways. Oliver Stone is also especially interesting because the reader gets only glimpses of his complex and morally ambiguous past. The rest of the Camel Club members are colorful and entertaining, and many of the rest of the characters are enigmas, with little indication of where their loyalties truly lie.

Tone & Mood: “The Camel Club” is violent - the book racks up the body count - and things sometimes feel bleak, especially for the main characters. The book ends on a positive note, but things are far from happy and resolved.

Style & Language: Baldacci’s writing style is not particularly notable; this is, in many ways, a boilerplate political thriller. However he deftly uses political and law enforcement jargon to great effect throughout “The Camel Club.”

Read-Alikes

Readers may enjoy the next book in the Camel Club series, “The Collectors,” and other of Baldacci’s works, such as “Split Second,” which follows a Secret Service agent and an ex-Secret Service agent searching for an abducted presidential candidate, or legal thriller “True Blue.”
Other authors to check out are: Harlan Coben (“Deal Breaker,” “Hold Tight”), James Grippando (“The Pardon,” “Intent to Kill”), Kyle Mills (“Rising Phoenix”), Jeffrey Deaver (“The Bone Collector”), and James Patterson (Alex Cross and Michael Bennett series).

Jenny’s Take

It took me a long time to get into “The Camel Club.” The book had a lot of disparate plot threads, with people all doing their own things that were apparently unrelated to each other. When the pieces finally started to materialize, things got more interesting and the conclusion ended up pretty, well, thrilling, but, for my taste, it took way too long to get to the “good parts.”

I also felt like “The Camel Club” was pretty heavy, and heavy-handed, on the political messages. I found myself wishing that he had left a bit more to the readers’ imagination, rather than making his characters mouthpieces for a political message.

There were also some intriguing characters, but many, especially the leads, felt distant. I like to get to know characters in the books I read! Thankfully, the chapters were short so I didn’t have to spend a long time reading about people who I didn’t find as interesting.

“The Camel Club” was not a favorite of mine, but I can definitely understand the appeal to those who like thrillers! This is a good book for thriller readers, but not a great first title for people crossing over into this genre from others, especially people who like to get to know the characters.