The Camel Club

The Camel Club by David Baldacci

After reading a couple of David Baldacci’s “sweet and mushy” books, I was really anxious to get back to one of his good ole’ political thrillers.  The Camel Club definitely does not disappoint.  This was one of my favorites (so far) by this author, and it was great to see him return to form.  Yes, the plot is a little silly, but it is, after all, a work of fiction.  Even though it’s a bit farfetched at times, the story definitely kept me hooked.

The story centers around a group of four, somewhat bizarre, eclectic characters living in Washington D.C. that call themselves “The Camel Club”.  They’re definitely what most would consider oddballs.  I don’t remember how the story tells us how they all originally got together, but they’re essentially conspiracy theorists that look under every nook and cranny every time the American government does something that doesn’t wash well with this group.  Our story mainly focuses on the “leader” of this bunch, who goes by the moniker of “Oliver Stone”.  Surprise surprise.

Well, one night, when it’s very dark and foggy, the Camel Club is meeting in one of its secret locations out in (what they think is) the middle of nowhere, and they just happen to witness a suspicious looking murder.  Scary?  Definitely.  Exciting?  Much more so.  The Camel Club springs into action!

There’s actually a lot more going on in this story.  So much that it’s a bit easy to get lost in the early chapters of this book, and you almost give up with all of the new faces cropping up every chapter or so.  Patience is required, and it’s well rewarded as well.  One of the main characters in the story outside this fearsome foursome is none other than one of the government’s secret service agents, who just happens to pass by “Oliver Stone” from time to time.  It seems as though Stone has a “protest tent” (or something) and he spends a lot of his free time camped out across the street from The White House along with an assortment of other peculiar regulars.  So the story casually allows these two parties to meet and combine forces.

Then, it seems as though there is a terrorist plot by some Mid-Eastern characters in the state of Pennsylvania.  The President of the United States is due in the state shortly.  He was born and raised there, and a celebration is about to take place whereas his home town will be renamed after him.  So a lot of time is spent with these terrorists as they plan their diabolical deed.

This is actually where things get a bit interesting.  Unlike every Vince Flynn novel, we feel for these terrorists.  They’re not a bunch of brain washed zealots that hate America for no reason other than to hate America.  They have legitimate gripes, and Baldacci is careful to spend time detailing what a lot of grievances these folks actually have.  So much time, that many readers find this book a bit on the unpatriotic side.  I think that’s a stretch, as we find out as the story unfolds.

So all of these human trains that seem to be going in all different directions on all different tracks manage to collide near the end of the story, and I felt that the climax of the book was very well done.  To be honest, there were a bit too many “coincidences” amongst the revelations of some of these characters’ past, but all of that was a minor sin. This book would make a good “thriller” movie.  If done right, that is.  It was nice to have Mr. Baldacci “back”.