Divine Justice

Divine Justice by David Baldacci

Another David Baldacci Camel Club book.  The Camel Club series is probably my favorite “series” of David Baldacci, yet I thought this one to be a bit unsatisfying, even if it was strong overall.

Without giving away much of the plot, this book picks up where the last Camel Club adventure “left off” at the end.  Let’s just say that Camel Club leader Oliver Stone is now “on the run”.  No great revelation there.  Because of Oliver Stone’s secret spy background, he must be stopped.  Even though he was a great asset for the government, he eventually wanted “out” - which apparently isn’t an option for such a profession.  So the government needs to reel him in.  Another agent is hired to lead the hunt named Agent Knox (don’t remember his first name).  Since Knox will be hunting Stone, we’re not supposed to cheer for him.  Yet Baldacci spends a lot of time educating us to Knox’s character and background, that we end up liking him.  This is necessary since as Knox learns more and more about his target, he discovers that Stone is/was actually a good guy, and he starts to seriously question his directives from his superiors.  I was reminded a bit of the Tommy Lee Jones character in the movie “The Fugitive”, and how his feels toward Harrison Ford were slowly changing throughout the picture.

Well, a series of bizarre events leads Oliver Stone to a small town in the middle of nowhere.  A great place to hide, yet this town as some secrets that Stone is unwillingly thrown.  The whole setup here is a bit strange, and it almost seems as though Baldacci is taking his character completely out of one book and haphazardly throwing him into an entirely different story.  Still, though, Knox remains steadfast in his pursuit.  When the surviving members of the Camel Club (including some others of the supporting cast) discover Stone is being chased, they enter into the action as well.  After all, they need to help their fearless leader who has stuck his own neck on the line for all of them oh-so-many times.

I enjoyed the book, but I still have some problems with how this author handles things at times.  He seems to still find too many “easy way outs” when his characters are in trouble.  Imagine if you will, a person being thrown into an unguarded jail cell.  The person starts to dig through the dirt in the cell and says “look, here are the keys to the cell door!”.  Now, that didn’t actually happen in this book, but there seems to be a lot of situations where events like this occur.  Then, there’s the “randomness” factor.  Imagine being invited to dinner with the President of the United States.  Then, on the way home, you find out you’ve won the lottery.  Right after that, you spot the Loch Ness Monster.  Unbelievable?  Yes, I would say so as well.  You must, however, suspend believability in many of Baldacci’s books, including this one.  It is, after all, just a story.  Surely people like this don’t really exist in the government.  Do they??