The Camel Club

By David Baldacci

The first novel of a five book series, we follow ex-covert operative Oliver Stone. Oliver used to be a part of a black-ops assassination squad for the US government. Long since dissociated from the Triple Six, he now spends his time in a tent adjacent to the White House. In protest, he displays a sign on this tent that summarizes his new attitude, “I Want the Truth.”

The camel club is a group of friends who meet to discuss political events and other conspiracies. During one of their secret meetings, they witness the murder of a CIA agent. This murder is staged to look like a suicide, for reasons yet unknown to the reader. The camel club is seen trying to escape on their boat, and soon they are drawn into a governmental conspiracy which pits Oliver against adversaries from his former life. They struggle to save the lives of government officials and untangle the web of conspiracy. We race towards the conclusion of a nasty terrorist plot, centered around an elaborate assault on a public official. The action is fast paced, and weaves a complex story which tethers Oliver’s past to current events and major figures. It’s up to Oliver and the rest of the camel club to avoid the treasonous agents, while trying to solve and prevent crimes. The Camel Club even gains a friend in Secret service agent Alex Ford, whose affiliation is crucial to the development of the story.

Baldacci excels with plotlines revolving around conspiracy and government ops. He shines in is his description of weapons and tactical coordination. Baldacci’s writing makes the process of infiltration and attack very believable and understandable. With the characters of the Camel Club, he has woven a complex web of relationships. Seemingly unrelated characters or events are quickly integrated into the plot and used to build up Oliver’s backstory. He also feeds us pieces of Oliver’s former personal and professional life. By the end of the book, we have a great understanding of the emotional and professional motives of Oliver. Tying the plot together in a satisfying way also exemplifies his work, and by the end of the book you understand all the key relationships (except for the ones he leaves for later books).

My complaints with this book detract little from the novel itself, but were still somewhat distracting. I felt that the supporting characters were very weak. The novel is called “The Camel Club,” yet I cared little about the other members. Their personalities and traits were somewhat weak, and their involvement in the story often seemed to be integrated just so that the action was happening to someone else instead of Oliver all the time. They were forgettable, and I can only hope they are further developed in the other books of the series. Having read some other reviews of the book, many readers felt the book was a bit preachy about the “evils of America” and where we have gone wrong. While I definitely recognize the passages where this occurred, it did not distract me from the story. Given the publication date (2005) I can also understand the political climate at the time this was written, so it is excusable.

 Rating: 4 out of 5 Bunsen Burners
 Up Next: The Collectors (book 2) by David Baldacci