34. The Camel Club

The Camel Club - David Baldacci

This book took me back to my favorite genre, the political/military/spy thriller. I have heard of this author through recommendations by a few friends, but I never picked up one of his books. I finally did.

I enjoyed this book right from the start. It has some very interesting characters. I felt like I got to know them a little better than I do with most other books. I understood them, their actions, and why they said some things they said. I do not think there was onetime where I thought "why did that person do that?"

The plot of this book was very detailed, and also very ambitious. I am actually a bit surprised that the whole story fit into 600 pages and still had the detail it contained. Maybe the end was rushed, but it was really just the aftermath of the adventures of "The Camel Club" anyway. Aftermath being the one second left on the countdown to launching the nuclear missiles and the dismissals and resignations of presidential cabinet members. None of that was what this story was about, but the ends needed to be sewn up.

One thing that did bug me a little was the actions of the Secretary of Defense. This was not a major player in the story, but it seemed to me that this part was not based in reality. The words and actions of this person in cabinet meetings made it seem like the military was hoping for a total nuclear holocaust in the middle east. That is hog-wash. Nobody that felt that way would ever be put into a position where they had influence over the decision. I thought that was pretty much Hollywood cheese, but the rest kicked buttocks!

I will read more by David Baldacci. I have another of his books, "Divine Justice", on the shelf. I will get to it before the end of 2009.

In case you care, The Camel Club, is a group of four guys that the Secret Service considers conspiracy theory types. One lives part time in a tent in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House. They know these guys and consider them harmless. The Secret Service guys visit the park and play chess with them. LOL When you are talking about folks living on the fringes of society like that, well, you can get some very interesting individuals...and this book has plenty of those.