The Camel club by David Baldacci

"The Camel club" by David Baldacci. This book is published by Pan MacMillan in 2011 and has 704 pages. This is Book 1 of the series.

Oliver Stone, keeper of a cemetery, is a man with no past. He and his bunch of rag tag friends call themselves 'The Camel club'. They are patriots who do good things for the country but remain anonymous and dabble in conspiracy theories.

A set of middle Eastern terrorists led by an American has planned and executed the most daredevil terrorist attack in America. The President has gone missing. Where is the President? Who are the terrorists? What is the plot? How does The Camel Club get involved? Can they do something? Who exactly is Oliver Stone?

It's a David Baldacci book, so you don't get bored. Introduction to Camel club takes some time. Murder of a government operative in the beginning starts the story on a fast note.

Oliver Stone is an enigma. His background comes out bit by bit. His relationship with young detective is easy to guess.

Kidnapping of the President of America on American soil and announcing to release him in Medina is a very bold plot. It is not abundantly clear why the perpetrator plots such an elaborate plan. It's also not clear why Grey decides to sacrifice his boss.

Nevertheless it's a light and fast story. A thriller. A bunch of people can do what all the intelligence agencies can not do.

The perpetrator escapes thereby making provision for next book. It's a good time pass book that you can read without taxing your brain.

Read if you plan to read the 'Camel club' series.

Bullseye by David Baldacci

"Bullseye" by David Baldacci. This is advertised as 'An original Will Robie / Camel club short story' and is third book of Will Robie series.

Will Robie and Oliver Stone (of Camel club) happen to be in a bank when a robbery takes place. But the robbers do not seem to be interested in the bank. They want to go somewhere from here.

Where do they want to go? Why rob the bank? What is the real target? Are Will Robie and Camel Club with each other or against? What will be the outcome?

It's a classic situation where two unrelated characters of an author meet each other for or during one assignment. It's a way for the author to make them contemporary and entice fans of one to read the stories of other (cross selling of product). Clive Cussler has done it, television soaps do it all the time.

The story is small, full of action. An assassination attempt, a plot, hostages and our heroes happening to be on the spot at the right time. The story, being short, is self propelling and heroes don't do much to take the story forward. Although the protagonists foil the plot, who is behind it never becomes clear.

Although it is listed in Will Robie series, Camel club members get more page space.

A good cross over, but you can give it a miss.

The Guilty by David Baldacci

"The Guilty" by David Baldacci. This book is published by MacMillan in Nov 2015 and has 352 pages. This is Book 5 of Will Robie series.

Will Robie, an assassin for CIA, executes a kill. The 4 year old daughter of the target is also killed by same shot, a collateral damage. Robie's estranged father is charged with murder. Robie decides to go to Mississippi, where he was separated from his teenage love, to investigate.

Why does he go to Mississippi? Will his father welcome him? What had happened to Laura, his highschool sweetheart? Is his father guilty? Are there more murders? Who is behind all this? How will it impact Robie?

The story is OK and mostly takes place in Cantrell, Mississippi. Will Robie is a sniper who works for CIA. However in this book he becomes a private detective investigating murder, blackmail, kidnapping etc while trying to absolve his father. As if that was not enough there is also an angle of serial killer thrown in. Thus, although the book is not bad, it diverts from the storyline of the series.

Although it's a domestic story (Story of Americans happening in America) it has four murders and a number of gun fight deaths. Bloody.

The characterization appears to be shallow. Characters of Dan Robie and Victoria are not fully developed. There are a number of minor loop holes like why Will does not meet Laura? Why there is no communication between father and son? Why nobody wags tongues in a small town upon disappearance of Barksdale family? Why become a serial killer?

The murderer was very obvious. I guessed it halfway through the book. Murderer was not concealed from readers cleverly though the second identity of murderer was concealed .

This book appears off the track. Not a must read.

Saving Faith by David Baldacci

"Saving Faith" by David Baldacci. This book is published by Pan Books in 2003 and has 453 pages.

Saving Faith is an interesting name. And it's neither about philosophy nor about spirituality. It's a thriller and 'Faith' is name of the female protagonist.

Danny Buchanan is a lobbyist in Washington DC. Over a period of time he develops empathy towards poor children in Africa and starts to use his money for them and use his lobbying to get grants for Africa. Being a lobbyist he regularly bribes lawmakers. Faith Lockhart is his partner and is like a daughter to Danny. Faith decides to expose Danny to FBI. Someone tries to kill her but she is saved by Lee Adams, a private detective, by chance.

Why does Faith go to FBI?  Why does she betray Danny, who is like a father? Who tries to kill her? How does Lee happen to be there? Why CIA is involved? Can they save Faith? How long?

The book is gripping. Although it's a thriller, it's not action packed. The story takes place in America circa 2003. The book contains corruption, good cops, good and bad politicians, traitors, chases, love, deceptions, betrayal and solidarity

Can a person in America hide from FBI & CIA at the same time? Looks impossible isn't it? Read the book to know more.

It is surprising to read that the secret audio and video recording was done on tapes rather than hard disks and that it was done locally and not remotely. Sophisticated agencies would not be using that in 2003.

The trick used by the protagonists towards end to win the final battle seems relatively elementary. One wonders why the villain can not foresee it.

Narration is decent. One does not sit on the edge of his chair but does not get bored either. Character of Danny is a unique one and everyone would like to meet such a man in real life. But does such a man exist?

A good book. Read if you have time.

The Target by David Baldacci

"The Target", lstest book by David Baldacci. This  is the third book in Will Robie series, is published in 2014 by Pan Macmillan India and has 400 pages.

Will Robie and Jessica Real, both CIA assassins, are now on the same sides, good friends and partner. Director of CIA is still livid at Jessica for killing two CIA employees in last book and makes an elaborate plan to teach them a lesson.

President of America has hatched a plot with General Pak of North Korea to assassinate superme leader and take over the power. But the plot in unearthed by a lady operative of North Korea. General Pak commits suicide.  General Pak's family is sent to labor camp. Robie and Real are sent to rescue them. They succeed. North Koreans device a daredevil plan to teach lesson to the Americans, lead by the lady assassin who unearthed General Pak's betrayal.

What is the plan? Will it succeed? Are Robie and Real involved? How well Americans retaliate? Is there a romance? Who is the target?

This book does not have one story. There are three stories in the book with General Pak's betrayal, neo Nazi gang and North Korean attack. As a result the story appears jack of all trades and a bit unorganized. Baldacci's writing style in this book is not as good as pervious book.

Book ends with a hint of Robie and Real getting together. Seeds of next book are sown in the form of stand off between America and North Korea as well as Jessica's personal issues.

Read if you have spare time otherwise give it a miss.