Baldacci's plots are always ingenious and compelling. I am always wondering what is going to happen next. Quite frankly, it's the only reason I read his stories and stick with them to the end. His characters are, at best, cardboard stereotypes, his prose is predictable and uninspiring and often the writing seems to be just filling space until the next plot turn.

In this case, Oliver Stone and his three Camel Club friends, Caleb Shaw, Milton Farb and Reuben Rhodes get involved in trying to solve the murder of Caleb's boss at the Library of Congress. There is a sub-plot involving one Annabelle Conroy, a skilled con-artist, who eventually teams up with the Camel Club as the situation becomes more complicated.

As you might guess, the Camel Club plus one triumph in the end and the scenario is set for Book Three in the series.

I will undoubtedly read number three, "Stone Cold" but it will be a while. I can only take so much of this type of writing.



drummergirl (USA: FL) (2010/02/21):
From Amazon "...Baldacci delivers crisp, economical prose and a cast of spies, misfits, and assassins that would make even the most patriotic citizen question the American political system."