The Camel Club: Four old men saving the world

The Camel Club is a group of four old men, each with a different special ability, whose objective is to monitor the actions of the White House and react if it finds out cases of corruption or else. The curious thing is that non of them has access to the building nor are involved in politics. The closest connection they have with it is a Secret Service agent, a friend of the group’s leader, who goes by the alias ‘Oliver Stone’. A man with no past. Together they will try to solve an international conflict that may end up with US bombs falling over the Middle East. A novel first published bty David Baldacci in 2005 that depicts, in a fictional way, a problem that’s still happening nowadays.

This book is a good political thriller which combines suspense, action, love, mystery and politics in an intriguing plot. Though sometimes it seems to have more storylines than it can carry, its diversity in characters and personal stories finally makes up for it, specially in the second half of the book. Moreover, it shows the talent of Mr. Baldacci (at least for me) who dared to leave his crime fiction comfort zone and face this complex thriller challenge. And, in my humble opinion, he succeeded. 

It’s funny how I came across this novel. I’ve previously read ‘Hour Game’ and ‘The Sixth Man’ (which I recommend), two novels that belong to Baldacci’s Sean King and Michelle Maxwell series. And The Camel Club is the first one of the Camel Club Series. I clearly did not know that beforehand so, unlike the other two, I could submerge in the story from the very beginning and not feeling like I was missing anything. 

As I was saying before, this thriller combines a wide variety of characters that sometimes makes you feel lost along the way. Nevertheless, the plot is breathtaking in a whole, more if you are fond of stories that involve terrorism attacks, politicians getting their hands dirty, and most of all, some good surprising plot twists. These, I think, are the reasons the novel better appeals to the reader, because it compensates what otherwise would be a more dense thing. Again, it helps to keep focusing on what’s going on in the different fronts, in a story that tends to go here and there in the blink of an eye. Though some may find that quite annoying, in my opinion is definitely a good aspect of it. 

Leaving that minor flaw on the side. The Camel Club is a novel that builds up the suspense till the very end, framed in an international scenario that can totally relate to what’s happening today. It also brought back memories of another great novel I read in the past, also about a planned terrorist attack to the United States. I’m referring to the French ‘The Fifth Horseman’, written by Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre. Published back in 1980, that story is about a Middle East group which hides a nuclear bomb in New York City and threatens to make it go boom. It is also told from the perspectives of the different characters (the ones hiding it and the ones looking for it). That same book had such a shocking repercussion among French political leaders that they cancelled the sale of nuclear reactors to Lybia. So tell me about the power of literature.

All in all, apart from the fact that these kind of novels and movies (also made me think about the movie Patriots Day, about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing) have that big US patriot feeling ingredient, this Baldacci novel gives his fans what they are looking for and more. And to the rest of its readers, a pretty good novel to keep your mind entertained for a while.  

My rating for the book: 4 stars. Very good. On a bad day, I would say 3 or 3 and a half. So, be careful (?)

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