Review - Stone Cold

I have just finished reading Stone Cold by David Baldacci. After reading it about a quarter of the way through, I realized that I had missed the second title in the series, The Collectors. Oh well. This is one of those series that makes a lot more sense to read them in order but not absolutely critical.

The premise of this novel is that the Camel Club, a team of unusual people, need to protect Annabelle Conroy ( a character introduced in The Collectors), from Jerry Bagger, the Atlantic City casino owner from whom she coned $40 million. Former CIA operatives, of whom Oliver Stone, the head of the Camel Club is one, are being killed and Oliver wonders when his turn is. And Carter Gray, whom Oliver forced to resign from the chief intelligence post for the government, is seeking his own revenge while trying to hide dirty secrets.

All these stories finally come together in the last fourth of the book. Until then, it's interesting but frustrating to have all these different characters and stories going on. At times it was almost too much for me. In the end, justice prevails but not without the ultimate cost to one of the Camel Club members.

There is some bad language, no sex, and a medium amount of violence to upset some readers. But if you can get past that, it is a good book. But read the series in order. It makes much more sense.

I tried to move on to The Time Thief by Linda Buckley-Archer, the second novel in the Gideon Trilogy, but couldn't get into it without going back and reading the first book (some patron has kept it long overdue). So now I'll try to read Beverly Hills Dead by Stuart Woods.