Archive for the ‘David Baldacci’ Category
I just downloaded the new David Baldacci novel, “First Family”!
April 21st, 2009 | 
Author: 
I just downloaded the new David Baldacci novel from Audible.com. and I’ve been waiting impatiently for this book to be published. I just love David Baldacci’s books and this one is narrated by one of my favorite narrators, Ron McLarty! Listening to Ron McLarty is like visiting and old friend for me. I love his voice.
Also, there is a book plate signing event at David Baldacci’s website that will be going on until May 22, 2009. Visit his site here to get the details.
Click here to purchase and download First Family from Audible.com.
Update: I finished listening to First Family a day later. I couldn’t put it down! It’s the best Sean King and Michelle Maxwell novel yet! Don’t miss this one! Thanks, David, for another most excellent adventure! 
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The Camel Club Series
The Camel Club…
The Camel Club was the first book I read by the wonderful author David Baldacci. I was browsing the catalog from the 
Literary Guild at the time and the publisher’s summary sounded interesting. I believe I had just joined at the time.
This is from the Publisher’s Summary:
“It exists at the fringes of Washington, D.C., has no power, and consists solely of four eccentric and downtrodden members whom society has forgotten. Their simple goal is to find the “truth” behind their country’s actions.
One man leads this aging, ragtag crew. He has no known past and has taken the name “Oliver Stone”. Day and night, Stone and his friends study wild conspiracy theories, current events, and the machinations of government, hoping to discover some truth that will hold America’s leaders accountable to its citizens. Yet never in Stone’s wildest nightmares could he imagine the conspiracy the Camel Club is about to uncover.
After witnessing a shocking murder, the Club is slammed headfirst into a plot that threatens the very security of the nation, full of stunning twists, high-stakes intrigue, and global gamesmanship rocketing to the Oval Office and beyond. Soon the Club must join forces with veteran Secret Service agent Alex Ford, who becomes an unwilling participant in one of the most chilling spectacles to ever take place on American soil. It’s an event that may well be the catalyst for the long-threatened Armageddon between two different worlds, and all that stands in the way of this apocalypse are five unexpected heroes.”
The members of The Camel Club have become my most favorite group of characters out of all the novels I’ve read recently. Their eccentricities have endeared them to me and Baldacci does a wonderful job in creating these three-dimensional oddball characters. Their friendship and loyalty to each other seems to have no bounds. ”
I first read this book in hardcover and then later downloaded the unabridged audiobook from Audible.com. I have to say I loved the audiobook better and the narrator, Jonathan Davis, made the story come alive.
The Collectors…
The Collectors is the second book in the Camel Club series written by David Baldacci. I only listened to the unabridged audiobook and didn’t read the hardcover.
From the publisher’s summary:
“The U.S. Speaker of the House is assassinated in a terrifyingly precise execution in the heart of Washington, D.C. In a quieter corner of the nation’s capital, the rare book room of the Library of Congress, a reclusive, wealthy scholar drops dead under mysterious circumstances that leave no clues. Following on the heels of the natural death of the Speaker of the House, the city and the nation begin to tremble. In California, a beautiful but capable woman is planning and executing one of the most brilliant cons on record.
All the while, “Oliver Stone” and his quirky Camel Club stand by and observe as the genius of their collective perspective begins to connect the dots between these seemingly disparate events–and they realize they must act, and act quickly, before their country falls victim to a silent yet bloody coup.”
I have to say the story was good, but I simply didn’t enjoy the audiobook as much as I did The Camel Club and I know it was the narration that bothered me. Instead of one narrator there were three narrators, LJ Ganser, Aimee Jolson and Richard Mover. The female narrator had a particular twang to her voice that drove me crazy and using three narrators for this book, taking parts, did not work for me. Although, there are some audiobooks it does work for, but not this one.
In reading the reviews of this book on Audible.com, some loved it and the narration didn’t bother them and some hated it. However, I’m glad to mention that the rest of the Camel Club Series is narrated by only one narrator per book.
Stone Cold…
Stone Cold is the third book in the Camel Club Series by David Baldacci. Again, I only listened to the unabridged audiobook and did not read the hardcover. I loved every minute of it.
From the publisher’s summary:
“Oliver Stone and the Camel Club are back in their most dangerous adventure yet, a war on two fronts. Casino king Jerry Bagger from The Collectors is hunting Annabelle Conroy, who conned him out of millions. Stone and his colleagues Reuben, Milton, and Caleb marshal all their resources to protect Annabelle. Yet all their skills may not be enough when a deadly new opponent rips off the veneer of Stone’s own mysterious past.
Bagger’s menace pales next to newcomer Harry Finn’s lethality. Seeming a normal family-man, Finn has already killed three men, with more targets to come. When Finn also sets his bulls-eye on Stone, his reason why will be the greatest shock of all, making listeners reconsider their beliefs in good and evil.
As bodies and institutions topple, the story rockets toward a shattering finale that will leave the survivors of this explosive tale changed forever.
I loved this audiobook! First, one of my favorite narrators, Ron McLarty, narrated and I felt like I was listening to an old friend. Second, by this time I felt like the members of the Camel Club were family and I was visiting beloved relatives as I started this book.
BTW…..Those of us who regularly listen to audiobooks have our favorite narrators. Many times I’ve chosen a book because a favorite narrator of mine is narrating it. On Audible.com you can do a search of your favorite narrators to see what books they’ve narrated.
In this novel “Oliver Stone’s’” past comes to haunt his present. Past issues are resolved in an ending that leaves us wondering about Stone’s future. I don’t want to reveal too much. If you like the Camel Club, this book is a must.
Divine Justice…
I just finished listening to Divine Justice by David Balducci. What a great book! I could hardly stop listening. This is the fourth book in the Camel Club series (my favorite). I’m wondering if this is the last Camel Club book or if there will be more? If this is the last, I will miss all these characters.
From the Publisher’s Summary:
“Known by his alias, “Oliver Stone,” John Carr is the most wanted man in America. With two pulls of the trigger, the men who destroyed Stone’s life and kept him in the shadows were finally silenced.
But his freedom comes at a steep price: The assassinations he carried out prompt the highest levels of the U.S. government to unleash a massive manhunt. Behind the scenes, master spy Macklin Hayes is playing a very personal game of cat and mouse. He, more than anyone, wants Stone dead.
With their friend and unofficial leader in hiding, the members of the Camel Club risk everything to save him. Now, as the hunters close in, Stone’s flight from the demons of his past will take him from the power corridors of Washington, D.C., to the small, isolated coal-mining town of Divine, Virginia-and into a world every bit as lethal as the one he left behind.”
If you’ve been reading the Camel Club series, don’t miss this one!