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The Camel Club
(Camel Club #1)
by
Existing at the fringes of Washington D.C., the Club consists of four eccentric members. Led by a mysterious man know as "Oliver Stone," they study conspiracy theories, current events, and the machinations of government to discover the "truth" behind the country's actions. Their efforts bear little fruit --- until the group witnesses a shocking murder ... and become embroi
...more
Paperback, 606 pages
Published
September 1st 2006
by Warner Vision
(first published October 25th 2005)
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Start your review of The Camel Club (Camel Club, #1)
Some people follow sports teams, other people follow actors or rock bands. But me, I follow authors. And while some people fantasize about celebrities they’d like to dine with, I have a list of rock star authors I dream of interviewing.
Recently, one of my dreams came true when David Baldacci agreed to an email interview with me. Upon hearing the news, my impulse was to jump and kick in a manner my legs haven’t experienced since the late 1980s, when I was a high school cheerleader. I quickly disc ...more
Recently, one of my dreams came true when David Baldacci agreed to an email interview with me. Upon hearing the news, my impulse was to jump and kick in a manner my legs haven’t experienced since the late 1980s, when I was a high school cheerleader. I quickly disc ...more
Updating just to correct some typos and grammatical problems.
Well....here I go. I can't really recommend this one. You know there are books by Mr. Baldacci that I enjoy greatly. I have noted before that he can be...that's "can be" one of those authors who can get very heavy handed about their political beliefs.
I find that the case here. He pretty much had me feeling he was really (really) mostly interested in making a political point. This is obviously a point to be agreed or disagreed on as ...more
Well....here I go. I can't really recommend this one. You know there are books by Mr. Baldacci that I enjoy greatly. I have noted before that he can be...that's "can be" one of those authors who can get very heavy handed about their political beliefs.
I find that the case here. He pretty much had me feeling he was really (really) mostly interested in making a political point. This is obviously a point to be agreed or disagreed on as ...more
Aug 23, 2007
Dash Garabetovitch Kassakhov
rated it
did not like it
Recommends it for:
morons and idiots
I feel cheated that I even had to assign a single star to this pathetic excuse for a book.
Let me describe this book like this... this is the kind of book that comes in only two forms - paperback and audio. It's excrement smeared on paper and then bound and placed in airport bookstore shelves.
It's your basic Tom Clancy bite off of the terrorist plot to bring down the free world. The author has watched a couple of National Geographic Videos, maybe had lunch with about three or four guys who used ...more
Let me describe this book like this... this is the kind of book that comes in only two forms - paperback and audio. It's excrement smeared on paper and then bound and placed in airport bookstore shelves.
It's your basic Tom Clancy bite off of the terrorist plot to bring down the free world. The author has watched a couple of National Geographic Videos, maybe had lunch with about three or four guys who used ...more
2.0 stars. Probably would have given this 3 stars except for my extreme annoyance with the "heavy handed" political tone of the book. As far as I can tell from the authors depictions in the story, America is responsible for ALL of the evil in the world (especially in the Middle East), 9/11 was a justified response to American foreign policy and Americans are ignorant and racist. Great, thanks for that, now can we get on with the story. Oh, that is the story. Terrific!!!
Apart from the tone, this ...more
Apart from the tone, this ...more
Across the street from the White House, tells a story of a man, dead and alive, Oliver Stone. Old and homeless, he and a small group of friends known as The Camel Club, witness a murder on Roosevelt Island.
I read this book many years ago, but for the life of me, I could not remember very much of it. Except for the fact that Oliver Stone lived homeless across the street from the White house and was a mysterious old man. Now that I have re-read this first novel in the series, scenes and characte ...more
I read this book many years ago, but for the life of me, I could not remember very much of it. Except for the fact that Oliver Stone lived homeless across the street from the White house and was a mysterious old man. Now that I have re-read this first novel in the series, scenes and characte ...more
Apr 27, 2017
Margitte
rated it
really liked it
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
action,
mystery,
adventure,
political-novel,
suspense,
thriller,
american-author,
reviewed,
2017-read,
american-novel
I'm just blabbering about this read:
- how insignificant we are. Why fight/appose/criticize/object to anything when we're simply not important? Depressing;
- some Americans will approve of the criticism in the book, other will be furious and frustrated;
- this book proves a point. How democracy is used as a weapon to control countries, a well done and straightforward explanation; sadly true as well;
- a cliffhanger ending; don't want to indulge in the series, so I'm unhappy;
- I liked, as in really ...more
- how insignificant we are. Why fight/appose/criticize/object to anything when we're simply not important? Depressing;
- some Americans will approve of the criticism in the book, other will be furious and frustrated;
- this book proves a point. How democracy is used as a weapon to control countries, a well done and straightforward explanation; sadly true as well;
- a cliffhanger ending; don't want to indulge in the series, so I'm unhappy;
- I liked, as in really ...more
The Camel Club is comprised of a group of men who are sort of a counter culture of their own after having served the country in some form or fashion, enough to be suspicious of the publicly fed information from the government. They lead an odd existence, each with unique quirks and eccentricities, and meet each month to compare notes on what they're hearing from various inside sources. On one of these evenings, they unfortunately become witnesses to a stunning event that puts them in the middle
...more
Same fun, eccentric characters from Baldacci's The Collectors, however, this book came first. Intricate plot, however, a few characters are used as mouthpieces to give long dissertations on the peaceful nature of Islam and the greed of Americans. Though his points may or may not be valid, it was delivered heavy-handedly and got tiresome. After all, I'm reading a novel, not a slanted history book on Middle East politics.
Aside from that, though, I enjoyed the story and the main characters. I'll re ...more
Aside from that, though, I enjoyed the story and the main characters. I'll re ...more
Read the review of the entire Camel Club series at my my blog
The Camel Club has an interesting premise in the action thriller genre. It consists of four washed up, eccentric senior gentlemen who want to make the world a better place. This premise intrigued me and made me pick up this book.
Now, I have read Baldacci's Will Robie before and I liked that series. The review of the series is available here. The Camel Club is different since it does not rely on one individual to move the plot along th ...more
The Camel Club has an interesting premise in the action thriller genre. It consists of four washed up, eccentric senior gentlemen who want to make the world a better place. This premise intrigued me and made me pick up this book.
Now, I have read Baldacci's Will Robie before and I liked that series. The review of the series is available here. The Camel Club is different since it does not rely on one individual to move the plot along th ...more
Jan 30, 2012
Pat
added it
Recommends it for:
Nobody
Recommended to Pat by:
a friend
Shelves:
abandoned
How wrong can you be. This started ok. I wondered why the treatise on the nature of Islam, was prepared to accept that somehow the relevance of that would make itself apparent.
Wrong again
20% read and starting to find it tiresome, but this was an author recommended by a friend so I ploughed on.
What a lot of characters and acronyms and superheros and who the hell is this book written for? Seems to me the target audience is an adolescent youth the author is hoping to 'educate' Yet I'm thinking it ...more
Extremely bad
I read this book because it was chosen by my book club - I don't think I would have bothered to finish it otherwise.
The plot is ridiculous and lunges around especially towards the end - it felt like a badly written James Bond movie. The nuclear strike was averted by just 1 second - that sort of timing is not dramatic - it's just annoying.
The characterisation was quite two dimensional and, in the case of Hemingway, quite nauseating - his accomplishments are just too unbelievable - s ...more
I read this book because it was chosen by my book club - I don't think I would have bothered to finish it otherwise.
The plot is ridiculous and lunges around especially towards the end - it felt like a badly written James Bond movie. The nuclear strike was averted by just 1 second - that sort of timing is not dramatic - it's just annoying.
The characterisation was quite two dimensional and, in the case of Hemingway, quite nauseating - his accomplishments are just too unbelievable - s ...more
Jan 20, 2017
Benjamin Thomas
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
thriller-political,
thriller-cops-feds
Four societal misfits and conspiracy theorists living in the Washington DC area have banded together to form what they refer to as the Camel Club. Led by Oliver Stone, a 60+ year old man with a mysterious past, they find themselves accidentally witnessing a murder. That launches them into an adventure beyond their wildest expectations involving a complex and bizarre terrorist plot.
I’ve been a David Baldacci fan since I read Absolute Power. His books don’t always quite live up to that one in my m ...more
I’ve been a David Baldacci fan since I read Absolute Power. His books don’t always quite live up to that one in my m ...more
David Baldacci's descriptive style of writing is worth reading. I like the way he puts all the events at bay.
As being a big fan of conspiracy theories, I had high expectations of The Camel Club. Tom Hemingway deserves more as a protagonist than a supporting role.
I'm glad David did justice with Tom Hemingway's martial arts and did not kill him by an ex-agent turned shooter.
Carter gray's assumed conviction of Tom Hemingway for doing the plot is a typical David Baldacci thing. Everything was befor ...more
As being a big fan of conspiracy theories, I had high expectations of The Camel Club. Tom Hemingway deserves more as a protagonist than a supporting role.
I'm glad David did justice with Tom Hemingway's martial arts and did not kill him by an ex-agent turned shooter.
Carter gray's assumed conviction of Tom Hemingway for doing the plot is a typical David Baldacci thing. Everything was befor ...more
The Camel Club - a rag tag team of friends led by the "past-less" Oliver Stone - is a strangely capable group who's purpose is to discover the truth about what's really going on in the government. When they stumbles upon a murder that smells of corruption - it becomes a lethal race to discover the murderers' identities and silence them before the Camel Club is the one to get silenced.
The Camel Club combines mystery, suspense, and action in a moderately paced adult read. Readers should be aware t ...more
The Camel Club combines mystery, suspense, and action in a moderately paced adult read. Readers should be aware t ...more
Baldacci wrote this in 2005 but is still a good read. The plot, as told by four old friends, is complex but very believable. At some points, the story seems a little drawn out, but overall, I enjoyed it. The shadows of current politics is chilling.
An introduction to the Camel Club, a group of conspiracy theorists led by the mysterious Oliver Stone who see a murder and get led into a major attempt against the US president. A monster book nearly 700 pages and I found the first 150-200 pages very slow in the set-up to the main story
Good read. Oliver Stone aka John Carr. Middle East history: Replacing dictatorships that America helped foster and support. In most cases the democracies coming to power hate America more than the dictators they replaced. We entered Iraq not understanding its history or culture. Great Britain took Mesopotamia and artificially created a country, Iraq. Its population is composed of Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds & dozens of other groups that are not know to get along. One cannot “bomb” people into a democ
...more
A tense thriller with some fascinating twists.
Rating - 6/10(Okay) - Rip-off of White House Down!! :(
After reading the Camel Club series as a whole, the order of the books from better to worst is -
#5 > #4 > #2 > #3 >#1
After reading the synopsis of what the book will be about, I was thrilled. But I learned the hard way that not to judge the book by it's cover. The book, as the title suggests, is The Camel Club . It should revolve mostly around The Camel Club right? But this book gives us the impression that it will be based on them but ...more
After reading the Camel Club series as a whole, the order of the books from better to worst is -
#5 > #4 > #2 > #3 >#1
After reading the synopsis of what the book will be about, I was thrilled. But I learned the hard way that not to judge the book by it's cover. The book, as the title suggests, is The Camel Club . It should revolve mostly around The Camel Club right? But this book gives us the impression that it will be based on them but ...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
This is straight out of last night's news, well similar anyways. A lot of research has gone into the topic of Middle East/American dynamics in the writing of this not so pretty story. Baldacci, like Grisham, skillfully writes a conspiracy theory and then proves it.
...more
For all of my reviews: www.readingbetweenthepagesblog.wordpr...
** 3.5 Stars
The Camel Club is a corky group of misfits. They are four members – Oliver Stone, Caleb Shaw, Reuben Rhodes, and Milton Farb. They are the eyes and ears of Washington, D.C. They lurk about where no one realizes they are being watched and listened to. This conspiracy theory group meets at night so they can go undetected all in the name of justice.
The Camel Club is in the wrong place at the wrong time and find themselves wi ...more
** 3.5 Stars
The Camel Club is a corky group of misfits. They are four members – Oliver Stone, Caleb Shaw, Reuben Rhodes, and Milton Farb. They are the eyes and ears of Washington, D.C. They lurk about where no one realizes they are being watched and listened to. This conspiracy theory group meets at night so they can go undetected all in the name of justice.
The Camel Club is in the wrong place at the wrong time and find themselves wi ...more
"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
...more
The Camel Club is a political thriller that opens in Washington, D.C. (well, not quite. The opening chapter is not in D.C.), where we meet four eccentric, once-upon-a-time effective fellows who make up a group they call The Camel Club. Each has some kind of experience and/or brilliance that makes him essential to the small assembly; and each has been successful at one time or another in his life. Now, they are only reflections of what they once were. There's Oliver Stone (his assumed name), Cale
...more
5 solid and thrilling stars.
In the first book of the Camel Club series, we get introduced to the Camel Club, a group of conspiracy theorists whose aim is to uncover corruption in the upper reaches of the US government. This group is headed by Oliver Stone, whose real name is John Carr and who was a former CIA assassin. The Other members are Reuben Rhodes, a former military spy, Caleb Shaw, who works in the Library of Congress and Milton Farb, who was a child prodigy and now a web designer.
The Bo ...more
In the first book of the Camel Club series, we get introduced to the Camel Club, a group of conspiracy theorists whose aim is to uncover corruption in the upper reaches of the US government. This group is headed by Oliver Stone, whose real name is John Carr and who was a former CIA assassin. The Other members are Reuben Rhodes, a former military spy, Caleb Shaw, who works in the Library of Congress and Milton Farb, who was a child prodigy and now a web designer.
The Bo ...more
Awful. Hated 95% of the story, characters were not developed well, let alone new characters were still being added 50 pages from the end of the book. I didn't even care about the ones already present.
It seems that the author is trying way too hard to create a gripping, thrill-a-minute novel when in reality, the story is way too long and overtold. Many times while reading it, I felt like I was browsing wikipedia as many random facts were mentioned. I'm not sure if the author assumes his audience ...more
It seems that the author is trying way too hard to create a gripping, thrill-a-minute novel when in reality, the story is way too long and overtold. Many times while reading it, I felt like I was browsing wikipedia as many random facts were mentioned. I'm not sure if the author assumes his audience ...more
The book started out slow, but once the author got all the characters in and established, it started to move along. It was obvious from the beginning that there was a plot against the U.S., and except for Captain Jack, we knew who the 'bad guys' were, and slowly got some of the why. But the purpose, and the actual carrying out of the plot - there were some surprises there. I had to stay up late last night - once the trap was sprung, I couldn't stop.
As with all political thrillers, I find myself ...more
As with all political thrillers, I find myself ...more
Oct 24, 2012
Cora
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
thriller,
1st-in-series,
mystery,
america,
crime,
series,
political-thriller,
suspense,
author-author-read,
washington-dc
The Camel Club is a political thriller about a group of misfits that have a club where they try to uncover conspiracies and force the government to acknowledge truth. The leader of the Camel Club calls himself Oliver Stone and keeps a vigil in a tent in the park across from the white house. During one meeting of the Camel Club, the members witness a real murder and conspiracy to cover it up. The group begins to investigate what they witnessed and becomes mixed up in a conspiracy that threatens t
...more
5 Stars. Enjoyable. We watch a conspiracy coming to light through two perspectives. First through our own eyes. We see some things happening independent of the second set of eyes, those of the four members of the Camel Club. I am still uncertain of the reason for that name, but they are a group of fringe eccentrics in the Washington area led by "Oliver Stone." The club's purpose? To ferret out conspiracies against the American government. A murder occurs and the repercussions slowly become appar
...more
An unusual and unique partnership between Secret Service Agent Alex Ford and four eccentric men called the Camel Club (led by “Oliver Stone”) join together in this novel by David Baldacci, written in 2005. In typical Baldacci flair, this political thriller is laced with adventure and intrigue. The title is aptly spelled with capital “Cs” for CONSPIRACY. I was surprised with a twist toward the end, but being a loyal Buckeye from Ohio I was ahead of the pages on another twisted detail.
Baldacci in ...more
Baldacci in ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Book Recommendation | 1 | 4 | Apr 15, 2020 05:10PM | |
| Book Reco | 1 | 1 | Feb 04, 2020 10:45AM | |
| Play Book Tag: The Camel Club by David Baldacci 4 stars | 3 | 12 | Dec 15, 2019 05:22PM | |
| Goodreads Librari...: correct page count | 1 | 14 | May 23, 2018 11:00PM | |
| Baldacci Lovin' "...: Oliver Stone | 5 | 42 | Aug 29, 2016 05:18PM | |
| Is Baldacci finished with this series? | 3 | 37 | May 27, 2016 01:03PM | |
| Crime, Mysteries ...: Camel Club, The - March 2016 | 16 | 45 | Mar 11, 2016 12:36PM |
Readers also enjoyed
David Baldacci has been writing since childhood, when his mother gave him a lined notebook in which to write down his stories. (Much later, when David thanked her for being the spark that ignited his writing career, she revealed that she’d given him the notebook to keep him quiet, "because every mom needs a break now and then.”) He published his first novel, Absolute Power, in 1996; it was subsequ
...more
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“Alex said, "Okay, I need to know something. Why the Camel Club?"
Stone answered, "Because camels have great stamina. They never give up."
"That's what Oliver says, but the real reason is this," Reuben countered. "In the 1920s there was another Camel Club. And at each meeting of that club they would all raise their glasses and take a vow to oppose Prohibition to the last drop of whiskey. Now, that's my kind of club.”
—
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Stone answered, "Because camels have great stamina. They never give up."
"That's what Oliver says, but the real reason is this," Reuben countered. "In the 1920s there was another Camel Club. And at each meeting of that club they would all raise their glasses and take a vow to oppose Prohibition to the last drop of whiskey. Now, that's my kind of club.”
