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YOU'D WALK A MILE FOR A CAMEL CLUB EXPLOIT

November 25, 2007 12:36 am

WHEN I PICKED up "Stone Cold," I was already reading two weighty non-fiction books, yawning through another novel, preparing to teach a class and working on my own latest manuscript. Within five minutes, I knew I was in trouble. David Baldacci, in the third book of his "Camel Club" series, has produced yet another compelling read. Resistance was futile: I put the other work aside.

Harry Finn breaches security at Reagan National Airport, catches a ride to Detroit in the cargo hold of a passenger jet, and triumphantly reveals the coup to the Department of Homeland Security, for which he is a contractor, paid to find flaws in post-9/11 anti-terrorism measures.

But Harry, an athletic, tech-savvy family man with a mysterious, James Bond-style job, has another mission as well: To avenge the death of his father, a Cold War spy offed by the CIA for his alleged betrayal of his nation. Harry's list of those he must destroy, death by bloody death, is growing shorter. But will his obsession with vengeance put his unwitting family at risk?

Meanwhile, former CIA operative Oliver Stone is puttering in the cemetery he maintains when he's visited by the beautiful Annabelle Conroy. Annabelle has just conned casino owner and royal bad guy Jerry Bagger out of a fortune. She's now running scared, convinced Bagger will see to it she comes to a painful end.

Oliver cannot resist helping her. He convenes the eclectic group of truth-seekers he calls the Camel Club and the game is on.

Oliver is out to con the con man, and deliver Annabelle from harm's way. Annabelle needs to escape certain death. And Harry must check off the last few people on his "to-kill" list-- one of whom is Oliver Stone.

In an ever-tightening plot, the three main characters' stories braid together until twists and turns produce an unexpected, and ultimately satisfying, ending.

That Baldacci knows plot, that he can techie-up with the best of them, that he uses the English language well, are givens. My main quibble is that his characters, unlike those in earlier books like "Last Man Standing," are shallow--caricatures rather than the full-blown people I, the reader, desperately want to see succeed. And I flinch when I come across a plot point which is unjustified: A character action which moves the plot ahead but which is illogical. This book features a few of those flaws.

Those aside, "Stone Cold" is a fun read, full of intrigue about the shadowy world of the U.S. intelligence community and behind-the-scenes Washington drama. The book is sure to please "Camel Club" fans and become another in the long line of winning Baldacci thrillers.