Stone Cold by David Baldacci

Oliver Stone is hard at work again. This time, the Camel Club’s friend Annabelle needs their help. She has a man after her and she can’t get rid of him on her own. Problem is, members of the elite team Oliver was on keep dying one by one. The only man behind it is Harry Finn. Oliver will have met his match on this one and hopes the team can do both tasks so that everyone will be okay.

Mr. Baldacci is quite the author. I am not a big political thriller type reader but his characters are so compelling that they pull me in and don’t let me stop reading till it is done. A few changes were made in the time frame of things but Mr. Baldacci explained them at the end. Truly don’t read that note till the book is over. It gives away a few things that surprised me. The action in the book never really seems to stop and that is what I enjoyed so much.

Oliver doesn’t do well with facing his past. Harry certainly does not help with that. Things seem to go from bad to worse in this story. Oliver relies on his friends and they back him up. He also does his best to help out whenever he can. Even if that means working with the enemy from time to time, Oliver is determined to keep some of the stuff in his past buried. The world wouldn’t know what to do with it if they found out.

I can’t say enough about these characters. I hope there are more stories to come about The Camel Club. They are a fun bunch and they really do know their stuff. Plus Mr. Baldacci has to redeem himself. One of the deaths in this book upset me but I won’t say who it was. Definitely a good read for anyone who likes politics and thrillers mixed together.

David Baldacci, Fiction, Political, Spies, 388 pages, 4 out of 5

Simple Genius by David Baldacci

Sean King has to figure out how to make some money fast. His partner Michelle Maxwell is in the hospital after getting in a serious bar fight. She ends up going to a psychiatric hospital to not have to face criminal charges. Meanwhile, Sean gets a great opportunity of looking into a case near Williamsburg, Virginia. He has to figure out whether the genius was murdered or committed suicide and doesn’t seem to be getting much help from the people living in Baggage Town. So he really wishes Michelle were around but knows that is not possible or so he thinks.

David Baldacci does it again! I enjoyed this story even though I know little about the theme covered. I am not a genius and math was my least favorite subject. Everything was explained really well and I followed along wonderfully. I was impressed with how well he keeps you on the edge of your seat but carries the story along as well.

Sean is a hard workingman and stubborn to a fault. Michelle can be reckless at times and not think things through. I also liked the psychiatrist Horatio Barnes. He was quite the guy and very eccentric. It made the story even more enjoyable. Horatio was a very caring guy but would stick to his methods cause he knew that they would work. The other minor characters like Viggie, the autistic daughter and Ian Whitfield were interesting to read about.

The process by which they got things done was new to me. I enjoyed reading along. I give this book a 4/5 because it really kept me going and it was a wonderful read. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

I am off to read another short story romance novel and then after that will be Don't Scream by Wendy Corsi Staub.