The Collectors Review

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(More customer reviews)It wouldn't be October without the publication of a new David Baldacci thriller, and The Collectors is his latest for 2007. While I enjoyed The Collectors, I don't think it is his strongest effort.
The Collectors is actually two stories. In the first, the Speaker of the House and a curator at the Library of Congress are both murdered (the second is made to look like natural causes). Caleb Shaw is a librarian at the Library of Congress, and he is also a member of the Camel Club (introduced in the book by the same name). The Camel Club consists of four misfits (nearing senior citizen status) who form a secret conspiracy watchdog organization. They decide to investigate the deaths and immediately, they discover they're being followed by agents who could be FBI, CIA or NSA. The subplot involves four individual cons who launch a scheme to swindle an Atlantic City casino owner out of $30 million. The ringleader, Annabelle Conroy, becomes immersed in the Camel Club's investigation when she attends the funeral of the library curator. The closer they come to the truth, the more endangered their lives become.
All thrillers have a bit of disbelief in their stories, and The Collectors is no exception. I don't think Baldacci was on top of his game with The Collectors in terms of plot development. Plus, the ending never really resolves all the questions and is just an opening for a sequel. While good, it doesn't come close to his earlier works including Absolute Power and A Simple Truth.


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Stone Cold Review

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(More customer reviews)Even though I do a lot of reading, fiction isn't really my thing. In fact, I usually only read a few works of fiction each year. So, when my daughter brought home an advance reading copy of STONE COLD by David Baldacci from the bookstore where she works, I didn't get too excited about it. She told me she had read one of his books before and thought it would be something I might like. The book sat idle on the desk in my library for a couple of weeks. Then one morning, before going to the office, I had a few extra minutes and decided to take a look at it.
If I lacked excitement about the book before, that lack of excitement was multiplied after reading the excruciating first sentence. It was a painful fifty-two words long and contained six commas. I looked at my watch then glanced again at the cover. "Okay Mr. Baldacci, you've got exactly twelve minutes to grab my attention."
Well, guess what. Mr. Baldacci did indeed grab my attention. The first sentence turned out a poor example of Baldacci's writing style. Over the next day and half, every spare minute was spent flipping the pages of this book. Even though this is apparently the third or forth book in a series, the character development was spectacular. The story is non-stop and will have you dying to know what happens next.
I hate it when reviewers give away too much storyline, so I'll limit what I tell you about the plot. Most books of this nature, I find, too much of a stretch to be believable. I only found minor instances of that here. Here's an example; as I said, Baldacci brilliantly constructs his characters. Here we have a ruthless casino owner, feared by all, known to be a dangerous man you never want to cross. Yet he employs a barmaid at the casino who is quite loose-lipped about her employer's dealings. Not likely. The reader is also asked to buy into assassinations of high ranking cold-war officials. But don't let these little trivialities stop you from enjoying a book that is non-stop action. These mistakes are few and far between and are easily overlooked. This is a book you will not want to put down.
Baldacci is a champion at creating the scene on that big screen TV in your mind. In fact, this book has all the makings of a blockbuster movie. You'll see what I mean as the story unfolds. Unfortunately, as is usually the case, some pedantic, self-absorbed producer will get their hands on it and ruin a perfectly good story.
I'm still not a big fiction reader. I just don't have time. But as someone who reads only a handful of fiction books each year, I'm glad this book was one of them.


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