The Collectors

The Speaker of the House is assassinated, and the director of the Library of Congress is found murdered in an impenetrable locked vault. Oliver Stone, de facto leader of the mysterious Camel Club, learns that America's secrets are being sold and that contracts have been let on the lives of U.S. leaders. Tom Wopat depicts Stone and the secretive members of the club with full attention to defining each character. A secondary plot involving con artist Annabelle Conroy, portrayed by Maggi-Meg Reed, is spellbinding. Reed characterizes Conroy with a sexy, commanding voice and flirtatious manner. The fast pace and intricate plot won't disappoint Baldacci fans. G.D.W. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

August 7, 2006
In bestseller Baldacci's entertaining if overly long sequel to The Camel Club
(2005), renegade CIA agent Roger Seagraves has set himself up in the business of freelance assassination and selling our country's secrets to the highest bidder. The Camel Club, a group of four dysfunctional crime solvers headed by ex-CIA assassin Caleb Shaw, becomes involved with Seagraves through a killing at the Library of Congress, where one of the club members works. Meanwhile, an enigmatic young woman, Annabelle Conroy, is assembling a team to engineer a "long con," a $33 million scam targeting Jerry Bagger, the sleazy owner of an Atlantic City casino. This time around, Baldacci wisely tones down the wackiness of the club members, focusing instead on bringing Seagraves to justice while Annabelle works her ingenious scam. The splicing of the two plots is problematic, but Baldacci sacrifices a bit of believability to cobble together a new cast of characters destined to continue fighting the forces of evil in the next installment.

Bestselling author David Baldacci reprises THE CAMEL CLUB, a slightly wacky group of overage crime-stoppers in Washington, DC, led by Caleb Shaw, a former CIA assassin. Their efforts to investigate the mysterious deaths of a prestigious librarian and the Speaker of the House eventually overlap with another story line--this one about sassy con artist Annabelle Conroy. The multivoiced narration provides needed definition for many of the characters but seems awkward accompanied by the author's stilted dialogue tags. Aimee Jolson depicts a smooth and confident Conroy, while L.J. Ganser and Richard Mover cover the male characters and the narration. Overall, this is a modestly entertaining sequel, thanks mostly to the fast-moving plot. N.M.C. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine