The Camel Club and The Collectors - David Baldacci

When driving between Tucson and Phoenix, it’s hard to sustain radio stations. So every year I end up picking up an audio book to listen too on the drive. This year the choices were pretty slim. I ended up with an abridged version of The Collectors by David Baldacci. I enjoyed the tale of Oliver Stone and friends; it was riveting but it felt like something was missing – I chalked it down to being an abridged copy from Wal-mart. After listening to it, Baldacci’s prior book of this group, The Camel Club was recommended to me by a family member. I grabbed the paperback as I headed out to California where I had over 600 miles of driving to do and 3 nights alone in a hotel room. I didn’t have enough audiobooks to cover the miles and ended up in a B&N looking for something new. I picked up the unabridged The Camel Club and gave the paperback to a friend. I need to get the full Collectors now. Baldacci’s essays in The Camel Club leave me knowing that I really missed out by getting just the storyline in The Collectors. His rich commentaries on ethics and Middle East politics left me knowing that there had to be similar commentaries on organized crime and the CIA in The Collectors.
The Camel Club is rich in character, plot, and development. It reminded me that the job of the citizens of a democracy is to be vigilant in protecting their liberties. We shouldn’t trade freedom for security. We’ll end up with neither. I do feel sorry for people who don’t believe that the Pentagon and the Intelligence community lie to the American public. If people honestly think that either the press or the government is giving us the real story of the Middle East, they’re sadly deluded (or happily if you believe that ignorance is bliss). The Middle East question is complex and requires understanding on both parts. Baldacci has some salient points on it that I can agree with and others that remind me the book is fiction.
Both The Camel Club and The Collectors are excellent stories and topical for today. We’ll see if they last the test of time.