Guest Review: Hell's Corner

Summary: Oliver Stone and the Camel Club return in #1 bestselling author David Baldacci's most stunning adventure yet. An attack on the heart of power . . . In sight of the White House . . . At a place known as . . . HELL'S CORNER John Carr, aka Oliver Stone-once the most skilled assassin his country ever had-stands in Lafayette Park in front of the White House, perhaps for the last time. The president has personally requested that Stone serve his country again on a high-risk, covert mission. Though he's fought for decades to leave his past career behind, Stone has no choice but to say yes. -- Grand Central Publishing

Reading my dad's review of HELL'S CORNER by David Baldacci reminded me just how much I enjoy Mr. Baldacci's books. I think I might give this one a try. Here's what Booking Pap Pap had to say about HELL'S CORNER:

Oliver Stone, aka John Carr, ex-CIA agent, is brought out of retirement by the President of the United States for a special assignment involving the Russians drug trade.  Before he can begin, he witnesses an apparent assassination attempt on the British Prime Minister directly across from the White House in Lafayette Park.  Stone’s mission immediately changes as he is teamed up with a British M16 agent to investigate this possible threat of terrorism.

Stone is confronted by an extremely masterful enemy who leaves clues that are intended as diversions to solving the crime.  Time and again Stone follows likely clues that result in killings and get him no closer to solving the mystery.  To further complicate matters, the CIA, the Secret Service and the FBI are intentionally withholding key information. Since he can’t trust his own government agencies and the killings continue to mount, Stone brings in his trusted Camel Club friends to help.  The Camel Club is a strange group that in addition to Stone includes a secret service agent, a dock worker, a scam artist and a rare book expert.  Somehow this odd mixture of talent works together to solve crimes.   

This is the fifth in a series of novels where Stone teams up with the Camel Club in a crime solving effort but Baldacci introduces the Camel Club in such a way that it is not necessary to read the prior books to understand the relationship between Stone and the other Camel Club members.  Although I have not read any of the prior novels in the series, I do find myself now interested in reading them.

Baldacci keeps his story in line with current world events as he utilizes state-run drug trafficking and the threat of terrorism as key elements of the novel.   HELL’S CORNER is a typical suspense thriller where government agencies are always bungling the investigation and the main characters survive situations that are a bit unrealistic but necessary to add to the stories suspense.   The author does add to the suspense by making it difficult to differentiate the good guys from the bad guys.  Like all Baldacci novels, HELL’S CORNER is filled with plenty of twists and turns that keep the reader interested until the surprise ending.

HELL’S CORNER is an easy, fast read that is hard to put down.  This is a great book for a quiet weekend, the beach or a long plane ride.

Thanks to Booking Pap Pap for his review and to the publisher for sending a copy of this novel.