Stone Cold is the third book in The Camel Club series by David Baldacci and was originally published in 2007. This book picks up from where the previous book, The Collector, finishes and is an adrenalin ride throughout the book. Jerry Bagger is on the hunt for Annabelle Conroy, and he will never forgive her for what she had done to him. So much so that when he does find her, he is going to killer her as slowly as he possibly can. When one of Conroy’s gang is found in Portugal it is not very helpful as he probably gave away too much information about her. Harry Finn is on a mission while looking like a normal family guy even if he is a former Navy Seal and he has a contract with Homeland Security testing sites for their readiness in case of a terrorist attack. He also happens to be killing people who happened to be former members of the CIA’s 666 team and more specifically those that had killed his father and branded him a traitor. When he discovers that John Carr is still alive things suddenly become far more dangerous for Oliver Stone. Stone with members of The Camel Club have to fight both Jerry Bagger and the CIA which is no easy task but one Stone believes they are up to, if not they will all be dead. Is Stone finally going to go directly against the director of the CIA and live? Stone Cold is a brilliant example of what Baldacci does best – write gripping thrillers.

Baldacci produces some great stand alone thrillers, but the recurring character series that he writes are really very, very good. For me this was a first encounter with the Camel Club, I was not disappointed at all. This taut thriller has three central plots each influencing the others in greater or lesser ways and culminating in very satisfying outcomes. Along the way there are some great action scenes, murder and mayhem and of course truly good twists. It is easily readable and has well written characters, even the fleeting lesser characters and non-recurrent ones have solidity to them. A jolly good romp through the murky world of espionage indeed. I can heartily recommend Baldacci's books, in particular the three below.