The Collectors [BARGAIN PRICE] (Hardcover)

by David Baldacci (Author)
Key Phrases: public works van, rare books reading room, fire suppressant system, Psalm Book, Cornelius Behan, Jerry Bagger (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
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. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist
The four disillusioned, aging gentlemen featured in Baldacci's 2005 best-seller, The Camel Club, are back in this engaging offering. The ringleader of the eccentric Washington, D.C., group (comprising obsessive-compulsive computer-whiz Milton Farb, decorated Vietnam vet Rueben Rhodes, and slightly rumpled library-scholar Caleb Shaw) is an ex-CIA conspiracy theorist who goes by the pseudonym Oliver Stone. All are reunited when Shaw's boss, the Library of Congress' director of Rare Books and Special Collections, is found dead. (Might he have been killed for possession of a rare collection of Puritan psalms?) Meanwhile, a few hundred miles away, sexy scam artist Annabelle Conroy avenges her mother's death with a fiendishly clever con pulled on a nefarious Atlantic City casino magnate. Though his two plots converge in a rather contrived way, Baldacci delivers crisp, economical prose and a cast of spies, misfits, and assassins that would make even the most patriotic citizen question the American political system. The best of the characters include gorgeous, gutsy newcomer Annabelle and the wonderfully idiosyncratic Stone, who spends many a day camped out on the lawn across from the White House with a sign that says, "I want the truth." Allison Block
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 438 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; First Edition edition (October 17, 2006)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000WO0S8S
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (163 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #257,646 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, but not his strongest effort..., November 26, 2006

By	Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Collectors (Hardcover)

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.

72 of 84 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perhaps Baldacci's Best Yet. Sit Back and Enjoy This One!, October 17, 2006

By	Peter Senese "A book is a free ticket to anyw... (Los Angeles, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Collectors (Hardcover)

David Baldacci's ensemble of fascinating and brilliantly created characters in `The Collectors' coupled with two intertwining plots of murder and a clever financial con make for a completely enjoyable and page-turning read. Following his best selling hit `The Camel Club' with some familiar faces and the addition of the sultry yet incorrigibly scandalous Annabelle Conroy, readers will be continually amused and entertained as Baldacci, as if a grand maestro, intertwines and blends the character action and movement with such ease and storyline pleasure. As usual and expected in Baldacci's novels, readers will be left turning the pages, in this case as the plot moves to a very interesting conclusion when the World of Washington politics and those involved with a long-term swindle are forced to collide. Folks, sit back and enjoy `The Collectors', it very well may be David Baldacci's best yet.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You have to give this one a chance, its worth it!, October 22, 2006

By	Jason Webster "An Argonaut" (CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Collectors (Hardcover)

I agree with the previous reviewer that you have to give this book a little time. Through the first half of the novel I was wondering how the two separate plots were ever going to come together in any realistic way!

On the one hand there is a death by seemingly natural causes of the head librarian of the Library of Congress, and the assassination of the speaker of the house. On the other is a con woman who is trying to job a crooked casino owner out of over 30 million! Like I said, you'll be questioning whether the author will ever be able to bring these plots together in any cohesive way. But Baldacci manages to do IT! The twists and surprises will leave you shaking your head and wondering why you did not see them coming! This book is highly recommend for light entertainment (think beach or plane book).