Stone Cold by David Baldacci

I love David Baldacci as an author. He has so much to give those readers that could care less about the HEA in a story and are adrenaline junkies. His books just keep you glued to your chair and keep you guessing. Even his bad books (yeah, everyone can't be perfect) are really not bad. And if you are returning to a group of characters you have grown to love... It's the bomb!

Stone Cold is the last of the Camel Club series and it picks up where The Collectors left off. We left our merry bunch of conspiracy theorist completely unaware that shunned mob boss Jerry Baggert was closing in on our newest member of the club, Annabelle Conroy because she conned him out of mula money. She is determined to pack her bags and flee the scene but Oliver convinces her to stay and stand her ground. He has a plan and one of the players is someone Annabelle would more likely not be around. Her Father, Patty Conroy.

Patty is very ill and is regretful for many things in his life but most of all he regrets not being there when his wife was killed at the hands of Baggert. It seems he was not guilty of abandoning his wife and child to this monster but just not able to get to them in time. Between Patty, Annabelle, Oliver and Alex Ford (another side member of the club and ex-secret service agent) a plan takes shape to end Baggerts tyranny and avenge those that have been hurt by his actions. Unfortunately there is another plan afoot and Oliver has to turn tail and run himself.

This new plot brings an assassin into the fold. The assassin is systematically killing off old tripe 6 members. John Carr (Oliver Stone for us fangirls) is off his radar because John is supposedly dead and buried but when Carter Gray exposes Oliver's true identity, he has to go on the offensive instead of waiting for Finn (our local assassin) to come for him.

This last installment brings closure to many of the story lines that have carried over since our first intro to the Camel Club. We find out more about John Carr's life and what made him take the persona of Oliver Stone. We also discover Carter Gray's role in John's life. We also lose one of our Camel Club members making it impossible to ever get back the lightheartedness of this group of friends. Baldacci wraps things up nicely although not in the HEA way we would like but he does give us the resolution needed to rest on this series. And yet... I hope Baldacci finds it in his heart to bring the group together again.

For those new to the series, to really enjoy this one you NEED to read the first two installments. Stone Cold will be released in Paperback on Aug. 26th 2008. The others (The Camel Club & The Collectors) are already available in Paperback and for those like me that prefer to hear it, they are all available in Audiobook as well.

Grade: A
Format: Audiobook