Hell s Corner
David Baldacci
Grand Central Publishing 2010
438 pages
Hell s Corner, the 2010 installment in the Camel Club- Oliver Stone series, only gets going 130 pages in when a minor character gets killed. Until then Stone and his MI 6 sidekick do more meetings than a bureaucrat looking for something to do. This very takes away from what is otherwise a very complex story and thriller. Once things get rolling Hell s Corner is a good read.
Hell s Corner is the park across from the White House where former secret agent Oliver Stone spent a few years protesting his government. It is dubbed Hell s Corner because every possible law enforcement organization has a claim to what happens there, including the Park Services.
When someone starts shooting up the lawn and a bomb goes off all the agencies trip over each other and Oliver Stone who is asked to look into it by the President. Stone tries to keep his Camel Club friends a more than arms length so they do not get in harm s way. Stone fails to keep the Camel Club out of danger but their presence in this David Baldacci novel is forced.
Hell s Corner s strong point is the story itself. The plot behind the bombing is very complex and Stone s investigation unearths and causes more problems than solutions.
A couple of the clues Stone and his MI 6 partner find are whoppers so you simply have to go along for the ride even if there is no way those discoveries are possible in real life.
There is something about the ending of this Baldacci novel that is a bit too familiar but I cannot put my finger on what.