The Collectors [electronic resource] :

Titre:

Auteur:

Description:

People are dropping dead in Washington, D.C., and the Camel Club must unravel a secret that threatens to bring America to its knees. In "The Collectors," #1 "New York Times" bestselling author Baldacci once again demonstrates why he is one of the world's favorite writers.

Éditeur:

Hachette Audio,

Date:

2006

Format numérique:

CLOUDLIBRARY MP3

Langue:

Anglais

Résumé

While a gifted con artist plots against the most ruthless businessman in the world, the Camel Club must stop a renegade CIA agent from selling American secrets to the highest bidder in this #1 New York Times bestselling thriller.

The assassination of the speaker of the House has rocked the nation. And the Camel Club has found a chilling connection with another death: that of the director of the Library of Congress's Rare Books and Special Collections Division.

The club's unofficial leader, a man who calls himself Oliver Stone, discovers that someone is selling America to its enemies one secret at a time. Then Annabelle Conroy, the greatest con artist of her generation, comes to town and joins forces with the Camel Club for her own reasons. And Stone will need all the help she can give, because the two murders are hurtling the Camel Club into a world of espionage that is bringing America to its knees.

Critiques (4)

Critique du 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.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Critique de Kirkus

Helped by a beautiful grifter, the "Camel Club"--the four-man band of conspiracy theorists--returns to battle a threat to national security. Annabelle Conroy is con-artist extraordinaire; Jerry Bagger, mobster and mark; and Roger Seagraves, master assassin. All come straight from central casting. Seagraves is killing high-level government officials, and Conroy is putting together the con of the century, with Bagger as the target. The mysterious death of a rare-books expert at the Library of Congress launches the story, which splits off at first into two different plotlines. In one, Conroy and her team work their way up to their major score. In the other, the Camel Club investigates the mysterious death of a close friend. Things are slightly more exciting in Conroy's world. She's assembling her team, eager to settle an old score by taking down Atlantic City's most notorious and ruthless casino owner. After a series of capers out west to build their bankroll, the team heads back east. There's little drama Players act out their part; marks fall. The big score comes off without a hitch. The two plots intersect halfway through. Annabelle arrives in D.C., thanks to an awkward development, along with a new piece of unfinished business. Seagraves and the Camel Club are engaged in a cat-and-mouse game, and Annabelle Conroy is the special guest star. The merged stories reach a predictable conclusion. An obvious conflict remains unresolved for much of the way, setting up the next chapter in the saga. A tepid follow-up to The Camel Club (2005), with few surprises. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Critique de Booklist

The four disillusioned, aging gentlemen featured in Baldacci's 2005 best-seller, The Camel Club0 , 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 2006 Booklist

Critique du Library Journal

After several dramatic deaths in Washington, DC, the Camel Club (first introduced in Baldacci's most recent novel) is whipped back into action. Look for the TV ads. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Extraits

In Washington, D.C., where power is everything and too few have too much of it, four highly eccentric men with mysterious pasts call themselves the Camel Club. Their mission: find out what's really going on behind the closed doors of America's leaders.The assassination of the U.S. Speaker of the House has shaken the nation. And the outrageous iconoclasts of the Camel Club have found a chilling connection with another death: the demise of the director of the Library of Congress's rare books room, whose body has been found in a locked vault where seemingly nothing could have harmed him.A man who calls himself Oliver Stone is the group's unofficial leader. Staying one step ahead of his violent past and headquartered in a caretaker's cottage in Mt. Zion Cemetery, Stone, drawing on his vast experience and acute deductive powers, discovers that someone is selling America to its enemies one classified secret at a time. When Annabelle Conroy, the greatest con artist of her generation, struts onto the scene in high-heeled boots, the Camel Club gets a sexy new edge. And they'll need it, because the two murders are hurtling them into a world of high-stakes espionage that threatens to bring America to its knees. Excerpted from The Collectors by David Baldacci All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.