Hell's Corner

Oliver Stone and the Camel Club return in #1 bestselling author David Baldacci's most stunning adventure yet.
An attack on the heart of power . . .
In sight of the White House . . .
At a place known as . . .
HELL'S CORNER
John Carr, aka Oliver Stone-once the most skilled assassin his country ever had-stands in Lafayette Park in front of the White House, perhaps for the last time. The president has personally requested that Stone serve his country again on a high-risk, covert mission. Though he's fought for decades to leave his past career behind, Stone has no choice but to say yes.
Then Stone's mission changes drastically before it even begins. It's the night of a state dinner honoring the British prime minister. As he watches the prime minister's motorcade leave the White House that evening, a bomb is detonated in Lafayette Park, an apparent terrorist attack against both leaders. It's in the chaotic aftermath that Stone takes on a new, more urgent assignment: find those responsible for the bombing.
British MI-6 agent Mary Chapman becomes Stone's partner in the search for the unknown attackers. But their opponents are elusive, capable, and increasingly lethal; worst of all, it seems that the park bombing may just have been the opening salvo in their plan. With nowhere else to turn, Stone enlists the help of the only people he knows he can trust: the Camel Club. Yet that may be a big mistake.
In the shadowy worlds of politics and intelligence, there is no one you can really trust. Nothing is really what it seems to be. And Hell's Corner truly lives up to its name. This may be Oliver Stone's and the Camel Club's last stand.
From Publishers WeeklyBaldacci's implausible fifth Camel Club novel (after Divine Justice) disappoints with cartoonish plotting and characterization. The night after the U.S. president persuades former assassin Oliver Stone (aka John Carr) to re-enter government employment to tackle the growing threat of Russian drug gangs, Stone finds himself in Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House, when gunfire breaks out and a bomb explodes. Apparently, the intended target was the visiting British prime minister, who was scheduled to walk across the park before an ankle injury modified his plans. Taken off his original mission, Stone seeks to identify the forces behind the assassination attempt. Stone's old Camel Club allies involve themselves in his search, which includes the de rigueur mole hunt and the McGuffin of choice these days, a lead on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts. Those who prefer intelligence in their political thrillers will have to look elsewhere. (Nov.) © © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
From BooklistShortly after the events related in Divine Justice (2008), Oliver Stone, former CIA assassin and now the leader of the shadowy group known as the Camel Club, is whisked away to a top-secret meeting with the president of the U.S. Russian drug cartels are operating on American soil, possibly with the approval—if not the direct supervision—of the Russian government. Stone’s mission is to go to the drugs’ point of entry, Latin America, and find a way to shut the cartels down. But before he can even begin his mission training, Stone finds himself in the middle of what appears to be a terrorist attack on the life of the British prime minister. Teaming up with a British intelligence agent, Stone attempts to determine if the attack is connected to the Russian drug-smuggling operation. The latest Camel Club novel is, as usual, skillfully constructed and very difficult to put down. Baldacci keeps peeling back layers of Stone’s psyche, revealing him to be a man full of unresolved conflicts and a potentially self-destructive amount of guilt over his past actions. Another winner. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Since Baldacci’s first novel, Absolute Power, appeared in 1996, he has owned a place on most best-seller lists. His latest Camel Club novel won’t break the string. Author tours and all the attendant hoopla will get the ball rolling. --David Pitt