'The Collectors' by David Baldacci

I just got over this one a couple of hours back, working on it at breakneck speeds on the subway to and fro work and during my rather long lunches. The K-9, short for 'Kleptomania 9' making her split second decision that a fine piece such as this should not be lying unattended in some rundown bed-and-breakfast in East Malaysia chose to add this to our collection, without spending a dime.

I haven't read much of this author, this being my very first. This is supposedly the sequel to 'The Camels Club', and I am supposing thats where we would first be introduced to the eclectic group of wizened old men, all having served the government in one way or the other previously. One of them declared dead officially. or should I say 'undead' ex CIA operative belonging to a clandestine arm within the organization codenamed '666'. If you had grown up on a diet of Hollywood films, you could pretty much guess what his job scope would have entailed. Now going by the name Oliver Stone, he has a direct nemesis in the form of a younger Roger Seagraves, also bearing the mark of the beast. Seagraves (and he does live up to that name really) is a collector himself......trust me on this one. That man is enigmatic.

So here we are, having two parallel stories running alongside each other, leading the reader to keep guessing as to how they would merge. Jonathan DeHaven, a book collector and the director of the rare books room at the Library of Congress, who mysteriously dies of a cardiac arrest. Something which his mates, who form the Club (featured in the previous novel as well) refuse to accept at face value and probe in further. A can of worms gets opened and more bodies hit the dirt.......

And you might wonder what all these has got to do with a certain Annabelle Conroy (or rather 'con'-roy, and she does live up to it), running scams that seem to increase exponentially in terms of magnitude and returns, obsessed with fleecing off a mafioso goombah casino boss with extreme homicidal tendencies. Jerry Bagger. The man would kill in a heartbeat over a dollar that he lost, and thats no exaggeration. Your typical Italian antagonist, a foul-mouthed wiseguy who probably made his bones early, yet got ejected outta Vegas, his penchant for brutual responses and needless skull-smashes complicating the business. Another Capone in the works........

A novel filled with colorful characters, some lethal and some stuck in the gray zones, along with two parallel plotlines that don't exactly seem to have a way of merging, and that keeps you guessing at every interval. A perfect premise for a taut, high paced thriller. I couldn't take my eyes of the pages easily......

Baldacci's story telling works well. We have ample plot twists and suspenses to keep us intrigued throughout, David Baldacci's simple narration complementing this well. I'm still a Baldacci-virgin, so I shall refrain from saying more, lest you have read all his books twice over. But this is one author I'm certainly going to add onto my read-lists.

And now moving onto Los Alamos by Joseph Kanon. I think I've got another round of suspense headed in my direction. And I'll be back, once I'm done.

*peace*