The Russian mafia, the Mexican drug cartel, billions of dollars and bombs targeting presidents and prime ministers combine to entrap John Carr (aka Oliver Stone) and the Camel Club into another quick-paced adventure.

Stone, disgraced virtuoso of the CIA's lethal Triple Six section, is summoned by the American president, who believes the Russian mafia, conspiring with the Moscow oligarchy, has overthrown the Mexican drug cartel's leadership and intends to do with cocaine what the USSR could not do with military force: destroy the USA. Stone contemplates his covert assignment while walking through Lafayette Park near the White House. Suddenly there's machine gun fire and a bomb explodes. With the British prime minister on hand for a state dinner, authorities first think it's a botched assassination attempt. Stone's mission is changed. Find out who set the bomb. Enter an old acquaintance of Stone's, British spymaster Sir James McElroy, and a cast of characters including MI6 operative Mary Chapman and agents from FBI, ATF, Secret Service and the shadowy NIC. Stone, Chapman and the Club encounter double-agents and triple-agents, villains and victims, as evidence spins in chaotic circles. The book moves through the Washington's halls of power, to the Bronx and to the aptly named Murder Mountain. Stone copes with nanobot technology, fear of biological weapons, a Turkish professor supposedly on the trail of Osama bin Laden and a beautiful lobbyist who is interested in more that peddling influence. Character development is basic, the Washington, D.C., setting is rendered with familiarity and the writing doesn't get in the way of the fast-moving plot.

Strap on your Glock. Grab an extra magazine of shells. There's danger and excitement lurking around this Corner.

Hell hath no fury like a retired CIA assassin in pursuit of a terrorist. Baldacci's fifth book in the "Camel Club" series (after Divine Justice) opens with Oliver Stone as a wounded victim of a bombing. The terrorist attack takes place in Lafayette Park in front of what should be the most secure of all American buildings, the White House. The British prime minister was supposed to have visited the park that night, so a debate sparks about who the intended target was. Stone, already pulled back into service by the President, is assigned to work with a British agent, Mary Chapman, to find the terrorist. But as that pair and the rest of the Camel Club delve deeper into the mystery, they find this attack may be only the beginning of a much more insidious and deadly plot. The mastermind behind the attack always seems one step ahead, and it'll take all of Stone's cunning to ferret out the truth from the lies. VERDICT Camel Club fans and thriller aficionados will rejoice at having a new action-packed, conspiracy-laden, politically intriguing mystery to solve. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/10.]—Susan O. Moritz, Montgomery Cty. P.L.s., MD

Baldacci'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.)