Divine Justice by David Baldacci

Divine Justice, the most recent (possibly final, but hopefully not) book in David Baldacci’s Camel Club series of thrillers, is quite a thriller… Picking up where the previous book left off, it continues the story of a group of characters I have really come to enjoy. I’d recommend not starting the series with this book - although, Baldacci does make it rather accessible to readers new to these characters. It begins fast and doesn’t really let up on the action and intrigue until the conclusion. For me, thrillers often fall flat, after a good setup, many authors just don’t have what it takes to hold suspense and move a story along, keeping you turning pages as fast you can… this is surely a “keep you up late wanting to finish” kind of book. If you enjoyed the previous Camel Club books, you will like this one as well.

Throughout most of the book the story is split between a small town mystery and a spy style manhunt - these two stories ultimately come together, in what was a quite satisfying climax. David Baldacci is damn good at his job, which is to entertain with words, and Divine Justice entertains. All in all this is a very good book. Plus it includes the funniest line I have read in a while (just had to mention this because it was rather funny)… “Are you on some kind of librarian crack?” Just the sentence alone is funny to me, but in context it actually had me laughing out loud - well done, David.

Collector’s note - OK, this book is not really “collectible”, but for those looking for a signed edition, on David Baldacci’s website he has an “online book signing”, meaning he gives out free signed bookplates during a book’s initial release… very cool of an author to do this. Check it out, I think we just missed the bookplate offer coinciding with the release of Divine Justice, but he puts out books on a pretty regular basis, so this should be something you can expect to see again in the near future.