The Camel Club is a group of

fictional character In fiction, a character (or speaker, in poetry) is a person or other being in a narrative (such as a novel, play, radio or television series, music, film, or video game). The character may be entirely fictional or based on a real-life perso ...

s created by American novelist

David Baldacci David Baldacci (born August 5, 1960) is an American novelist. An attorney by education, Baldacci writes mainly suspense novels and legal thrillers. Biography Early life and education David Baldacci was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia. ...

. They are the protagonists of five of his novels: ''The Camel Club'', ''The Collectors'', ''Stone Cold'', ''Divine Justice'', and '' Hell's Corner''. The original members are Oliver Stone, Reuben Rhodes, Caleb Shaw, and Milton Farb. The four are political watch-dogs, who are always looking for conspiracies within the government.

Camel Club original members

Oliver Stone

Oliver Stone is the leader of the Camel Club. Stone is the crypt keeper of the Mt. Zion

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelic ...

. Stone is a false name (his real name, though rarely used, is John Carr), taken because of the real Oliver Stone's conspiracy theory-themed movies. Stone is an ex-

Green Beret The green beret was the official headdress of the British Commandos of the Second World War. It is still worn by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course, and personnel from other units of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF wh ...

and a former member of the esteemed and fictional "Triple Six" division of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

that was composed of highly skilled government assassins. Stone himself is also monitored by the government, which constantly has agents watching him. In ''Stone Cold'', people connected to Stone's past are killed by Harry Finn, whose ultimate goal is to kill former CIA Director Carter Gray.

Reuben Rhodes

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

graduate and Vietnam vet, Reuben worked for the

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the ...

but quit and became a war protester. After a few years of drug usage in England, Rhodes returned to the States, where he met Stone, who got him a job unloading trucks. He and Stone are the best

marksmen A marksman is a person who is skilled in precision shooting using projectile weapons (in modern days most commonly an accurized scoped long gun such as designated marksman rifle or a sniper rifle) to shoot at high-value targets at longer-than-u ...

in the group.

Caleb Shaw

Caleb Shaw is an employee of the Rare Book Wing of the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

. He, like Rhodes, was a protester of the Vietnam war. Shaw holds twin doctorates in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and eighteenth century literature. Shaw is also known for always wearing clothing from the 19th century. In ''The Collectors'', Shaw's boss is murdered in the sealed Rare Book Room.

Milton Farb

Farb is a child prodigy who suffers from extreme obsessive-compulsive disorder and

paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy co ...

. As a child, his parents had him act in a side show, adding extremely high numbers in his head and reciting extremely long sections of text without faltering. As is shown in ''Stone Cold'', Farb's gifts allow him to win extremely high amounts of money at casino games, such as blackjack. Farb was hired by the National Health Institute, but was fired after sending a threatening letter to the President. Stone met him and got him on the TV show ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given gene ...

'' With medication, Farb was able to make a small fortune, with which he started a company for designing Web sites. Farb was the first of the group to warm up to Annabelle Conroy.

Additional members

Along with the original four, the Camel Club acquires additional members from people who share similar goals.

Alex Ford

A Secret Service agent, Ford helps the group in the first book, ''The Camel Club'', as they try to uncover a conspiracy that involves the kidnapping of President James H. Brennan and a captured Muslim terrorist. He is made a member of the Club at the end of the book. In ''The Collectors'', Oliver Stone asks for Ford's help as part of the climax of the novel. In ''Stone Cold'', he helps Annabelle Conroy in her escape from casino king and mobster, Jerry Bagger.

Kate Adams

A lawyer with the

Department of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

(DOJ), part-time bartender and Alex Ford's girlfriend. She, too, assists the Camel Club in ''The Camel Club'', and becomes a member at the end of the book. She and Ford have broken up by ''Stone Cold''.

Annabelle Conroy

A compulsive thief, Conroy runs scams on people to steal large amounts of money, including stealing millions from New Jersey mob boss Jerry Bagger. Conroy was briefly married (annulled) to Jonathan DeHaven, the director of the Rare Book Room at the

. DeHaven's house was found to be the hiding place for a first edition of the

Bay Psalm Book ''The Whole Booke of Psalmes Faithfully Translated into English Metre'', commonly called the Bay Psalm Book, is a metrical psalter first printed in 1640 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was the first book printed in British North America. The ...

, which was later revealed to have been stolen by Conroy. During ''Stone Cold'' she joins the Camel Club in the fight against Jerry Bagger and Harry Finn.

Books

#'' The Camel Club'' (2005) #'' The Collectors'' (2006) #'' Stone Cold'' (2007) #'' Divine Justice'' (2008) #'' Hell's Corner'' (2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Camel Club Camel Club (characters), The Series of books Novels by David Baldacci