Customer Reviews

The Simple Truth

5 star:		(63)
4 star:		(62)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

I would most definitely recommend The Simple Truth by David Baldacci to any reader. This book is full of suspense, drama, and everything else one might want out of a book. It is an entertaining read that is full of cliff hangers, and twists of plot that read you at the edge of your seat and make you want to read more. This legal thriller is entertaining and it is different from any other on the shelf today. It is the story of Rufus Harms, a convicted murderer and his quest to clear his name. But how can he when he did actually convict the murder? This story tells of corruption, deceit, murder in the Supreme Court, and the United States Army. It breaks the mold set by the typical thriller today in a powerful way. A real page-turner, this book thrusts you to the edge of your seat from page one and keeps you there until the very end. David Baldacci illustrates the horrors of life in a military prison, and how treachery can overrun even the most powerful military force in the world in an outstanding and terrifying fashion. This story is definitely a worthwhile read. The plot of this story is full of twists and turns that can only be fully understood if you read this book. I personally enjoyed reading this book. It was entertaining and fun to read. I would definitely recommend this story to anyone because it holds some of the best qualities in a book. I personally enjoyed everything about this book, and I sincerely believe that anyone who loves a good book will too.

The Simple Truth is about an ex-con serving a life sentence in a military prison for a murder that he did not commit. As is typical, but completely acceptable, in this type of book there is the expected coverup and mix of unexpected bad guys. I won't go into more details about the book, as it would simply be reiterating what so many other reviewers have already done.

I found this book to be a very entertaining read, with pretty good characters depth, and enough plot twists to keep things interesting and not too shallow. In fact, I read it over the course of one day (I was sick and had nothing else to do). The only problem that I had with this book was the manner in which the author chose to construct the "love story". It was so far outside the realm of likely that I just found it laughable. Indeed, I wish that many authors who write these types of books would simply get over the need to construct elaborate and unlikely love stories. Even with the two main characters being male and female, it would have been perfectly okay, even somewhat refreshing, if there was no romantic relationship between them at all.

Otherwise this was a highly entertaining read that I would recommend to anyone looking to kill a day or two.

I normally try to find all the good points in a novel when I'm ready to review it. I liked this one because it: a) dealt with the Supreme Court, something I'm not too familiar with. b) had good character devlopment. c) had a nice, stratigized plot, and d) it had good suspense.

As in all previous Baldacci books, he tries to incorporate romance into them. No. Don't do that. Leave it out. It hurts the book. If my brother was blown away, I wouldn't be sleeping with another woman half a week later. It's unrealistic. Rufus, on the other hand, is a great character. The best chapter in the book, I think, is the first one. I read it about three times. I loved the beginning, and the end was okay. The dialogue analyzed the characters in itself, but Baldacci uses profanity when it's simply not needed. Profanity is used, in writing, to subdue emotions, to bring out feelings, to support the dialogue or a scene, not for chit-chat. It's pointless. All in all, despite some minor flaws and cliches, I'd give it four stars. It was good reading, and worth the time spent reading it.

Keep it up, Mr. Baldacci.

I'm glad that I endured the boring parts - i.e. the first 200 pages - of this slow starter, because it does start to get interesting on about page 205. Then I started getting into it. The plot is actually very well crafted with an exciting ending, but in the first 200 pages of a 500-and-something page book there needs to be more than just introducing the characters and their particular neuroses. The protaganist, legal eagle and boy-wonder Michael Fiske, is such a goody-two-shoes that I was practically HAPPY when he's bumped off by the bad guys early on (not a spoiler - it's on the book's back cover.)

Anyway, I found Baldacci's dialogue throughout the book between the characters fairly wooden and contrived - I had just finished reading John Sandford's "Easy Prey" and going from that book to this one was kind of like eating a steak at Morton's of Chicago and then eating a steak at the Red Robin - filling, nutritious, and yet: a disappointment. If I could have given this 2 and a half stars I would have.

Rufus Harms, a giant of a black man, has served 25 years of a life sentence in a Virginia military prison for the brutal killing of a young white girl. When some obscure government correspondence results in his recovery of hazy, clouded memories, he realizes he did not actually commit the crime for which he was convicted and he smuggles an appeal out of prison to be filed with the US Supreme Court. Shortly afterwards, Harms' lawyer and Michael Fiske, the young Supreme Court clerk who received the documents and had begun to investigate the truth of Harms' claim of innocence, are murdered. Michael's court colleague, Sara Evans, and his brother, ex-cop and small-time defense lawyer, John Fiske, pick up the task and the chase is on to find the real culprits who won't hesitate to murder again and again to cover up their part in a scandal involving the Supreme Court and high level US military personnel!

The thriller part of the novel is pretty standard fare but is exceedingly well written and will keep any reader flipping the pages relentlessly as Baldacci hauls us through multiple murders, chase scenes and gun battles, compelling human family drama and dispute, courtroom struggles, clues with lots of red herrings, and, of course, the mandatory love scenes. But the really hearty meat of this little tale is contained in the telling of the inside scoop on the fascinating detailed workings of the US Supreme Court - the surprising power of the court clerks who are actually still "wet behind the ears" young lawyers barely out of school; the political struggle of the Supreme Court justices as they barter with one another for votes on the cases before them; the astounding (well, it certainly was to me) revelation that US military personnel do not have the right to sue their employer; and the personal struggle of the justices as they realize their efforts will form new case law for years to come. Baldacci's description of the open court acrimonious debate between the young female newcomer to the bench, Elizabeth Knight, and long-standing male member, Chief Justice Harold Ramsey, was particularly fascinating.

This is one thoroughly enjoyable legal thriller! It won't take you long to plow through this one and I've no doubt that, just as soon as you turn that last page, you'll jump up out of the chair to head the store to pick up another one by Baldacci. Happy reading!

Paul Weiss

This was the first of Mr. Baldacci's books that I had read and I really enjoyed it. The plot twists and turns are truly excellent and I was kept up late at night because I just couldn't find a good place to put it down! If you're going to be busy, don't pick up this book but if you've got a snowy day inside or just a bit of spare time, definitely consider this book.

Reading prior reviews, apparently the audio book is much better than the book. The audio book omitted any reference to a sexual relationship between John & Sarah and didn't give an involved picture of Supereme Court operations, unlike the book. The book was a good fit as an andio book...very suspenseful and a lot of action. The ending explanation of "whodunit" was a little unbelieveable and rather convoluted, but that also made the ending a surprise.

"He felt numb. He had gotten Sara fired, was being set up for murdering his brother and had just told off the Chief Justice of the United States. All in less than an hour."

For ex-cop-turned-public-defender John Fiske, the hero of this thriller from David Baldacci (Absolute Power, The Winner), the predicaments pile up quickly, especially when Fiske runs into a cover-up in Washington's highest echelons.

Fiske's brother Michael, a Supreme Court clerk, had come across the petition of inmate Rufus Harms, who claimed he was wrongly convicted of murder on an Army base 25 years earlier. Soon the body count rises -- Michael, a second clerk, Harms's lawyer -- and Rufus busts out of the joint.

With the help of his romantic interest, court clerk Sara Evans, Fiske tries to unravel the conspiracy. Baldacci ratchets up the suspense, but he lays on the stereotypes pretty thick (the good guys are tough but tormented, the women pretty and smart, and Rufus is the noblest of causes). The simple truth, in the end, proves anything but.

Another lively legal thriller by Baldacci.

An excellent, complex, interwoven story with themes and characters causing strong emotional reactions.

John Fiske, an ex-cop turned defense attorney begins to investigate his younger brother Michael's murder and unravels an injustice that occured 25 years earlier in an Army prison. Michael, a clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court sought answers to an appeal by Rufus Harms, a huge Afro- American soldier imprisoned for killing a 10 y.o. white girl. Michael paid the price and John seeks the simple truth.

The relationships, past and present, and the mystery of what really happened and by whom 25 years ago keeps the pages turning. I couldn't put it down. It had several surprises and was so tightly constructed that it kept me thinking. I truly liked some of the characters, Josh and Rufus Harms especially; and Judge Knight's discourse about the unfairness of the Army's exemption from being sued by its employees was excellent. I loved this story and highly recommend it.

This book manages to be far-fetched yet predictable at the same time. The plot -- bad white men in the Army cause a sweet, deeply religious black man to kill a little girl. (I never did understand WHY they did what they did to him). They then engage -- for 25 years -- in an incredibly incredible conspiracy to cover it all up as they continue to torment the very nice man in prison. The bad guys really want to kill the good guy but somehow keep messing it up -- over and over again. The backdrop of the behind-the-scenes workings of the Supreme Court is pretty interesting but does not save the book. Even for a standard-issue legal thriller, this one falls short.