The Truth Hurts [Kindle Edition]

Nancy Pickard (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Edgar nominee Pickard's third gripping Marie Lightfoot mystery (The Whole Truth; Ring of Truth), the Florida-based true crime writer is working on a book about her parents, civil rights activists in Alabama who disappeared in 1963 when Lightfoot was a toddler. She's suddenly threatened by a mysterious fan, who signs his emails Paulie Barnes and demands that she collaborate with him on a book about her own murder, or he'll start killing her friends, including her lover, Franklin DeWeese. As the police work feverishly to find the elusive Barnes, he sends Lightfoot to the town where her parents were part of a modern-day "underground railroad" network, and to meetings with their former associates. As in her sensational earlier entries, the chapters alternate between Lightfoot's third-person manuscript in which she reconstructs her parents' last days and a first-person narrative of her harrowing personal experiences. This makes for slightly disjointed reading, although it effectively shows how the present is tied to the past. Pickard excels in recreating the dangerous atmosphere of the South in the early '60s, when the white establishment used threats and murder to prevent the enforcement of civil rights laws. A solution that's obvious to the reader long before Lightfoot discovers it and some repetition undercut the suspense a bit, but Pickard succeeds with the daring Marie Lightfoot, attractive secondary characters, vivid Florida setting, a keen sense of history and a singular plot device.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Pickard's new Marie Lightfoot mystery (after The Whole Truth and Ring of Truth) has an intriguing premise. A tabloid has just published a lurid article featuring Marie, focusing on her personal life and the unsolved disappearance of her parents in 1963. Marie then receives an e-mail from Paulie Barnes, who takes credit for the article and threatens to hurt her if she does not cooperate with his demands. He wants her to collaborate with him on writing a book about her own murder. Marie wonders if he is someone she has written about who wants revenge. She begins to believe that the connection is more personal, though, as Paulie forces her to investigate the circumstances of her parents' disappearance. What is the truth behind their apparent betrayal of the underground railroad they had founded? And can she find out in time to save herself? Pickard's narrative flags a bit in the middle, but the suspense returns in plenty of time for the denouement. Fans of the series won't be disappointed. Recommended for most public libraries. Laurel Bliss, Yale Arts Lib., New Haven, CT
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 604 KB
• Publisher: Atria Books (July 2, 2002)
• Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000FC0VWK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #265,759 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Very far-fetched, June 13, 2008

By 

V. Sikes (Columbus, Ga.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Truth Hurts (Mass Market Paperback)

Pickard doesn't have a real "feel" for the South. Some of the mannerisms and customs she described were laughable. Southerners don't sit around and drink Mint Juleps unless it's the Kentucky Derby. I never heard of an 60's era Underground Railroad for blacks such as she described. If something like that were going on in a small town, everyone would know about it right away.
The mystery in the plot was good. Pickard had me guessing as to who the villains in the story were. That's the only good thing about this book.

3.0 out of 5 stars Just Okay-Lacks Depth in Many Places, November 27, 2003

By 

J. Kirkman "book jen" (St. Petersburg, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Truth Hurts (Mass Market Paperback)

This is not the very best mystery I have ever read of Nancy Pickard's writing. The story is good enough to stick with though.

It begins with Marie Lightfoot, true crime writer, receiving a scary e-mail. This killer wants Marie to collaborte with him by becoming his next victim-and writing a book about her own murder. But for Marie, it may be the key to solving her most personal mystery and at last uncover the truth about about the disappearance of her parents. They were underground Civil Rights activists who vanished during the explosive summer of 1963. Now Marie must follow the instructions of her "co-author' to find the answers she seeks in a small Alabama town-while racing to outwit her would-be killer before she is forced to write her own final page.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting Marie Lightfoot crime thriller, July 22, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Truth Hurts (Hardcover)

She has interviewed and written about killers, psychopaths and spree killers but all her researching skills never enabled her to close in on the truth about what happened to her parents when they seemingly vanished into thin air. True crime writer Marie Lightfoot has given up hope of proving that her parents weren't traitors to the civil rights movement.

One day while shopping at the local supermarket, she picks up a paper and reads about her parents who betrayed a civil rights group called the Hostel in their hometown of Sebastion, Alabama. She is later contacted by email by a man claiming to know the whole story of her parents' death and wants to collaborate with Marie about writing a true crime book where she is the victim. Marie's search for answers takes her back to the town of her birth and a deadly conspiracy that is almost four decades old.

Nancy Pickard has written another exciting installment in her delightful "Marie Lightfoot" crime thriller series. This time the protagonist is portrayed as the victim and through the first person narrative, the audience sees how she suffers. The confrontation with the killers of Marie's parents is so astonishing that readers will never be able to get the scene out of their heads.

Harriet Klausner