Truth Like the Sun [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Jim Lynch (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 10, 2012

A classic and hugely entertaining political novel, the cat-and-mouse story of urban intrigue in Seattle both in 1962, when Seattle hosted the World's Fair, and in 2001, after its transformation in the Microsoft gold rush.

Larger than life, Roger Morgan was the mastermind behind the fair that made the city famous and is still a backstage power forty years later, when at the age of seventy he runs for mayor in hopes of restoring all of Seattle's former glory. Helen Gulanos, a reporter every bit as eager to make her mark, sees her assignment to investigate the events of 1962 become front-page news with Morgan's candidacy, and resolves to find out who he really is and where his power comes from: in 1962, a brash and excitable young promoter, greeting everyone from Elvis Presley to Lyndon Johnson, smooth-talking himself out of difficult situations, dipping in and out of secret card games; now, a beloved public figure with, it turns out, still-plentiful secrets. Wonderfully interwoven into this tale of the city of dreams are backroom deals, idealism and pragmatism, the best and worst ambitions, and all the aspirations that shape our communities and our lives.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2012: Told through dual timelines--the 1962 World’s Fair and a 2001 mayoral election--this is the story of a man and his city thinking big, striving for greatness … and making mistakes. Civic cheerleader Roger Morgan had been the driving force behind the construction of Seattle’s iconic Space Needle. Thirty-nine years later, Morgan, now 70, decides on a whim to run for mayor, which brings him face to face with a curious and tenacious reporter--and his own murky past. Author Jim Lynch is a former newspaper reporter who deftly captures the complicated relationship between an ambitious journalist and an ambitious public official, each of them flawed and haunted by the ghosts of past mistakes. --Neal Thompson

Review

“A flat-out great read with the spirit of a propulsive, character-driven 1970s movie…. Mr. Lynch pairs unlikely antagonists: an old-school political fixer blessed with immense charm, and an overeager newspaperwoman whose research, done in 2001, has the power to destroy him. They never behave predictably, and their showdown lingers long after Mr. Lynch’s story is over.” —Janet Maslin’s 10 Favorite Books of 2012, The New York Times

“A terrific two-track novel that alternates between—and unites—the story of Seattle in 1962, just as the Space Needle is reaching the sky, and the city’s post-dot-com gloom in 2001. The book is beautifully plotted, textured, and paced.” —Thomas Mallon, The Washingtonian

“A rich and engaging tale, with complex characters and a plot seamlessly interwoven with the history of Seattle [and] also the topics of ambition, corruption, the Cold War, and big-time newspaper journalism on the wane.   The protagonists are a flawed and likeable pair that grudgingly admire each other, and the truth turns out to be elusive, often obscured by the clouds of memory and the need to sell newspapers.  Anyone interested in the city, political intrigue stories, or just plan good writing should enjoy this book.” —Nancy Fontaine, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“This serious but charming rather old-fashioned sort of book about complicated folks in the midst of life's struggles is just big enough to embrace a number of important themes and topics - the making of the fair, the rise and fall of big city journalism, local politics, the details of history - and just small enough to make all of this quite intimate and engaging.” —Alan Cheuse, NPR

“A tremendously entertaining yet serious political novel… As with any fine work of art, it’s hard to divine just why this novel works so well.  And, as with such art, there’s a lot more going on than appears on the surface.  I dislike terms like ‘instant classic’ but this comes awfully close.” —Richard Sherbaniuk, The Edmonton Journal

“Propulsive… The poetic intensity of Lynch’s descriptions perfectly balances the restless, relentless pace of a novel that never loosens its grip.”  —Anna Lundow, The Christian Science Monitor

"A beautifully crafted, fictional remembrance of the Seattle World's Fair and a cleverly plotted tale of the very public death of one man's political ambitions....Lynch is a sparkling host, rendering history in glorious technicolor and the recent past in absolute and black-and-white moral tones." —Nick March, The National [U.K.]

“Alternating between the two periods, Jim Lynch’s novel is a brilliantly disturbing dissection of political morality, where right and wrong are, like Seattle itself, blurred in a grey mist.” —John Harding, Daily Mail [U.K.]

“A swirling portrait of a place, like many a Western city, that’s equal parts hucksterism, genuine civilizational hope, profiteering racket and progressive mecca, Truth Like the Sun deserves attention and will reward reflection.” —M. Allen Cunningham, The Oregonian

“This brisk, bustling and good-humored work [is] taut and accomplished. . . clever and propulsive.” —Jenny Shank, The Dallas Morning News

“A story of civic pride, political intrigue and journalistic tenacity. . . Any reader interested in the relationship between any town and its most enthusiastic participants will respond to this engaging story.” —Ron Charles, The Washington Post

“A consummate stylist….The obvious cultural touch point for Lynch’s novel is Citizen Kane, [and] readers are confronted with the American obsession with ambition is all its tarnished glory.” – Christian House, The Independent [U.K.]

"Addictive....Told in chapters that alternate between two eras, its prose reflects the two moods:  1962 sparkles like an old-time midway, crammed with celebrity cameos, souvenir Champagne glasses and fast-talking men in hats; 2001 feels reflective and a little world-weary, a city once bitten and now twice shy." —Moira Macdonald, The Seattle Times

"Enveloping and propulsive....Lynch's twosome, a 30-ish newspaper reporter and the much older bon vivant who is known unofficially as "Mr. Seattle" are such fine creations that they can't be reduced thumbnail descriptions....There is much marveling to be done as Truth Like the Sun unfolds.  Lynch captures the excitement of a fair that proudly showed off the world of tomorrow but inadvertently revealed more than it should have." —Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“A briskly paced novel that gives us an insider’s view into both the politics of culture and the culture of politics.” —Kirkus

“Often funny and sometimes devastating but always to the point, Truth Like the Sun reflects back on the 1962 World’s Fair that put Seattle on the map. With the keen eye of the journalist he was and the nimbleness of the novelist he has become, Jim Lynch provides a thought-provoking fictional portrait of a city on the make and its somewhat tarnished tribe of civic strivers.” —Ivan Doig

“This book is one of a kind, and a great story.  At a time when Seattle is celebrating the  anniversary of the World’s Fair, Lynch’s novel is a bracing reminder of the larger context:  an uncertain city hoping to make a mark in mid-century, and then figuring out where it is in a more globalized world forty years later.  It’s smart – and unique – to link these with one wonderfully rendered character, still trying to have a hand in how his city will go.” – Rick Simonson, Elliott Bay Book Company

“Truth Like the Sun, read after Jim Lynch's celebrated Highest Tide, confirms the tidal wave of his talent. Set again in the Pacific Northwest he has explored in such depth and variety, this is a city story all the way. Ambition, payoff, anxiety, payback, decadence and revenge dominate Seattle's story during the World's Fair of 1962 and thirty-nine years later, during the crest of the dot.com boom and not many weeks before the World Trade Center—the Other Coast's Space Needle—endured the mother of all collapses. Lynch's power of concentration depends on his respect for quiddities. His detailing of the moment-to-moment stratagems of a reporter stalking a political big-foot, and of the big-foot's bravura evasions—the hunt proceeding throughout the storied and exotic environment of any right-minded person's favorite city—is thrilling.” —Geoffrey Wolff

“Jim Lynch writes of the city where I  live with great brio and persuasiveness. The joinery between the two halves of the narrative [1962 and 2001] is seamless. His handling of the light, just-between-friends style of routine civic graft in the 1960s seems dead-on, and his only-slightly alternative history of the city is at least as plausible as the official version. His people live and breathe on the page. I was engrossed throughout.” —Jonathan Raban

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Knopf; First Edition edition (April 10, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780307958686
• ISBN-13: 978-0307958686
• ASIN: 030795868X
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1.2 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (61 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,942 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A man and his city, a love story April 3, 2012

By S. Lionel TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I very much enjoyed Jim Lynch's two previous novels, Border Songs and The Highest Tide, so it was with delight that I picked up his newest, Truth Like the Sun. All three of the books are set in the Pacific Northwest, and Lynch's affection for the region clearly shows in his writing. While I saw some loose similarities in the first two books, this third is, in some ways quite different, and that's ok.

Truth Like the Sun alternates between 1962 and 2001. In 1962 we see a young Roger Morgan cheerleading, organizing and managing the Seattle World's Fair, including the construction of Seattle's now-iconic Space Needle. In 2001, Roger decides to run for mayor of Seattle, and he draws the interest of Helen Gulanos, a newspaper reporter newly arrived in Seattle along with her young son. As the story develops, we learn more about both Roger and Helen, both of whom have more in their backgrounds than is immediately evident.

As is expected by now, any political campaign draws out the muckrakers, and while Roger is presented as a sympathetic character, he also has done things that could be questionable. As Helen pursues the story, she uncovers more and more detail, making her wonder if Roger is really the nice and honest person his image suggests. The reader wonders too - Lynch has a gift for creating characters that seem so real, you're tempted to go look up details to see if they really existed. (In this case, they exist only in Lynch's imagination.) Lynch sprinkles the 1962 segments with "cameos" by real-life celebrities of the time, including LBJ, Edward R Murrow, and even a delightful scene where Roger takes Elvis Presley to a back-room card game in town.

In 2001, while Roger is considered "Mr. Seattle", he has never run for office before and the realities of a political contest take a toll on him. Helen's story collects more and more dirt, but it is unclear how many of her sources are telling the truth and how many have a vendetta against Morgan - he does have enemies, as, it turns out, does Gulanos.

When I reached the end of the book, I sat back and contemplated for a while. Lynch's novels never have "tidy" endings - yes, the major plot is resolved, but his characters usually end up in a state of transition, not closure. And so it is with Truth Like the Sun. Many of your questions will be answered, but not all of them. No, this is not setting up for a sequel, it's just the way life is, and that's one of many reasons why I enjoy Jim Lynch's books so much.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Dreaming & scheming in Seattle May 15, 2012

By Angie Boyter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Somehow I do not expect a book title to be inspired by a quote from Elvis Presley, "Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't going away." This choice of title says a lot about Jim Lynch and about the book itself.
Lynch's two previous novels created an expectation that Lynch will produce something unusual, and he has succeeded. The story switches between two time periods---1962 and 2001. The 1962 track portrays the excitement of the Seattle World's Fair and Roger Morgan, the "charismatic young mastermind" who led the project to its spectacular success. In 2001 young reporter Helen Galanos is writing a routine story for the fair's 40th anniversary and begins to find evidence that the revered eminence grise Morgan may have been involved in high-level big-money corruption. This promises to be especially big news when Morgan announces at his 70th birthday party that he has decided to run for mayor. The story unfolds with Helen doggedly pursuing what might be the dream story of a young reporter's career, while Roger equally tenaciously tries to run a successful political campaign, which certainly requires avoidance of any hint of scandal. Both of them encounter ethical challenges. Helen must decide just how far she is willing to go for her story; Roger must decide how much he is willing to do to stop her. Clearly it will be impossible to have truth, justice, and a "fair" outcome for all parties. Who is going to win? I thought the story dragged a bit in the middle, but Lynch's denouement avoids clichés and is both disturbing and satisfying.
The best character in Truth Like the Sun is Seattle! If you can read this book without wanting to visit, or maybe even move, there, something is wrong with you! I have visited Seattle only a few times, but I confirmed the accuracy of some of the landmarks Lynch mentions, such as the Spanish Ballroom in the Olympic Hotel, and locals say Lynch's picture is accurate, as well as clearly affectionate. The two main human characters, Roger Morgan and Helen Gulanos, are a bit less satisfactory. Roger is a very interesting guy. His people skills are clearly a source of a great deal of his success, but he never marries, despite several engagements. He clearly drinks too much, gambles, and sleeps with other men's wives, but he has a commitment to the city he loves that we must admire. Is there a disconnect between Morgan's abilities and values in his social interactions and in his more intimate relations? It is certainly true that real people can be inconsistent, but I needed more clues to help me understand him. Helen Gulanos is a dedicated journalist facing up to tough ethical problems, but despite attempts to humanize her by details like the addition of a precocious little son, I never quite figured out what made her tick fundamentally. Both have a hidden secret in their earlier lives that can cause them problems if revealed in the present, and those aspects of the book seemed a bit artificial, especially the story of Morgan's early life (I'm trying hard to avoid spoilers here!).
What initially hooked me in Truth Like the Sun was the wonderful writing. Reviewers often mention Lynch's journalistic background, which may have contributed to his keen observation and ability to describe places and people interestingly. What I liked best about the writing, however, was the clever turns of phrase, such as his description of Seattle as "a city so short on history it's almost all future anyway" or when a character marvels at "thirty-five countries helping us throw a fair in some city they still think rhymes with beetle."
The quality of the writing, the evocative sense of place, and the well-done ending add up to a very satisfying read. Lynch has once more produced a work that is out of the ordinary and worthy of your time.

13 of 17 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Like the weather in Seattle this morning, "It's just OK" April 19, 2012

By Nagronsky VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I've just finished my Amazon Vine advance copy of Jim Lynch's "Truth Like The Sun". It's an interesting book, although I don't think it's on a level with Border Songs (Vintage Contemporaries). In this look at Seattle during the World's Fair, for me there were quite a few "Aha!" moments, in particular, when the Masonic Nile Temple on Lower Queen Anne is forced to move(to Edmonds), and one really memorable "Whoa! I'd forgotten!!" moment. That's when JFK is supposed to be in Seattle for the last day of the Fair, but begs off, due to an "upper respiratory virus", which turned into a bad case of Cuban Missile Crisis. Deep in my memories, I dimly remembered scandals about graft, payoffs, and other high-jinks starring the Seattle PD and various public figures, and this brought those days back. However, I feel that like the profile/expose article that figures so strongly through this book, it may have been rushed to publication. Like Seattle 50(OMG!!)years ago, Century 21, The Seattle World's Fair is dominating our local media, and it's nice to revisit those days, when at least during daylight, it was safe to walk from 8th & Pike down to Pike Place, and then all the way down 1st Avenue to what the trendy newcomers, bandstanders, and carpetbaggers call SODO.
My bottom line: this is a book to request at your local public library, but not to bother buying until prices drop, which they surely shall.