The Whole Truth (Shaw and Katie James) [Kindle Edition]

David Baldacci (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Usually a sophisticated plotter, bestseller Baldacci (Absolute Power) offers a story line and villain on a par with an average James Bond film in what's billed as his first international thriller. Nicholas Creel, the head of the Ares Corporation, a huge defense contractor, hires a perception management firm to start a second cold war by planting fake news stories on the Internet about Russian atrocities. The propaganda campaign soon turns violent with the massacre of the members of a London think tank, the Phoenix Group, apparently by a Russian hit team. Creel hopes that the Phoenix Group's links with the Chinese government will lead to war between Russia and China as well as feed a worldwide arms race that will profit his company. A shadowy operative, A Shaw, whose fiancée perished in the London attack, allies himself with a disgraced female journalist in an effort to thwart Creel's evil plot. While some readers may find it a stretch that a resurgent Russia should so easily overshadow all other world crises, Baldacci in an author's note makes an eloquent case for the very real threat of perception management. (Apr. 22)
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From Booklist

Baldacci masterfully plays on the American paranoia in the wake of the War on Terror in this bizarre international thriller. “Remember Constantin” is the battle cry du jour across America after a frightening piece of video makes the rounds on the Internet. In it, Constantin, a young Russian, claims that the release of the video means he has been executed by the Russian Federation. The fear of a return to the cold war is so palpable that nations across the globe are preparing for the worst. But is it a hoax? Nicolas Creel, the Machiavellian head of the largest defense contractor in the U.S., and his buddy Dick Pender, the image-maker (think evil, cartoonish versions of Cheney and Rove, respectively), are hell bent on keeping the terror levels high so that they become the ultimate go-to guys. But Shaw—that’s it, our hero’s name’s just Shaw—has other plans and risks his life and limb in order to keep the peace. Shaw answers to a secret global intelligence agency, and though he’s not too keen on their tactics, either, he’s determined to stay with the good guys, however negligible the distinction may be. Meanwhile journalist Katie James is after the “whole truth” behind this twisted version of king of the hill. Baldacci’s ability to make international intrigue light and readable is uncanny. It hovers on the verge of superhero nonsense, but the dialogue snaps forth on cue, the plot never slows, and the ending packs a genuine punch. Read-alikes? Tom Clancy, of course. --Mary Frances Wilkens

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Product Details

• Format: Kindle Edition
• File Size: 573 KB
• Print Length: 428 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0446195979
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 22, 2008)
• Sold by: Hachette Book Group
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0011UCPM4
• Text-to-Speech: Not enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (159 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,607 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

More About the Author

David Baldacci was born in Virginia, in 1960, where he currently resides. He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University and a law degree from the University of Virginia. Mr. Baldacci practiced law for nine years in Washington, D.C., as both a trial and corporate attorney.
David Baldacci has published seventeen novels: Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner, The Simple Truth, Saving Faith, Wish You Well, Last Man Standing, The Christmas Train, Split Second, Hour Game, The Camel Club, The Collectors, Simple Genius, Stone Cold, and The Whole Truth; and in his young adult series, Freddy and the French Fries: Fries Alive! and Freddy and the French Fries: The Adventures of Silas Finklebean. He has also published a novella for the Dutch entitled Office Hours, written for Holland's Year 2000 "Month of the Thriller." Baldacci authored a short story, "The Mighty Johns," as part of a mystery anthology published in 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

132 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Four and a half stars..., May 15, 2008

By 

Cynthia K. Robertson (beverly, new jersey USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Whole Truth (Hardcover)

I was reluctant to purchase David Baldacci's The Whole Truth as some of his most recent books have been lacking in quality. Fortunately, this latest book reminds me of his earlier and better works.

Nicholas Creel owns a defense contracting business called Ares. In an effort to bolster sales, he hires Dick Pender whose specialty is perception management. Perception managers fabricate facts and then pass them off to the public as truth. "Why waste time trying to discover the truth, when you can so easily create it?" Pender hatches a scheme to create an international incident that will result in a number of superpowers on the verge of war. These countries will then increase their defense spending and order weapons and equipment from Ares.

Part of the scheme is called "The Red Menace." Pender and staff are planting false stories about the Russians in the news and over the internet. Several people suspect that these stories are false, including journalist Kate James, consultant Anna Fischer and operative A. Shaw. In usual thriller fashion, the closer they get to the truth, the more dangerous their lives become. How The Whole Truth unfolds will have you turning pages at breakneck speed.

Baldacci is good in that he incorporates many present day current events to make The Whole Truth very realistic. While almost all thrillers have an element of disbelief, you can actually imagine many of these situations taking place.

I am happy that Baldacci took a break from his Camel Club series and has given us something totally new. The Whole Truth is the kind of book that I have come to expect from Baldacci. Overall, I'd rate it four and a half stars.

124 of 139 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars "I can make them believe anything.", April 22, 2008

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Whole Truth (Hardcover)

Dick Pender, a former employee in the White House press office, is an expert in perception management. His motto is: "Why waste time trying to discover the truth, when you can so easily create it?" In David Baldacci's "The Whole Truth," some very influential people pay Pender big bucks to bury inconvenient secrets and manipulate public opinion, using cleverly crafted lies packaged for maximum media impact. Pender's most important client is Machiavellian billionaire Nicholas Creel, the head of a defense conglomerate called the Ares Corporation. Creel, who believes that "a peace based on lurking terror was the best kind of all," hires Pender to manufacture an artificial conflict that would generate a stepped-up arms race among the world's superpowers.

Baldacci's hero is Shaw, a globetrotting troubleshooter for a shadowy international law-enforcement organization, "sort of like Interpol on steroids." He is a strong and physically imposing man whose knowledge of surveillance, hand-to-hand combat, and weaponry makes him a highly valuable asset. His acting ability, uncanny intuition, courage, and coolness under pressure have helped him prevail in a number of dangerous situations. On any given day, Shaw's quarry might include ruthless drug dealers, bloodthirsty terrorists, or vicious neo-Nazis. Although Shaw dreams of retiring and living a sedate life with his beautiful and brilliant girlfriend, German-born Anna Fischer, his boss has him in a stranglehold from which he cannot easily break free.

Complicating matters is Katie James, an award-winning investigative journalist. As a result of a traumatic experience in Afghanistan, she became an alcoholic who has been relegated to writing obituaries. Through happenstance, Katie meets Shaw and both narrowly escape after a run-in with a group of murderous thugs in Scotland. When an unexpected tragedy sends an enraged Shaw on a mission of revenge, Katie decides to risk her life in order to help him and, in the process, pursue the biggest story of her career.

Although it is action-packed and suspenseful, "The Whole Truth" is marred by cliché-ridden dialogue and cartoonish villains who utter such lines as: "I didn't bring you here for a lecture. I brought you here to die." The story is convoluted and extremely violent, and the author repeatedly hammers home his heavy-handed message that unscrupulous individuals and even governments intentionally mislead us by disseminating false information. At best, "The Whole Truth" provides escapist entertainment for readers who are willing to overlook the book's one-dimensional characters, far-fetched plot, and pedestrian writing.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Does anyone know THE WHOLE TRUTH?, May 3, 2008

By 

Terry Mathews (a small town in east Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Whole Truth (Hardcover)

If you were a fan of Robert Ludlum, the late, great espionage writer, there's reason to cheer. Even though the Cold War days are over, there are still a bevy of bad guys out there - and this time they don't have turbans on their heads.

David Baldacci's "The Whole Truth" will make you sit back and take a long look at who's really running the show and who's reporting the news these days.

Gazllionaire Nicholas Creel (even his name sounds smarmy), the world's largest defense contractor, doesn't like the way things are going. Russia's been too quiet and China's not currently mad at anyone. He pays a "perception management" team to stir the pot, with violent and fatal results.

In the middle of the action is Katie James, a journalist whose dependency on alcohol has landed her at the obit desk of her newspaper. After covering the funeral of a Scottish hero, James lands in the middle of what she thinks is an international drug smuggling ring. A chance encounter with Shaw (no first name) pulls James into the biggest story of her life, if she can live to tell the tale.

While you'll need to suspend your attachment to reality and there are times the writing goes stale, with "The Whole Truth," Baldacci has established himself as a big man on campus when it comes to political terrorism.