The Whole Truth [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Nancy Pickard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2000

Nancy Pickard debuts an unforgettable heroine in this bestseling masterpiece of psychological suspense. Marie Lightfoot tracks criminals across the pages of her bestselling true-crime books. While researching her most chilling work yet, the story of convicted murderer Raymond Raintree, she becomes suspicious about the case. No one knows where Raintree took a bright, independent girl after he abducted her, or how she was even lured away. Determined to find answers, Marie follows a twisted trail that takes her from a meeting with the brutal killer to deep within her soul - but the nightmare is only beginning, for Raintree has now escaped from prison...

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

With The Whole Truth, Nancy Pickard taps neatly into our national fascination with true crime in a daring novel that seems structurally and philosophically at odds with the conventional mystery story. We know, apparently, "who did it"--as do most true crime readers. People who pick up Ann Rule's The Stranger Beside Me, for example, are usually aware that Ted Bundy was the man responsible for the murders she chronicles. We come to those texts after the fact, as it were; we search not for perpetrator, but for motivation, for explanation. How could these things have happened? What sort of monsters must such criminals be? Pickard's is just such an exploration: it opens with the conviction of one Raymond Raintree for the murder of six-year-old Natalie McCullen, a crime that has shocked South Florida. Marie Lightfoot is in attendance, waiting for the words that will bring to an end The Little Mermaid, the book she is writing about the McCullen case.

However, though it appears her conclusion is written, Marie is deeply worried about the rest of her book: "[Raintree] has no past that anybody, including me, has been able to find. This is not good news for a true crime writer with a book due on her editor's desk in two weeks." But when Ray escapes just after the verdict is read, Marie must accelerate her quest for Ray's actual and emotional origins. Her search has repercussions that lie far beyond the successful completion of her book; she alone can prevent Ray from killing again. Her questions, and their answers, will take her from Florida to the American heartland, from sunshine and palm trees to an unspeakable history of abduction and abuse.

In an intriguing and effective narrative device, Pickard alternates chapters of her "own" text with chapters from The Little Mermaid. This structural twinning hints at the plurality of experience, of the conflicting stories that we create to situate ourselves and others; in realizing that writers must sift through the truth, or truths, to create a coherent narrative, the reader must also sift through the sometimes dovetailing, sometimes elliptical relationship between Pickard's and Lightfoot's stories. The strategy is not wholly successful; at times Pickard introduces elements that lead nowhere, such as Marie's uneasy acceptance of her own parents' disappearance years before; at other times, an apparent impulse to accelerate the action serves only to accentuate gaping holes in the plot. But these are minor complaints; Pickard's novel is, in its quiet fashion, an appealing novelty at the intersection of truth and fiction. --Kelly Flynn --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

In a sensational change of pace, Anthony Award-winner Pickard sets aside her Jenny Cain series (Twilight, Confession, etc.) for a fast-moving thriller that literally starts with a bang. True-crime writer Marie Lightfoot is covering the murder trial of Raymond Raintree, accused of kidnapping and killing, and extracting the pineal gland of, a six-year-old girl in Maria's hometown of Bahia Beach, Fla. When convicted, Raintree charges the judge, who whips out a pistol and shoots him. Feigning unconsciousness, Raintree manages to escape. The story then seamlessly alternates between Marie's narration of the manhunt for Raintree and chapters of Marie's book, The Little Mermaid, about the background to the trial. Raintree is a cipher, a seemingly illiterate but clever outcast with no past. Pickard delves deeply into the personality and psyche of this repellent yet sympathetic monster who was kidnapped and abused as a child. After finding and arresting the fugitive, the police never question the anomalies in the case (how could an uneducated man perform a delicate surgical procedure?) nor do they respond to calls from a retired Kansas sheriff who believes Raintree is John Kepler, who was kidnapped 22 years ago. Because of her fame, Marie is contacted by Kepler's parents, and the course of the novel shifts dramatically as Marie becomes personally involved. Mrs. Kepler's wish to see her son again spurs the frightening climax to this stunning synthesis of psychological suspense and commentary on our culture of celebrity. Featured alternate of the Mystery Guild; 9-city author tour. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 378 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press (June 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786225777
• ISBN-13: 978-0786225774
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,925,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Whole Truth is a Whole Lot More, February 16, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Whole Truth (Hardcover)

It's easy to see why this novel earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Pickard leaves the sprints behind and breaks out in a marathon! This exciting new novel is a major page-turner and quite a dramatic shift from the Jenny Cain novels, with the best opening chapter I've read in twenty years (don't miss it). Why some people commit heinous crimes is an area too often left unexplored by mystery and suspense authors, wherein villains are likely little more than caricature. Not so in this riveting story of the human heart gone astray. Pickard's characters open like rosebuds releasing strong perfume. But she doesn't stop there. Her story gathers in the thorns and the skin of individuals badly bruised and torn by life, and, finally, exposes the bare roots of evil. With perfect pacing, the author here seems pulled along by the story as much as by the characters. And you will be too. Reading the Whole Truth is like being shoved downhill... you can't stop running and, breathless, you can't stop reading. You can't stop, period. The whole truth is a villain is someone who weeps. Pickard's strongest work to date, The Whole Truth outpaces her previous novels and represents the full flower of the masterful talent she has shown in her short stories. It is such a great dare for an author of this stature to leave off a successful series! It pays off handsomely for the reader. This one will be a movie. And, if we're lucky, they'll leave the lights on in the theatre when the show it.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mesmerizing!, April 5, 2000

By 

Sherrie Martin "sherchez" (Roanoke, VA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Whole Truth (Hardcover)

Raymond Raintree, an odd looking, oddly behaved young man withno family, no friends, and no history, has been arrested, tried, andconvicted in a Florida court for the senseless murder of a young child. The pace of this complex and mesmerizing novel only gains momentum from there. Marie Lightfoot, a true crime writer, is instrumental in finding the keys to unlock Raintree's cryptic past. As she delves deeply into the lives of victim, suspect, and those intertwined with them, she begins to suspect that there is more to the case than meets the eye, including an enigmatic link to a little boy who disappeared in Kansas over 20 years ago. Although you will be repulsed by the creature who is Raymond Raintree, Ms. Pickard will also wring from your depths a profound sympathy for him. I stayed up late to read this in one night and couldn't stop thinking about it the next day. This is a masterful piece of story-telling which will stay with you for a long time. END

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Buildup Only To Fizzle Out at The End, June 29, 2000

By 

Joey R. (Alabama) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Whole Truth (Hardcover)

As a first time reader of Nancy Pickard, I didn't know what to expect. I can tell you, I was very impressed with the opening of the book and the way that the author had written a book within a book to tell us the story of the killer. Ms. Pickard is very talented and pulls you into the story with ease. But what kept this from being a great book was the lazy and abrupt way the book is concluded. Several improbable plot twists, including a right place at the right time shooting, caused me to have a dissatisfied feeling when I finished the book. It seemed like the author, after building up our expectations with a very fine beginning, just wanted the novel to end as quickly as possible without any imaginative twists that characterized the first half of the novel. I will read Ms. Pickard again, but I hope she spends a little more time in crafting an ending that lives up to the promise and suspense the beginning of her novel creates.