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"Matt, I need a war."
So begins David Baldacci's new book--a thriller unlike any he's written before. "Matt" is Mathew Pender, of Pender Associates--a shadowy organization that specializes in managing seemingly impossible situations for its clients. Sometimes, those services extend to managing--and creating--armed conflict. When Matt Pender is asked by his client--the largest defense contractor in the world--to manipulate two nations against each other, a shocking and surprising series of events are set in motion that will possibly bring the world to the brink of World War III.*
In this epic thriller with a global backdrop, David Baldacci delivers all the twists and turns, compelling characters, and can't-put-it-down pacing that readers have come to expect from this master storyteller.
If there is such a category as a guys' audio, The Whole Truth fits the bill perfectly. Ron McLarty's gruff voice enhances this fast-moving thriller as he takes the listener through barrages of deadly assaults featuring gunfire, knives, bombs and hacksaws. He portrays Shaw, the unwilling secret agent, as weary yet tough. Nicolas Creel, who needs a good war to help sagging profits, comes across as appropriately cerebral and coldhearted. While McLarty gives different accents to Anna and Katie, otherwise, both sound alike, but he performs a variety of French and Slavic villains in quick succession. The sound track is comparable to a terrific cinematic score: darkly foreboding or quietly romantic when appropriate, raising this audio to an art form and enhancing the already gripping tale. A Grand Central hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 3). (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.In this thriller, Nicolas Creel, the largest arms producer in the world, needs a war to make his products sell, so he hires Dick Pender's PR firm to orchestrate a new "cold war" among Russia, the United States, and China. Shaw, the reluctant agent of a secret multinational intelligence group, is hired to thwart Nicolas's plans. Katie James, a Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist who is now jobless and an alcoholic, needs a good story to reclaim her reputation, so she follows Shaw, not knowing he has a rendezvous with terrorists. Ron McLarty's excellent reading captures the excitement and suspense of Baldacci's story and allows the listener to hear the unique personalities of each character. The Whole Truth remains on the New York Times best sellers list, having achieved the number 1 spot in May. This audiobook is highly recommended for all public libraries. [Hachette Audio also has two versions of Whole Truth available: 5 CDs. abridged. 6 hrs. 2008. ISBN [9781600241420 & 9781600241444]
—Ilka Gordon
David Baldacci lives with his family in Virginia. He and his wife have founded the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America. He invites you to visit him at www.davidbaldacci.com and his foundation at www.wishyouwellfoundation.org, and to look into its program to spread books across America at www.FeedingBodyandMind.com.
While his stories hinge on the complex machinations behind the presidency, the FBI, the Supreme Court and other spheres of influence, Baldacci (a former Washington, D.C.-based attorney) finds his way into a mystery through the eyes of the innocents. Semi-innocents, at least: small players who often don't realize they're players at all end up hunting down answers, and their hunt becomes the reader's.
According to Baldacci, reading John Irving's The World According to Garp convinced him that he wanted to be a novelist. Absolute Power -- in which a thief finds himself accidentally connected to a murder involving the president and the ensuing coverup -- was hardly Irvingesque; but it did begin Baldacci's friendly relationship with the bestseller lists, which has continued over his writing career.
Baldacci's style is brief and plot-driven, but he's not afraid to linger on macabre and vivid details, such as a rosary clenched in a plane crash victim's hand, or hard-learned lessons from a sniper's life (pack your food so you can find it at night, by touch). These small but memorable -- indeed, almost cinematic -- details give his books another layer that distinguishes them from the average potboiler.
Although the author has occasionally departed from his usual fare (examples include the tenderhearted coming-of-age tale Wish You Well and the holiday-themed adventure The Christmas Train), it is high-octane thrillers that are his true stock in trade. Whether it's a taut stand-alone or a new installment in his Camel Club series, readers know when they crack the spine of a new Baldacci book, they're in for an action-packed page-turner.
.He worked his way through college as a Pinkerton security guard and by washing and detailing 18-wheel trucks.
Baldacci writes under his own name except when published in Italy, where he uses a pseudonym because it is the homeland of his ancestors.
Bill Clinton selected The Simple Truth as his favorite novel of 1998, according to Baldacci's web site.
Anonymous
Posted August 1, 2008
In, The Whole Truth, Nicolas Creel, an international arms dealer slash world philanthropist, creates conflicts to fuel the demand for his products: weapons of mass destruction. When Creel targets Russia with a smear campaign, things start to get ugly. On the flip side of the coin, to keep out of prison, Baldacci's hero, Shaw, a man with a shady past and a reluctant future, does the bidding of a multinational intelligence agency. When Shaw's fiancé is murdered by Creel's henchmen Shaw vows to get even. Likeable yet recycled characters that lacked consistency and a familiar plot - megalomaniac wanting to control the world - almost ruined this story for me. In addition, portions of the book are stricken with the Talking Head Syndrome with information filtering through the point of view of no perceivable character, coming only from the author. In spite of all of this, I found myself wanting to continue reading the book to see how it all turned out. And in the end that's what it's all about... I think. -- Bob Avey, author of Twisted Perception, and Beneath a Buried House
9 out of 9 people found this review helpful.
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Posted November 14, 2008
Stale themes and cliche characters. Baldacci's other books are much better.
4 out of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 6, 2010
Baldacci must have researched Dwight D. Eisenhower's farwell to the nation when he cautioned the country to "beware of the military industrial complex". The author takes Eisenhower's concerns to the extreme and weaves a page turning thriller that probably even the former president couldn't conceive.
If you enjoyed the the author's story's about the Camel Club you are certain to be intrigued with his new character Shaw. A great read which I truly enjoyed. Thanks David Baldacci.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 27, 2010
The Whole Truth by David Baldacci was a thrill a minute. But the really scary thing is, it leave you with the thought of is everything in the news propaganda. Are we that influenced by those who can twist the truth to their version. A wonderful read that is really thought provoking. I love Baldacci's writing style.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 25, 2010
I have read all of David Baldacci's work and I always enjoy them. This book really intrigued me from the start. All new characters and a book setting that is not in America. The first line that comes to mind is 'Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.' As I finished the book, I found myself thinking more and more about the premise and I have continued to think about it for days. Quoting one more line, As Stan Moore has written, "Just because truth has been omitted, does not mean that truth is not true. Just because reality has not been perceived, does not mean that it is not real." I think David just keeps getting better and I applaud him for bringing new concepts to his readers.
3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.This was my first David Baldacci novel and I will state now that I was not impressed. There are some good things to recommend about this novel, but it's steeped in the currently accepted realm of Mediocre.
The underlying theme is its most interesting feature: Perception. Perception in to-day's fast-paced world of instant news and instantaneous judgement, and how either a person or a government with an agenda could ride rough-shot over our collective inquisitiveness, perhaps with our own blessing if not our own ignorance, and manipulate us into a cocked hat. Perhaps... even into another Cold War scenario. [Or, apropos to a recent situation, Ms Shirley Sherrod's ignominious branding as a racist.]
Shaw is a man without a past, a human weapon to bring down 'bad guys', but controlled by another man who may be as ruthless as those he's sworn to bring to justice. The only thing keeping Shaw human is the woman he loves... and from whom he's hidden his true self. Then there's the female, Pulitzer-winning reporter, whose experiences have driven her to the bottle and a career cul-de-sac. Finally, the bad guy, who doesn't see himself as the Baddie, yet deliberately engages in acts of philanthropy to offset his own hypocritical sophistries. Throw in a skirmish between Russia and China, and one has to admit this book has scope.
And that is the biggest 'cheat' of all. Smoke & mirrors to keep one from seeing what a hash of story-telling this really is: a fry-up at a greasy-spoon diner.
I do have to acknowledge that this appears to be the sort of story-telling and prose specifically geared towards those wanting a quick read, perhaps at the beach or on a camping trip or on a train ride or soon after a mild lobotomy operation. There's obviously a place for this sort of fiction-writing (I'm loathe to call it literature), just as there is for summer movies like JURASSIC PARK 9 1/2, NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM 42, THE MUMMY 86, etc. But as I read it, I immediately placed it in the category of a 'guilty pleasure' - but not all that pleasurable. But hey, [full disclosure] I do like some of those brainless summer Blockbusters at the cinema, myself... from time to time.
Perhaps the very best thing I can say about it is that it is a super-fast read.
But this is due to the author's characterisation-by-shorthand, elementary sentence structure, and the new/modern brief chapters. (Honestly, so many of them end halfway down a page that, if one were to add them all up, would probably reduce the book's length by 50-75 pages.) Also, there were lots of examples of characters not acting like people would in such a situation if it were real; and then, another page later, the author would slip in verisimilitude, making me not wanting to quite give up on the story.
Sometimes one has to take a break from the Classics, read something light and entertaining and fast. Sure, why not. A little variety, eh? Everything, even literature, in moderation. Fine.
But there are better thrills out there - if just as 'cheap'.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 12, 2010
I Also Recommend:
I have been looking for a new series to read and this might be it. Shaw is the type of character that I have been looking for. A new age James Bond meets John Clark (Jack Ryan Series). Nicholas Creel is a character with a great master plan. Does his good out weigh his bad? The build up was great. I never heard of the PM industry, but they seem very powerfull. The end . eh. Baldacci seemed like he had to end the story abruptly. I wouldn't mind if an arthor would not force an ending just to make sure it was a happy ending. It is a great book that some people may truly love. Me, it isn't a Clancy book, but I will read the next edition of the Shaw series.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted April 15, 2010
Well worth the time
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 22, 2009
I enjoy espionage and this one tops the charts!
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Shaw has a huge problem. A good problem in a way, but a problem nonetheless. He has just proposed to the love of his life, Anna, and she has accepted. The problem? Shaw works for a secret agency of the government, and they don't want to let him leave. The work he does is very dangerous, and finding a replacement with his skills would be nearly impossible. Yet, married life is not a possiblity while he works for them in a job that means any day could be his last.
As Shaw works through this issue, he catches the interest of Katie James, a two-time Pultizer-winning journalist. Katie is involved in the story of "The Red Menace", an expose of Russia's treatment of dissidents that is ramping back up the Cold War, and bringing China into the mix this time. Anna, who works for a think tank in London called the Phoenix Group, is also investigating this story. The Phoenix Group is brutally attacked by the organization behind the "Red Menace" story, and that attack brings Shaw and Katie together. They find what the reason behind the attack on the Phoenix Group, and the reason behind the entire Red Menace scenario is, and attempt to put the man behind the entire plot out of business.
David Baldacci has written numerous thrillers, and The Whole Truth is another hit. Shaw is a strong figure who could easily turn into a character that an entire series could be written about. The plot is fast and furious, and the reader quickly comes to care about the characters. It grabs the reader by the throat and releases them, satisfied, once they finish reading the ending. This book is recommended for readers looking for an exciting read with lots of twists and turns.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 2, 2009
Good but not great. Story line too contrived. Not his best.
1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Posted February 23, 2009
Made my drive much more tolerable during stop-and-go traffic. I didn't mind having to stop as much BUT have listened to other books that made me want to drive around the block to listen to more of the story. This particular selection didn't accomplish that desire. I was more than ready to park and get in the house.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted July 26, 2008
The book held me until the end, but the main character was 'super-sized' in hero proportions and improbable. Some of the author's other books are much better. Still, based on the book, Baldacci got a nice tour of many countries out of the research.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted June 17, 2008
I have never posted an online book review before but 'The Whole Truth' has compelled me to do so. I packed 'Split Second' to read on my honeymoon and could not finish the first 20 pages. I thought it was shallow and poorly written. I vowed never to read another Baldacci book again. As time passed - and on the advice/coaxing of a friend - I decided to give the Camel Club series a try. I was fairly impressed. This led me to purchase 'The Whole Truth' two weeks ago. This is easily the worst book I have read in the last 5 years. The plot line is thin, the words are cliche'...if I had to read 'Remember Konstantin' one more time I thought I was going to throw the book out my bedroom window and the line about the sky filling with smoke from burning Konstantin t-shirts was ridiculous...and even for a fiction novel the idea that one defense contractor could wield that much influence over world politics is a joke. I kept reading because I thought the writing would eventually improve. It didn't. To steal from another reviewer - the only reason this book was published was purely on the merits of name recognition. Mr. Baldacci - if you can't think of an interesting, semi-believable storyline with plausible character development don't write the book. If anyone stays at Kona Village in Hawaii you will see my 'Split Second' donation at the resort library. I bet there are a few copies of 'The Whole Truth' there as well.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Yes, I read the whole book and found it a serviceable tale. But do we give Mr. Baldacci five stars because he is a famous author and has written many good books? Well, you can, but I won't. This book seems to have all the typical things thrillers have- bad guys, and usually one good super guy who can pull off stunts that the whole US government with all its' military cannot. Lots of last-minute luck and close calls. Things always seem to break just the right way. Okay, that's just fine. But how about trying something newer, or different, or riskier? A best selling author can surely take a chance, can't he?
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted May 7, 2013
Who wrote this book? Must have been a middle school girl. Here we have a "spy" who doesn't know his fiance is following him on a ferry. How big is this ferry? He is crushed by emotion. If David is trying to create another Jack Reacher, he would do better if it was Jack's baby sister.
I am a huge fan of David's but if this is the best he's got, he would be better off spending a few years of beach time and get refreshed. I just couldn't read beyond the phone call from his fiance, too lame for me.
Get some rest and think of a new plot. Don't bring him back, he's too childish.
Anonymous
Posted May 3, 2013
Id get it..y is Hidy bein a who.re? R more likely..HOW is she bein a who.re? O.o imm soo confused...
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Posted May 2, 2013
Want your dream gf or bf go to hello resylt one and out the vio of your drem bf or gf anything you want
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Posted May 2, 2013
Hidy are book now.!
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Posted May 2, 2013
Oh im just getting started :)
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Overview
"Matt, I need a war."
So begins David Baldacci's new book--a thriller unlike any he's written before. "Matt" is Mathew Pender, of Pender Associates--a shadowy organization that specializes in managing seemingly impossible situations for its clients. Sometimes, those services extend to managing--and creating--armed conflict. When Matt Pender is asked by his client--the largest defense contractor in the world--to manipulate two nations against each other, a shocking and surprising series of events are set in ...