Helpful Score: 2
Written in 2008, this story is amazingly timely. It shows how marketing and public relations groups can shape public opinion. It describes how "perception management" can alter or create what the public perceives as truth. It was a scary subject for me. I wish more people were skeptical of news. I was already a bit skeptical but, having read this book, I can see how we should question everything and we might never discover what the whole truth is.
Helpful Score: 2
Baldacci is a master at writing page-turner thrillers. This one is no exception. The main characters are Shaw who works for a shadowy government agency and Katie James who is an alcoholic journalist. I'm hoping that Baldacci turns this book into the first of a series with these two characters.
Helpful Score: 2
Riveting, couldn't put it down. Best book by Balldacci that I have read in a while.
Helpful Score: 1
Very disturbing because the internet today could be used to create the type of events in the book.
Shirley G. (greeniii555) reviewed The Whole Truth (Shaw and Katie Jones, Bk 1) on + 7 more book reviews
His writing is absolutley too unbelievable. Too fantastic.
I found the book entertaining to read but definitely not believeable. A quick read and suspenseful.
MaryAnn H. (Stitchintime) reviewed The Whole Truth (Shaw and Katie Jones, Bk 1) on + 3 more book reviews
I'm a huge Baldacci fan, but I almost stopped reading about 100 pages in, wondering who was this writing under his name, but suddenly and somehow it grabbed me and I was once again under the spell of the master. I'm not sure what was unimpressive about those first 100 pages, but boy am I glad I persevered!! What a great story..if a little implausable physically and technically..but, that's one of the reasons we read, right? To be taken out of ourselves and the daily realism, into an alternative existence of potential reality. These two lead characters will make you want more of them by the end of the story and the action within the tale is rip-roaring and unrelenting. The use of the WWW (world wide web) to show how invasive and probing the technology is and could be is terrifying and should make us take pause. It's not far outside the realm of possibility and is probably far more advanced already than any citizen of any country realizes. Read, absorb, contemplate.
Wow! Exciting stuff, grabs you right up and just carries you away from the first page to the last.
From inside cover:
"Dick, I need a war."
Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even grander plan in mind.
Shaw, a man with no first name and a truly unique past, has a different agenda. Reluctantly doing the bidding of a secret multi-national intelligence agency, he travels the globe to keep it safe and at peace.
Willing to do anything to get back to the top of her profession, Katie James is a journalist who has just gotten the break of a lifetime: the chance to interview the sole survivor of a massacre that has left every nation horrified.
From inside cover:
"Dick, I need a war."
Nicolas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor, The Ares Corporation. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to "perception manage" his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even grander plan in mind.
Shaw, a man with no first name and a truly unique past, has a different agenda. Reluctantly doing the bidding of a secret multi-national intelligence agency, he travels the globe to keep it safe and at peace.
Willing to do anything to get back to the top of her profession, Katie James is a journalist who has just gotten the break of a lifetime: the chance to interview the sole survivor of a massacre that has left every nation horrified.
So glad I got Book 1 of Shaw and Katie Jones first....I usually manage to get books in a series backwards:( This was a good one! Baldacci takes our worst fears and turns them into page-turning novels and this one was a real adventure.
Easy fast read with action story.
I'm a huge Baldacci fan, but was a bit disappointed in this one. Way too much politics for my taste.
this was a great book
Marcia M. (nursenice) reviewed The Whole Truth (Shaw and Katie Jones, Bk 1) on + 71 more book reviews
I have yet to be disappointed in any book by this author. The characters are well defined and story intricate, but very easily fo9llowed. Any reader of mysteries will greatly enjoy this book.
Naomi G. (gnome) - , reviewed The Whole Truth (Shaw and Katie Jones, Bk 1) on + 13 more book reviews
An easy, interesting read, but scary as hell when relating the concept of perception management to our current political situation
John O. (buzzby) -
Has anyone noticed that David Baldacci looks a lot like Conan O'Brien?
Another good read by this author.
Mary P. (riverratreader) - , reviewed The Whole Truth (Shaw and Katie Jones, Bk 1) on + 164 more book reviews
"Dick, I need a war." Nicholas Creel is a man on a mission. He heads up the world's largest defense contractor. Dick Pender is the man Creel retains to "perception manage' his company to even more riches by manipulating international conflicts. But Creel may have an even grander plan in mind. Shaw, a man with no first name and a unique past, works for a secret multinational intelligence agency by traveling the globe to keep it safe and at peace. Desperate to get back to the top of her profession, journalist Katie James gets the break of a lifetime: the chance to interview the sole survivor of a massacre that has left every nation horrified.
Shirley D. (bookattic) -
Good book, easy reading. Keeps your attention!
