The Whole Truth by David Baldacci (2008)

The Whole Truth

THE ENTERTAINMENT CRITIC BOOK REVIEW, BY JAMES MYERS
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THE WHOLE TRUTH
By David Baldacci
Published by: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: April, 2008
Price: $26.95
406 Pages
ISBN-13: 9780446195973
Four Star Rating ****

BALDACCI RECEIVED A B.A. FROM VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY AND A LAW DEGREE FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA. AS A STUDENT, BALDACCI WROTE SHORT STORIES IN HIS SPARE TIME, AND LATER PRACTICED LAW FOR NINE YEARS NEAR WASHINGTON, D.C.

WHILE LIVING IN ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA, BALDACCI WROTE SHORT STORIES AND SCREENPLAYS WITHOUT MUCH SUCCESS. IN DESPAIR, HE TURNED TO NOVEL WRITING, TAKING THREE YEARS TO WRITE ABSOLUTE POWER. IT TOOK BALDACCI TWO YEARS TO GET THE BOOK PUBLISHED, BUT WHEN IT FINALLY DID HIT THE SHELVES IN 1996 IT WAS AN INTERNATIONAL BEST SELLER.

IT WAS MADE INTO A FILM, ABSOLUTE POWER (1997), STARRING CLINT EASTWOOD AND GENE HACKMAN

BALDACCI HAS GONE ON TO PUBLISH FOURTEEN MORE NOVELS: TOTAL CONTROL, THE WINNER, THE SIMPLE TRUTH, SAVING FAITH, WISH YOU WELL, LAST MAN STANDING, THE CHRISTMAS TRAIN, SPLIT SECOND, HOUR GAME, CAMEL CLUB, THE COLLECTORS, SIMPLE GENIUS, STONE COLD, AND THE YOUNG ADULT NOVEL FREDDY AND THE FRENCH FRIES: FRIES ALIVE! HE HAS ALSO PUBLISHED A NOVELLA FOR THE DUTCH ENTITLED OFFICE HOURS, WRITTEN FOR THE NETHERLANDS' YEAR 2000 "MONTH OF THE THRILLER". BALDACCI ALSO AUTHORED A SHORT STORY, "THE MIGHTY JOHNS", AS PART OF A 2002 MYSTERY ANTHOLOGY.

BALDACCI HAS AUTHORED SEVEN ORIGINAL SCREENPLAYS, AND HIS WORKS HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED IN MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND JOURNALS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. ALL OF HIS BOOKS HAVE BECOME NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERS, TRANSLATED INTO OVER 37 LANGUAGES AND SOLD IN MORE THAN 85 COUNTRIES. OVER 40 MILLION COPIES OF BALDACCI'S BOOKS ARE IN PRINT WORLDWIDE.

DAVID BALDACCI SERVES AS A NATIONAL AMBASSADOR FOR THE NATIONAL MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS SOCIETY AND PARTICIPATES IN NUMEROUS CHARITIES AS WELL AS FOUNDING HIS OWN FAMILY FOUNDATION FOR LITERACY, WISH YOU WELL FOUNDATION.

“AT PRECISELY ZERO HOURS UT, or midnight Universal Time, the image of the tortured man erupted onto the world’s most popular Web site.
The first six words he spoke would be remembered forever by everyone who heard them.
“I am dead. I was murdered.”
He was speaking Russian on the screen but at the bottom his tragic story was retold in virtually any language one desired with the press of a key. Secret Russian Federation police had beaten “confessions” of treason out of him and his family. He’d managed to escape and make this crude video.
Whoever held the camera had either been scared to death, drunk, or both, for the grainy film vibrated and shook every few seconds.
The man said if the video had been released that meant he’d been recaptured by government thugs and was already dead.
His crime? Simply wanting freedom.
“There are tens of thousands just like me,” he told the world. “Their bones lie heavy on the frozen tundra of Siberia and in the deep waters of Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. You will see evidence of this soon. There are others who will take up the fight now that I am gone.”
He warned that while the world had focused on the Osama bin Ladens of the world for so long, the old evil, with a destructive force a million times greater than the combined Islamic renegades, was clearly back, and deadlier than ever.
“It is time