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May 20, 2008

Lynn rated it:

This has action flick printed all over it. Scary to think that this could happen - at least the premise that PM "Perception Management" could be used to make the world believe whatever the person paying for it wants them to believe. Not so believeable: that any human could be so close to being an actual Super Hero as Shaw is but that's what makes it so action packed and fun. I. too, would like to see Baldacci bring Katie and Shaw back for more.

7 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2008

Chuck rated it:

Baldacci's "Whole Truth" is particularly relevant right now, because it deals with the idea of "managed truth" versus "actual truth." "Managed truth" is what people in power--governments, large corporations, believe to be true, and the book explores what can happen when "manged truth" becomes more influential than real truth.

Longtime readers of Baldacci will appreciate the difference between this book and the previous ones. It has More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

May 23, 2008

Jeanne rated it:

The concept of perception management in this novel introduces a concept more troublesome than spin doctors.
Rather than spinning a different slant on an actual occurrence, PM spreads a fictional , yet believeable, "truth" which awaits discovery so opinion and beliefs are created that will benefit the manufacturer of that "truth".

The statement in the beginning of the book summarizes this concept:
"Why waste time discovering the truth when you can s More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 28, 2008

Annie rated it:

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 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 t More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2008

Jim rated it:

Once again Baldacci writes a good mystery with his usual "page turner" pace. However, this time he adds something to think about as he does a good job bringing in "perception management" as a topic. He shows how PMs could manufacture facts and then sell them to the world as truth. This is much easier today with the web (thanks Al Gore!) and little verification of facts. As Baldacci says in his Postscript, "And by using these methods, a major untruth can be establishe More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 15, 2008

Kellicmyers rated it:

I love David Baldacci and this was no exception. The premise of The Whole Truth involved a conspiracy to bring the U.S. back into conflict with Russia rather than focusing on the Middle East. Poses the question, which world is safer--cold war type conflict versus terrorism. It raised some interesting points, and made me feel like I was back in political science classes. Also, a good storyline and interesting characters.

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2008

Bob rated it:

James Bond meets Jason Bourne, May 13, 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 multinatio More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2008

DWGibb rated it:

Baldacci always makes me stretch a little to suspend my disbelief, but when I do he takes me on quite an exciting and convoluted trip. This one involves a cast of quite a few somewhat questionable and nefarious characters, including his protagonist, A. Shaw.

A perception management firm (super-PR) is manipulating world opinion toward world war for their client, a major arms dealer. Shaw, who works for a transcendent secret multi-national policing agency, is inadvertently drawn int More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 22, 2008

Jaime rated it:

GREAT escape from reality! This book deals with PM (perception management) and how big business uses these firms to manipulate /create truth out of lies to benefit their bottom line. In this case, start a cold war to benefit an arms contractor. If you are a Jack Bauer fan or a Sidney Bristow fan then this book is for you. Nice short quick chapters makes you always want to read "just one more." I've never read anything quite as good as Lee Child and his Jack Reacher character but t More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 21, 2012

Stuart rated it:

In this story if you have read another one of David Baldacci's books, he goes into a slightly larger realm when he includes most of the world in this amazing book. Shaw, the main character is working to repay his debt to a government official when he gets engaged to Anna Fischer. Shaw is looking to retire when things take a turn for the worse and Shaw has to re think his plans. Katie James is a reporter who has run into problems with alcohol and now is in a new low for a reporter and is despe More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 20, 2011

Iulia rated it:

There really should be a way to give half a star or something the like. I can't say that I didn't like it and neither can I truly say that it was ok.
The way I'm starting to view David Baldacci's novels is like an action movie without the movie. I want to relax, forget about other things and disconnect. I found out that reading these kind of novels works like that for me. No higher brain activity. In that way this book was ok. It served its purpose, did what I expected it to do and no more More...

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Aug 25, 2011

Kevin rated it:

The Whole Truth is in truth, a very mediocre Baldacci book… Not that he writes the best books of all, his best is only mediocre…

It's one adventure about a man mysteriously named A. Shaw, a James Bond like covert operator working for some organization that's never named. It's not clear if the organization even belongs to a country or not, or if it's international. All we know about it is his boss is named Frank Wells.

Even Shaw's fiance refers to him by his last name, More...

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Aug 11, 2011

Stephen rated it:

This book is a conspiracy and it is one of the better ones. It is an enjoyable tale and is one of David's better novels. David Baldacci can write some very good novels but the last novel of his I read, Stone Cold , left me rather disappointed and I voted it a FAIL with only 2 stars on Good Reads . Thankfully the whole truth see's David back to his quality writing form!

Our heroes are an intelligence agent called Shaw and a journalist called Katie James. Together Shaw and James spot some More...

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Apr 14, 2011

Carrie rated it:

Really, really liked this one. It was just what I needed--a fast moving mystery novel with really good characters and storyline. This is about a super spy named Shaw who becomes involved in finding the evil guy behind the plot to start a war with Russia just for the sake of selling guns and bullets and such and making a boatload of money. The evil guy is really evil and Shaw is just this side of a good guy (troubled past, troubled life, but still good). He gets involved with Katie, a journalist More...

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Mar 13, 2011

Jodi rated it:

I'll admit it. I tend to have a bias against big name, best-selling books. I feared Baldacci would fit into that disappointing territory for me, but I saw him at Bouchercon in San Francisco and bought Deliver Us From Evil, the second book in the Shaw series. Being a little anal about reading in order, I bought this on my Kindle and read it on vacation. Wow, this book MOVES! I found I couldn't put it down. There is a LOT of action going on, and it has a bit of a James Bond feel to it. Shaw More...

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Jul 10, 2009

Sskous rated it:

I finished this book only because I started it on an airplane and couldn't find an alternative. After a few chapters it became a little interesting as a story line, but it really was very disappointing ~ especially the writing. I've never found Baldacci to be a very good writer. There's always some clumsiness in the narrative, though the dialog is usually decent and the story line suspenseful and believable. This time, however, it was very poor across the board. The characterization of Kati More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 05, 2010

wyatt rated it:

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci. Action/mystery. This book is geared toward readers who are interested in government secrets/conspiracy who also like action and mystery.
I thought that this book was a really good. I liked how there was a balance of action and mystery intertwined throughout the book keeping my attention. I related to this book by the interest in if the government tells the truth or not. The ending was a little disappointing and slow but I think the overall book was r More...

2 comments like

Jun 19, 2011

Ithlilian rated it:

3.5 stars. I love the idea behind The Whole Truth; that one video can start a string of events that leads up to the entire world being at war. It shows that the general population is easily manipulated and that the mob rules. I enjoyed the main character Shaw, he isn't the most complex character I've read, but his story is entertaining and his motivations make sense. None of the other characters particularly annoyed me, and that is good enough for me in a plot centered mystery/thriller. I was pr More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Don rated it:

I haven't picked up a Baldacci book in awhile, having read most of his stuff for awhile and this particularly book always being checked out from the library. It was billed as his first international thriller book, as his other works deal solely with the U.S., primarily around political-government thrillers/conspiracy theories. Compared to the recent books I've read by Khoury or Steve Berry that are international in the scope of their mystery and action, this book took a little longer to get in More...

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Mar 09, 2011

Lea Ann rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Apr 16, 2009

Becky rated it:

I went through a total love/hate relationship with this book. At the beginning I totally loved it, then events began to unfold and I'd be mad about how things were going. Then, as the plot twisted and turned some more, I'd find that I really loved the book again. It went like this the whole time, yet I never felt like quitting. Not even close! It wasn't a book that I carried everywhere with me because I was dying to finish, but when I picked it up and was engaged in it I found it hard to turn of More...

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Jan 12, 2009

Weavre rated it:

100 pages in, and I wasn't sure what the fuss was about, still waiting for the story to really get started--but the complex setup so far was interesting enough to merit reading a bit more, so I did.

200 pages in, and I was genuinely intrigued.

Somewhere around 300 pages in--I don't know exactly, because I was no longer paying much attention to such trivia as page numbers--I was coursing along with the adventure, having discovered exactly why this book received such rave rev More...

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Aug 29, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I am a bit obsessed with David Baldacci and have read almost all of his books. His "Camel Club" series and the books focused on the main character in the "Camel Club," Oliver Stone, are my favourites, though all of his books are interesting. The main reason I enjoy his writing is because he is a consumate story teller, building up a thriller step by step, until I cannot bear to put the book down.

This book is timely because it deals with "perception managemen More...

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Jun 13, 2011

Jay rated it:

As you know, I liked this new direction Baldacci has headed -- international thriller -- when I reviewed the second in this series: Deliver Us From Evil, earlier this spring.

While I felt that his lead - Shaw - was too narrowly drawn to rival Gabriel Alon, Daniel Silva's great international lead. I must say that reading this, The Whole Truth, the first in the series, I might have been a scosche too critical. Shaw is much more flesh and blood here and Katie James is a full blown chara More...

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May 27, 2009

Serena rated it:

Have you ever wondered what would happen if a corporation had too much power and was run by a twisted mind? How about a powerful military contracting firm? In The Whole Truth, Nicolas Creel wants to spur weapons build-up among the world powers, but to recreate the Cold War, Creel must set the pieces in motion to ensure two major superpowers or super power wanna-be nations are at odds--Russia and China. Meanwhile, Shaw an underground operative for a secretive agency wants out to marry the woman o More...

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Oct 11, 2009

Leela rated it:

The Whole Truth takes you into the world of created truth and the way it is manipulated by people for their own selfish desires. The story races through the highways of Washington D.C., to the castles of Scotland, down the Italian sea waters, through the streets of London and culminates in a touching finale in a graveyard in Germany. The constant twists and turns in the plot keep you hooked on till the end. It is the battle for ‘The whole truth’ between one of the richest men in the world, a per More...

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Jun 14, 2009

Ben rated it:

International political thrillers aren't always my cup of tea, but this book was just bad. I don't pretend to hold thrillers to the same standards as great works of art, but one has to draw the line somewhere. David Baldacci's writing isn't the worst I've seen, but it's not great. More worrisome, however, is the absence of an interesting plot or fascinating characters.

The Whole Truth concerns a plot by the head of an arms contractor, Nicolas Creel, to plunge the world into a new C More...

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Mar 15, 2011

Shawn rated it:

frank had a humane side but it wasn't properly explained. he helped shaw a lot and he kept quiet when anna asked him if he had any loved ones. and WHY DID CREEL HAVE A HUMANE SIDE AS WELL? WASN'T HE LIKE THE BADASS DUDE. he donated money, helped build a charity and he has this philosophy of sharing his wealth. i kinda thought that the author wanted to make him the good guy again or something like that. all of these are not explained! and why did the author say that shaw had the same blue pierci More...

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Jul 21, 2011

Allison rated it:

I thought this was a well written book but not as intense and although the characters were interesting I thought they were not as developed as some of the other really great mystery/action writers have…. overall though good plot and story line. In general about a man working for a rouge section of the government that ‘takes care of terrorist’ in not the most legal means. Additionally about a reporter looking to get back in the thick of big story action again. My major complaint with the audi More...

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Jan 16, 2012

Tricia rated it:

about: 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 t More...

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