The Whole Truth

March 3, 2008
Usually a sophisticated plotter, bestseller Baldacci (Absolute Power
) offers a story line and villain on a par with an average James Bond film in what's billed as his first “international thriller.” Nicholas Creel, the head of the Ares Corporation, a huge defense contractor, hires a “perception management” firm to start a second cold war by planting fake news stories on the Internet about Russian atrocities. The propaganda campaign soon turns violent with the massacre of the members of a London think tank, the Phoenix Group, apparently by a Russian hit team. Creel hopes that the Phoenix Group's links with the Chinese government will lead to war between Russia and China as well as feed a worldwide arms race that will profit his company. A shadowy operative, A Shaw, whose fiancée perished in the London attack, allies himself with a disgraced female journalist in an effort to thwart Creel's evil plot. While some readers may find it a stretch that a resurgent Russia should so easily overshadow all other world crises, Baldacci in an author's note makes an eloquent case for the very real threat of perception management.

Starred review from June 30, 2008
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).

A hired gun named Shaw finds himself involved in an impending war, deliberately incited through an elaborate fabrication created by a specialized PR firm hired by a large defense contractor. When his fiancÄe is killed in an incident relating to the ruse, Shaw focuses on finding those responsible--and the truth about what's going on. Ron McLarty delivers the consistent narration the listener depends on to follow Baldacci's plot twists. McLarty's best voices include that of the agency boss, whose tough-guy tone comes through loud and clear. Also well done is Nicolas Creel, the billionaire behind the scheme, as well as various female and foreign characters. Baldacci's plot and McLarty's voices guide the listener as Shaw crusades for the truth. M.B. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine