Product Description

As a young conscripted soldier, Rufus Harms was jailed for the brutal killing of a schoolgirl. Yet, after twenty-five hard years of incarceration, a stray letter from the US army reveals new facts about the night of the murder - and the evil secret shared by some of Washington's most powerful men. Fearful for his life, Harms seizes his one chance to escape. But within hours the only people who knew about the appeal have been hunted down and eliminated.

As the unknown assassins close in on Harms, ex-cop turned criminal attorney John Fiske is drawn into the web. His younger brother is already a victim, the woman he loves is under threat. For the truth and the chance of a fututre, he will never give up the fight. But for both men time is already running out. Their enemy is buried deep witin the system and completely ruthless when protecting the truth . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23857 in Books
• Published on: 2003-11-21
• Format: Special Edition
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Rufus Harms is rotting in a Virginia military prison. As readers learn in the terse opening of The Simple Truth, he was convicted 25 years ago of the brutal killing of a young girl. Readers also learn that Rufus did not commit the crime; out of a haze of memories and with fragments of evidence, he has reconstructed the truth about the horrid event that ruined his life. He knows his discovery could cost him his life, so he breaks from prison after sending an appeal to the Supreme Court that details a massive conspiracy tied into the foundations of Washington.

The complex drama of Rufus Harms is only one of the interwoven threads in this massive, violent legal thriller that also draws from the vocabulary of hard-boiled crime fiction. Baldacci offers glimpses into the arcane politics of the High Court, where Justice Elizabeth Knight wages war with the manipulative Chief Justice Harold Ramsay. And while Harms struggles to keep out of harm's way and the justices fight it out, Supreme Court law clerk Sara Evans toils with ex-cop John Fiske to discover the import of Harms's appeal (and, simultaneously, to uncover the murderer of Mike Fiske, John's law-clerk brother and the original holder of the appeal). Their interest in the document apparently draws the attention of the same deadly conspirators who manipulated Harms over two decades earlier. While the armed mayhem sometimes rises to the point of excess, Baldacci's novel continues to offer new surprises until the final pages. --Patrick O'Kelley, Amazon.com

Review
'Compelling... finely drawn... a page-turner worth losing sleep over' (USA TODAY)

About the Author

David Baldacci is the seven-time New York Times best-selling author of ABSOLUTE POWER, TOTAL CONTROL, THE WINNER, THE SIMPLE TRUTH, SAVING FAITH, WISH YOU WELL and LAST MAN STANDING. His latest novel, SPLIT SECOND, will be published by Macmillan in Decamber 2003. He lives in Virginia with his wife and two children.

Customer Reviews

Enjoyable legal thriller
A letter from the Army makes a life-term prisoner realise his killing of a small child wasn't his responsibility; he was just as much a victim as the child. But ruthless conspirators are not interested in letting him get information out of the prison, and they are willing to go to extremes to hinder him.

He manages to get a letter off to the Supreme Court, but the clerk who finds it comes to investigate further - he never comes home. The clerk's brother, an ex-cop turned attorney, and another Supreme Court clerk, tries to discover what happened.

Obviously, there are strong forces working against them, and every time they get near the truth, something happens. Baldacci cleverly builds up a sensation of paranoia and of impending doom, while a romance is slowly developing between the ex-cop and the clerk, despite their problems and their fear and hopelessness.

Gradually, they discover what happened, but only in the final moments the whole picture becomes clear. And the whole truth is both shocking and surprising.

Competent and well-written with a fast-paced plot, this is a novel I can recommend for some hours of light reading. The characters are well developed (for the thriller genre), the plot is not all that unbelievable and Baldacci is a good story-teller.

brilliant and impossible to put down
I have read all of Baldacci's thrillers and believe he is far superior to Grisham. I have read this book twice. Like all his books there are characters who you really care for plus cracking scripts and plots. I have recommended this book (plus his others) to friends and family and they are now confirmed Baldacci fans. Do yourself a favour and buy this and his others!

Gripping!
This book was loaded with suspense, with a great plot, compelling twists and turns, and believable characters. Why only 4 stars? It all got a bit much for me at times, and I had to stop reading for a while to calm down!