The Simple Truth

January 28, 2008 in Thriller, Uncategorized by admin | No comments

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Author: David Baldacci

Genre: Thriller

Subject: Politics, Law, Military Justice

Rating: **** (4 Stars)

Summary:

Like John Grisham, David Baldacci writes thrillers that prominently feature lawyers and legal proceedings. The Simple Truth is set in and around the U.S. Supreme Court, where Michael Fiske is a clerk. His brother, John is a former police officer turned defense attorney. Rufus Harms is an inmate at a military prison, sentenced to life for the brutal killing of a little girl years before. The story begins when Harms obtains new information that could lead to his exoneration. He writes an appeal and asks his lawyer, Sam Rider, to file it with the Supreme Court.

Michael Fiske has a habit of visiting the Court mailroom first thing in the morning when the appeals come in, and he happens to open the Harms appeal. Seeing that the appeal makes damaging allegations against some very prominent people, Michael violates the law by investigating on his own before putting the appeal into the system. His body turns up in a D.C. alley a few days later, set up to look like a mugging gone wrong.

John Fiske, wanting to know what happened to his brother, talks D.C. detective Buford Chandler into letting him help with the investigation. Believing that the evidence does not point to a mugging, they look into what Michael was working on. Alerted to the Harms appeal by another clerk, who suspected what Michael was doing, they eventually make the connection to Rufus Harms. Along the way, they find that their investigation is making powerful people very nervous and putting their own lives at risk. When the FBI gets involved, John Fiske becomes a suspect, adding a new dimension to the task of finding out what happened to Michael.

My Thoughts:

The Simple Truth is another winner. Even though I know in the abstract that most novels will end happily, a good author can make me wonder. Baldacci pulls that off admirably, providing an effective balance between predictability and surprise.