The Simple Truth - Softcover

Baldacci, David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0671033077 ISBN 13: 9780671033071

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1999

Synopsis

Twenty five years ago, Rufus Harms was convicted of a murder he believes he committed. But when his memory is jogged by a letter from the army, he has a shocking realization: he's not guilty. From prison, Rufus secretly files an appeal with the Supreme Court, unaware that the real killers are onto him. But the long-time convict knows he's running out of time when his lawyer and the Supreme Court clerk--the first person to see Rufus's appeal--are murdered. Escaping with his brother's help, Rufus must now elude capture long enough to expose a shocking cover-up and save his own life.

About this title

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 duke 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

From the Inside Flap

With his New York Times bestsellers ABSOLUTE POWER, TOTAL CONTROL, and THE WINNER, David Baldacci proved beyond a doubt that he can break new ground every time out of the box. Now he does it again with his most powerful work yet, a heart-pounding thriller that brings to life two vastly different worlds joined by a deadly secret, and by a man and woman searching for...

Behind the scenes, the U.S. Supreme Court is a battleground of egos, intellects, and power. Here brilliant young attorney Mike Fiske toils as an elite foot soldier. His colleague Sara Evans is clerking for a female Court justice who is powerfully connected to Congress. But Sara, whose career has limitless possibilities, is becoming a key player in a struggle that will link a convicted murderer to the Court.

Far from the imposing facade of the High Court is the world of street crime, prison time, and bare-knuckles criminal courts defense. In a Virginia military prison Rufus Harms is just one more lifer claiming innocence. Convicted of killing a girl on an army base twenty-five years ago, Harms smuggles a desperate letter out of his prison cell. It's a bombshell-an appeal to the Supreme Court-that claims he was forced to commit murder.

Suddenly everyone who has anything to do with Harms or the appeal mysteriously dies, including Mike Fiske. When his brother, John, an ex-cop, investigates and asks for Sara's help, they both face a conspiracy that is shaking the very foundations of power in Washington. And the one man who can help them, the one man who knows what really happened twenty-five years ago-and why-has escaped from prison and is running for his life.

From scenes of swift, savage violence to scenes of the cloistered, intricate workings of the High Court itself, from the heat of a summer night on the Potomac to the cold reality of a lifer's prison cell, David Baldacci has written a novel that is passionate, brawling, and electrifying-and as vividly courageous as only the truth can be...

A Main Selection of Book-of-the-Month Club(r)

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0671033077
• ISBN 13: 9780671033071
• Binding: Paperback