The Whole Truth

by Nancy Pickard

Book Overview

"Nancy Pickard pushes at the presumed limits of crime fiction]" said the Los Angeles Times Book Review, praising the award-winning creator of the Jenny Cain mysteries. Now, Pickard blurs the line... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671887947
• Release Date: May 2001
• Publisher: Pocket
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.5" x 1.0" x 4.0"

Customer Reviews

An Awesome Accomplishment

As a mystery writer with my first novel in current release, I greatly admire any novel that successfully breaks with the established patterns of American crime fiction. Nancy Pickard does break with our patterns in THE WHOLE TRUTH, and she succeeds masterfully. The book opens with the conviction of Raymond Raintree for the murder of Natalie McCullen. Marie Lightfoot is preparing a nonfiction book on the murder, and THE WHOLE TRUTH deals with Marie's struggle to complete her book, THE LITTLE MERMAID. THE WHOLE TRUTH is an awesome accomplishment.

A First Time Reader

I too am a first time reader of author Nancy Pickard and I did not know just what to expect. Bottom line.. I liked this book well enough not to turn ahead a few pages to see what was going to happen and then fill in. I read it within 24 hours of getting it. I wanted to know why Ray Raintree did what he did and why he acted the way he did. Once the truth comes out you will ask yourself why you didn't see it coming. That is what makes this book so good and why I gave it five stars. I do not like books when I get it all figured out in the first chapter or two. Pickard draws you in and keeps you turning the pages. It is fast paced and well done. Packard has a new fan and I look forward to reading other titles by her.

Mesmerizing!

Raymond Raintree, an odd looking, oddly behaved young man withno family, no friends, and no history, has been arrested, tried, andconvicted in a Florida court for the senseless murder of a young child. The pace of this complex and mesmerizing novel only gains momentum from there. Marie Lightfoot, a true crime writer, is instrumental in finding the keys to unlock Raintree's cryptic past. As she delves deeply into the lives of victim, suspect, and those intertwined with them, she begins to suspect that there is more to the case than meets the eye, including an enigmatic link to a little boy who disappeared in Kansas over 20 years ago. Although you will be repulsed by the creature who is Raymond Raintree, Ms. Pickard will also wring from your depths a profound sympathy for him. I stayed up late to read this in one night and couldn't stop thinking about it the next day. This is a masterful piece of story-telling which will stay with you for a long time. END

Excellent and engrossing

I'm a great fan of Pickard's Jenny Cain books and was disappointed that she was doing something new. After reading "The Whole Truth" in one sitting my disappointment disappeared. This is an excellent book, a fascinating character study with plot twists and turns I never expected. I hope Pickard continues with more books about Marie Lightfoot!

The Whole Truth is a Whole Lot More

It's easy to see why this novel earned a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Pickard leaves the sprints behind and breaks out in a marathon! This exciting new novel is a major page-turner and quite a dramatic shift from the Jenny Cain novels, with the best opening chapter I've read in twenty years (don't miss it). Why some people commit heinous crimes is an area too often left unexplored by mystery and suspense authors, wherein villains are likely little more than caricature. Not so in this riveting story of the human heart gone astray. Pickard's characters open like rosebuds releasing strong perfume. But she doesn't stop there. Her story gathers in the thorns and the skin of individuals badly bruised and torn by life, and, finally, exposes the bare roots of evil. With perfect pacing, the author here seems pulled along by the story as much as by the characters. And you will be too. Reading the Whole Truth is like being shoved downhill... you can't stop running and, breathless, you can't stop reading. You can't stop, period. The whole truth is a villain is someone who weeps. Pickard's strongest work to date, The Whole Truth outpaces her previous novels and represents the full flower of the masterful talent she has shown in her short stories. It is such a great dare for an author of this stature to leave off a successful series! It pays off handsomely for the reader. This one will be a movie. And, if we're lucky, they'll leave the lights on in the theatre when the show it.