He hires Rick Pender, head of Pender and Associates, who is an expert in the art of perception management. Perception management is the art that spins the truth, spins lies, and then turns them into what people believe is the truth.

A video tape appears on the Internet of a Russian claiming to be the victim of a massive cleansing by the Russian government. This becomes viewed all over the world, raising fears that Russia is reverting to its Evil Ways. These are fears because Russia has nearly as many nukes as the U.S, No one knows that the tape isn't real but was produced by one man whose intention is to disrupt the global balance of power.

Super spy Shaw (that is his only name), who works for a super secret government agency that is dedicated to maintain the peace of the world, is to discover the forces behind the tape. His girlfriend, Anna Fisher, with whom he planed to retire and live a normal life, is killed because she doesn't believe the tape. Shaw wants revenge and teams up with Katie James, a disgraced female reporter who has discovered that things are not what they seem. Together they try to stop the pending holocaust and set in motion startling and world shaking events.

Baldacci delivers a chilling message of how an unscrupulous government can intentionally mislead us by disseminating false information, and how easy it is for the government to manipulate the media and the Internet to cause the people to believe a lie.

The Whole Truth is action packed with the suspense building intensely. It is filled with enough twists and turns that the reader can't put it down until its conclusion. The characters are all well portrayed with the frailties and strengths of human beings.

This is a gripping thriller... more so because the reader can't help but wonder how much of what we are told is The Whole Truth. Baldacci gives his readers a superb story but he also gives his readers something to think about.