The Whole Truth

The two of them turned and walked down the quiet street.

Exactly to where, it was certain, neither of them knew.

AUTHOR’S NOTE

The term “perception management” has firmly entered the public lexicon. The Department of Defense even defines perception management in one of its manuals, so the military folks obviously take it very seriously. Many public relations firms now offer perception management, or “PM,” as one of their services. However, it seems that not many of them do it very well. Apparently, if you want to be exceptional at creating the Big Lie, you really need to specialize in it.

PMs are not spin doctors because they don’t spin facts. They create facts and then sell them to the world as the truth. And that, to quote the venerable Mark Twain (who would’ve had a field day with the PM guys), is the difference between the lightning bug and lightning.

Many of the techniques outlined in the story are standard operating procedures for these folks, even if I give them a different rubric. And by using these methods, a major untruth can be established so quickly and overwhelmingly across the world that no digging by anyone after the fact can make a dent in the public consciousness that it actually isn’t true at all.

And that’s precisely what makes it so dangerous.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To Michelle, your early comments really paid off with this one. Without them I might have lost the readers at the first chapter.

To Mitch Hoffman, great editing job. Your advice and gentle prodding really helped the book realize its potential.

To Aaron Priest, Lucy Childs, Lisa Erbach Vance, and Nicole Kenealy, for allowing me to focus on the books.

To David Young, Jamie Raab, Emi Battaglia, Tom Maciag, Je

To David North, Maria Rejt, and Katie James at Pan Macmillan. David, you’re a true visionary but, better still, a helluva guy to drink a pint with. Maria, your comments were rock solid as usual. Katie, I hope I did your name justice. Guys, it was cool to finally place a thriller across the pond.

To Steven Maat at Bruna, thanks for a great tour and for helping me polish the Dutch points.

To Stefan Lubbe, Helmut Pesch, and Barbara Fischer at Lubbe. Stefan, thanks for being a book lover and a publisher who really understands both the business and writers. Helmut, thanks for the German insights and careful critique. Barbara, a long overdue thank you for all you’ve done for me over the years and for the use of your last name for a fabulous character.

To Luigi Bernado, for your help on the Italian piece.

To the Richter Family, for the use of your names.

To Eliane Benisti, for the use of your name. I made you president of France! I hope you wanted the job.

To Leona Je

To Bob Castillo and Roland Ottewell, for superb copyediting.

To Grace McQuade and Ly

To Deborah and Lynette, for somehow keeping me straight.