To Kill The Truth by Sam Bourne

Spellbinding, maddeningly engaging yet bone chillingly scary to a book and history buff like me.

To Kill The Truth by Sam Bourne is classified as fictional but it so deeply speaks of the truth that when you are reading this the lines begin to blur.

The best way to describe the genre and feel of this book is best said by the author itself in his acknowledgements "This is a book about truth, and while it is fiction much of it is rooted in fact."

Picked it up on a whim as it felt a bit like Baldacci’s writing style. The feeling was that i was trying out a new author. I finished it in 2 nerve racking days which were filled with discussions on the book and slumbering nightmares of the 'what if this really is happening out there' kind.

As i finished it i just had to find out more about the author. Was even more surprised to realize that it was not a new writer but the very well-known British journalist Jonathan Freedland writing under the pseudonym Sam Bourne (and that there are 6 more such gems of books out there under this name).

But I’m getting ahead of myself, the story line of this book follows a former white house operative Maggie Costello, who is brought in by the Governor of Virginia to uncover and stop what is believed to be 1 murder in the backdrop of state wide tensions dealing with a case on slavery. This however spirals up to mammoth proportions. Historians and holocaust survivors are mysteriously dying  across the globe. Museums and libraries are burning down. And even digital records are being erased.

“Someone is trying to destroy the evidence of the greatest crimes in human history. And as of this moment, they’re succeeding.” is one of the hard hitting lines that you read. Only to go a few chapters in and realize that it’s not just the crimes that they are trying to erase but HISTORY and TRUTH.

By this time itself my head was reeling as these acts are just unfathomable. And then the rationale behind this is revealed. (Spoiler alert not for the plot end but the thinking) A rationale that may seem absolute blasphemy but will get you thinking, especially this one from the ‘terrorists manifesto’.

“128. We teach children the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden and, depending on our views or education, we blame Eve or the Serpent. But we do not pay sufficient attention to the true source of the couple’s downfall. What is the tree from which the first man and first woman ate? What is the tree whose fruit was forbidden? It is the tree of Knowledge. It is the acquisition of knowledge that sees Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden and humankind deprived of its Edenic gifts forever after.”

As a person who has always believed that Knowledge is power it was very, deep wrenching to see the other side of the debate where Knowledge is the enemy.

Another pertinent point (this book is just filled with them) is  the following excerpt used to describe what the power hungry governments actually need/want while also describing a little later how/why they succeed.

 “You know all that horseshit about a ”well-informed citizenry”? How it’s necessary for a healthy democracy and that’s why we need a free press and all that crap?.........Confusion. That’s what you want. Confusion is your best friend. The ideal people to rule over are either people who love you or, if you can’t have that, people who are confused…

…or they shrug. Because they’re confused. Which is just great. I love those people who shrug… Because no  one goes out onto the streets when they are confused. They stay at home or watch the ballgame or mow the lawn…, but they don’t protest.”

The layers of this book are many;

• It can be read as a fast paced thriller on the lines of ‘Deception Point’ or ‘Saving Faith’ by Dan Brown and David Baldacci respectively.

• It can be read from a historical POV as a fast chronology of all important historical events/books/treasures.

• And it can also be read as very pertinent socio-political essay on what is going on in the world and the subtle hint of what horrors might soon be unleashed upon us. And this aspect of the book is where Freedland’s perspective as a journalist really kicks in.

A real thinker’s thinking book, this is a must read for anyone who likes either of these genre’s. This book is not just about the past but of the present and the future.

Happy Reading 😊