White Lies and Other Deceptions

Things are often not what they seem to be. Author John Staples brilliant debut novel White Lies sets out to prove the importance of being able to distinguish reality from illusion. The reality is the world as it is, the illusion is the world as we believe it to be. Until and unless one can separate the illusion from the reality, the world has no chance of saving itself from itself.When a notorious female attorney in the small town of Conner's Hill, North Carolina is run off the road by a hit-and-run driver and goes into a coma, newspaper reporter Jesse Stallings undertakes the journey of uncovering the truth behind the story. As he searches for the culprit, he runs into a web of conflicting information involving the local police department, the county sheriff's department, and a notorious but well-heeled society ?hostess'. Stallings also confronts his own rationalizations and ?white lies? about newspapers, the motivations of everyday people, and the psychological underpinnings of some whose character traits seem abnormal and flawed. More importantly, he finds that truth to most people is what they believe to be true, not what is actually true.The reporter's probe is intermittently interrupted by personal and political problems'a kidney stone here, an irate mayor there'as well as by the purposes and opinions of a variety of local characters, from the Conner's Hill Police chief to a lawyer with a penchant for straight talk and pretty women. Inevitably, Stallings stumbles across the truth in a climactic revelation, proving what Pogo claimed, ?We have met the enemy and they is us!?White Lies illustrates one man's pursuit of the truth and the realization that truth is often what we believe truth to be, not what it is.Former newspaper editor John Staples says he was intrigued by the career of novelist John O?Hara, of whom it has been said: ?He quit the newspaper business and began writing novels in order to tell the truth.' Using his clever writing style, John Staples has woven a remarkable journey into the human psyche.Staples, John is the author of 'White Lies and Other Deceptions', published 2003 under ISBN 9780972560955 and ISBN 0972560955.