The title of my book is taken from something I heard many times growing up. The line was considered an excuse or apology for not telling the truth. ‘As close to the truth’ was an acceptable caveat before anyone gave a misleading statement and outright falsehood.
We all lie to some extent every day. How we feel, how others feel about us, how much we had to drink last night. We tell ourselves these “little white lies” don’t hurt anyone, and often they don’t. We are, in one form or another, natural-born liars. Don’t forget, Adam lied about the apple, and Peter lied three times about Jesus.
I even wrote a short story about lying called “Self-Deception,” which tells the story of Ron Samuelson, a committed, pathological liar who prides himself on being a better liar than his father. You can read the story on this website. As Close to the Truth as I Can Get isn’t specifically about lying, but it’s written to show how lies affect peoples’ lives, and how in the end, they seed doubt, ruin relationships, and ultimately tear people apart.
The truth is I’ve always been fascinated by lies and liars. And the subject is more important today than ever before. As a journalist I believed in the truth, and I exposed lies and liars. My work in public relations taught me about the gray areas around truth; how words can be manipulated to make a lie look like the truth. And know as a novelist I search for lies. Untruths often create the best stories.
Let’s be honest with ourselves. We’ve been lying for centuries, since the world began. Yet, I sometimes wonder how much better the world would be if we simply told the truth.