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Golden State cover art

Golden State

By: Michelle Richmond
Narrated by: Käthe Mazur
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Summary

Dr. Julie Walker wakes on a summer morning in San Francisco to find a city in chaos. Today Californians are voting on a controversial ballot initiative that will change history. With the future of the state and the nation uncertain, the streets have erupted into violence.

Injured, Julie must make her way across the city by foot to the Veterans Administration Hospital, where her sister, recently returned from Afghanistan, is in labor. At the hospital a brutal scene is unfolding as a man who shares an intimate past with Julie begins to take his revenge. Throughout the ordeal Julie's estranged husband, desperate for reconciliation, sends out coded messages from the radio station where he is the well-known Voice of Midnight.

Five years in the making, Golden State is both a political thriller and a meditation on marriage, love, and loyalty. Like The Year of Fog, it is a page-turner with a philosophical bent.

©2014 Michelle Richmond (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Nearly every feature of this mesmerizing novel is provocative, as Richmond explores the fragmented, hopeful lives of complex characters... Gripping, multilayered, must-read fiction." ( Library Journal)
"Mesmerizing and intricate, Richmond's dissection of a California on the violent brink of secession from the nation provides the backdrop to her deeper inspection of the uneasy, fragile relationship between siblings...[a] riveting read." ( Booklist)

What listeners say about Golden State

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No marriage pact

like others, I arrived at this book having read and enjoyed another of authors book. was very disappointed. while this was reasonably well written, the story did not interest or grip me. too slow, too bored.

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  • Overall
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Great story

I really enjoyed this; it’s a great story, with loads of adjoining stories. The writing is such that you understand and empathise with all the characters and their emotions. An addictive listen, that couldn’t wait to get back to each time I had to turn it off.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Couldn’t get into it

Came to this book after The Marriage Pact and left disappointed. Too much going on but not coherent and I felt like I was missing too much. Didn’t connect with the story and only finished it as didn’t want to waste the time I’d already spent

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable

An interesting tale of one woman told over the period of one day. Emotionally rounded and believable characters. Worth a listen as there is so much going on to keep you moving forward.

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  • Overall
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Golden State

That has to have been the mother of all bad days!

Overall I liked this book well enough. There was just too much going on though.
I think it would have been better without the political backdrop and the strange hostage storyline. If it had just been about the marriage, the child and the sister, that would have been enough. Those were the strongest parts anyway.
I assume that the author was trying to make a bigger point, bringing everything together but you can make the point just with the main stories and a bit of subtlety.

In saying all of that, there weren't so many things that you lose track of what's going on. It's well written and easy to follow. The book examines some very poignant and complicated elements within different types of relationships.
It held my attention until the end. (Well until the resolution of the hostage situation at least - after that it got a little annoying!)

The narrator did a decent enough job. Often when narrator's need to convey a character as being upset they tend to overact a bit, but even though this narrator did do this a bit, I mostly believed it when she did it.

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pleasantly surprised by this book

it's definitely an easy read and there's nothing I would say was amazing about it but I finished it which always tells me that at least for me it was a good book. it was very engaging and I find it so interesting reading about marriage and family that's in a very personalised way.

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Surprisingly good

I was fully engaged with this story. It was full of emotional intelligence and characters who grew over the years. Never read this author before but I will find other works she’s written.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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intriguing

wasn't sure what to expect, and thought about giving in, but I'm glad I didn't, on reflection an intriguing story

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

original and heartfelt

I liked this story a lot, beautiful prose and an interesting backstory, give it a go!

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Very enjoyable

I simply liked the way the story was built. The narration was absolutely spot on!

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