Thank you Minotaur Books, #partner, for the advanced copy of The Golden Gate in exchange for my honest review. I purchased the audiobook for my own collection.
Publisher: Minotaur Books / Macmillan Audio
Published: September 19, 2023
Summary:
Amy Chua’s debut novel, The Golden Gate, is a sweeping, evocative, and compelling historical thriller that paints a vibrant portrait of a California buffeted by the turbulent crosswinds of a world at war and a society about to undergo massive change.
In Berkeley, California, in 1944, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan has just left the swanky Claremont Hotel after a drink in the bar when a presidential candidate is assassinated in one of the rooms upstairs. A rich industrialist with enemies among the anarchist factions on the far left, Walter Wilkinson could have been targeted by any number of groups. But strangely, Sullivan’s investigation brings up the specter of another tragedy at the Claremont, ten years the death of seven-year-old Iris Stafford, a member of the Bainbridge family, one of the wealthiest in all of San Francisco. Some say she haunts the Claremont still.
The many threads of the case keep leading Sullivan back to the three remaining Bainbridge heiresses, now Iris’s sister, Isabella, and her cousins Cassie and Nicole. Determined not to let anything distract him from the truth―not the powerful influence of Bainbridges’ grandmother, or the political aspirations of Berkeley’s district attorney, or the interest of China’s First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek in his findings―Sullivan follows his investigation to its devastating conclusion.
Chua’s page-turning debut brings to life a historical era rife with turbulent social forces and groundbreaking forensic advances, when race and class defined the very essence of power, sex, and justice, and introduces a fascinating character in Detective Sullivan, a mixed race former Army officer who is still reckoning with his own history.
My thoughts:
This is Amy Chua’s debut fiction novel and I have to say…I am a fan! She has written a well-researched historical thriller that kept me engaged from page one and I do hope she continues to write fiction because I definitely would love to read more from her!
I love historical thrillers and this one really was on point and completely drew me in. I of course loved the murder mystery and this one really kept me guessing all the way until the very end. There was misdirection, conflicting evidence and unreliability among the suspects. And yet, through all that, our steadfast detective was determined to get to the bottom of things! I loved Detective Al Sullivan & would love to see more of him in future books!
I also appreciated the way the setting was such an integral part of this book. I learned so much from reading this, and this is one of the reasons why I love reading historical fiction. The author really used the time and place – Berkeley, California in 1944 – to her advantage to weave historical facts and little-known bits of history into her story to make it that much richer, all the while creating such a vivid story. I’m not all that familiar with Berkeley, now or in the past, so to have it come alive on the page was just amazing. For instance, I didn’t realize that Madam Chiang Kai-Shek visited there during WWII, nor did I know that this area was the ship-building capital of the country at the time.
I highly recommend this historical thriller. It’s got a little something for everyone – a murder mystery, family drama, social history and one seriously good story! I can’t wait to see what’s next from this author!
Audio thoughts:
I alternated between the print and audio, eventually switching to all audio. I thought the narrators, Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell, were fantastic, really doing a phenomenal job in bringing this story to life. And I loved the discussion at the end of the audio between the author and one of the narrators, Robb Moreira, where they discussed the research that Amy did for the book and how Robb prepares for audiobook narrations among other things. It was a great discussion!
