I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

Every new Ben H. Winters novel is a must-read, and GOLDEN STATE didn't disappoint. An interesting, unsettling vision of a near-future where technology and the surveillance state can twist the "truth". Well-written, well-plotted and gripping. Definitely recommended.

A very fun ride. Police procedural that forces the reader to consider the importance of the truth as well as the ability to lie.

Loved Winters's Last Policeman novels, and this was a similarly fun read.

I liked a lot of this book, but I guess I really was anticipating a big reveal or shocking twist that never arrived. The end was quite strange. Everything set in the dystopian world of the Golden State, where truth is prized above all else, was inventive and interesting (often fascinating), which makes the rather flat ending all the more disappointing. Still, I've really enjoyed Winters' novels, from his Last Policeman trilogy to Underground Airlines, and I'll look forward to what he writes next.

🤫BOOK REVIEW🤫
Golden State by Ben H. Winters

-DESCRIPTION-
A dystopian novel that takes place in the far future of what is now California. Where truth and fact are the law of the land. Those who purposefully lie will find themselves in prison and those who are unable to understand what is true and factual, there is banishment.

-THOUGHTS-
1. I love a dystopian novel, especially one that takes such a simple concept...or so we think...and turns it over and over until it is so beyond complicated. We are taught to not tell lies. Yet, we do. All day long. Even in the Golden State small white lies are taken into account....but larger lies. When one is being deceptive, is met with punishment.
2. I really loved the main character, Lazlo. He's gritty, and real, bad brainwashed. I love a perfectly imperfect character. And he is it. However, the other characters where so surface. I needed more than just one character to hold onto.
3. In the end, I do wish there had been more explaining. The speculative service members...how do they get these "powers" that can tell who is lying an who is not? How did the Golden State come to be? I needed more.

-RATING-
⭐⭐⭐
This book was just ok for me. I needed more.

-SIMILAR RECOMMENDED READS-
Verity
Wilder Girls
The Gilded Wolves

I was excited to pick this one up because I had heard great things about Ben H. Winters. The concept behind Golden State was so unique. A place you can’t tell even the smallest of fibs? Or you go to jail for nine years? How do these people get out of plans they made?! I ended up really enjoying the middle of this book, but felt like the end took a left turn and left me with a few unanswered questions. If you enjoy dystopia, this one is worth checking out. I am planning to read Underground Airlines by him next! ⁣

This type of book is straight in my wheelhouse. I love the dystopian/ sci fi/ thriller mash up and Golden State did not disappoint. Love the premise- no one is allowed to lie without being punished. Sounds like it could be a good thing, until you realize humans will do what they always do- find a way to game the system. I thought the plot was engaging and fast paced and I appreciated the thought experiment. I need to go read Underground Airlines next!

I absolutely love dystopian worlds. I'm all for it! This one gave me "Giver" vibes and I fell head over heels for it. Loved the writing!

'Each is an interesting fact, and each fact, each piece of truth, is valuable and precious in and of itself, every fact beloved in our good and golden world […]’

Golden State is set in a dystopian, and sovereign, California where cops possess the ability to detect lies and emitting falsehoods will earn you years in prison. Video cameras capture everything and it is all stored in the permanent record as a part of what is “Objectively So,” people greet one another with undeniable statements to vocalize their commitment to the truth, and at the end of each day, citizens are required to itemize their day in a journal (making sure to include any applicable receipts or documentation available). Laszlo Ratesic is a speculator in the Speculative Service and his job is to seek out lies which appear to him as a slight ripple; a dissonance in the air. His current case is investigating the irregularities surrounding the death of a construction worker that fell off a roof. Despite the seeming straightforwardness of the case, Laszlo’s investigation will lead him to the center of a grand conspiracy seeking to undermine the fundamentals of the Golden State.

‘[…] the preservation of reality’s integrity is the paramount duty of the good citizenry and of this government alike. Imagine what kind of mad society would be organized otherwise.’

Golden State reads like a blend of 1984, Fahrenheit 451, and Minority Report but really played well on what Winters is becoming known for: well-written speculative futures + noir style mysteries that easily play on fears of possible futures to come. This plot is most definitely a play on the current administration’s continued insistence regarding “Fake News” and “alternative facts” and brings to life a world where the truth is absolute. Winters intent is obviously to show just how dangerous this concept is but for me, the plot got a little messy, the end goal really missed the mark, and the whole story strayed instead into predictable territory. What could have been a fascinating inside look at a corrupt government instead transformed into your standard corruption thriller.

‘…he has made his monstrous point about the rings of truth, about context and omission: he has illustrated that no matter how much we know, there are parts of the story that are missing.
There are elements unknown and unknowable, whether we know it or not.’

This book gave me 1984 and The Giver vibes with its dystopian world.

A world where truth is important and lying can get you exiled.

An interesting premise but a shorter format would have worked better for me.

Golden State is a weird mind-f*ck of a novel, and that's what makes it so wonderful. In a society where adherence to the Objectively So is the primary goal, the crime of telling a lie can lead to lengthy imprisonment or even exile, a fate assumed to be equivalent to death. Law enforcement agents like Lazlo can feel when a lie has been told, and their ability to sense anomalies leads them in pursuit of those who attempt to subvert the State with their untruths. People greet each other on the street by stating absolute facts ("A cow has four stomachs." "A person has one."), and the ringing of clock bells leads to streams of statements about the time, hour after hour after hour.

With a noir vibe that freely mixes in the sensibilities of Fahrenheit 451 and Blade Runner, Golden State is a treat to read. I wanted to stop to highlight passages practically everywhere -- there's so much clever wordplay and inversion of our understanding of what things mean. It's a great read, highly recommended. Now I need to get back to the other books on my shelves by this author, because I'm pretty sure I'm going to love them.

What would it be like to live in a world where there was no greater crime than telling a lie? And what if you were one of the few people with the ability to detect said lies – as well as the official state-sponsored authorization to venture outside the truth?

“Golden State,” the latest novel by Ben H. Winters, takes a look at just such a world, a skewed near-future state in which pure, unadulterated truth is mandated by law. Interactions are defined through basic, unassailable facts – with no room for anything more.

While we might believe that absolute truth would be the way to go, the reality is that massive gray area between truths and lies is where the lion’s share of human relationships live. When truth is all that is allowed, it’s not long before free will begins to fade.

The Golden State – located in the area we call California – is a nation that rose up in the aftermath of a years-ago cataclysmic event that shattered society. In an effort to combat the perceived causes of this event – namely, a world driven by lies and half-truths – the Golden State exists on a foundation of absolute truth. Lying is the worst crime possible, punishable by exile into the wastelands beyond the mountains.

In an effort to maintain a shared, permanent and unassailable Record, surveillance is omnipresent, with cameras and recording crews constantly in action. Individuals are expected to keep a thorough record of their own interactions with others, logged and stored daily. Only this way can everyone be assured of sharing the same reality.

Laszlo Ratesic is one of the people tasked with enforcing the Golden State’s unwavering commitment to truth. He is an officer of the Speculative Service, a law enforcement offshoot populated by men and women who are gifted with the ability to sense lies. In addition to their ability to perceive untruths, they are the only ones authorized to speculate – to entertain ideas that are not completely anchored by hard-and-fast facts.

Laz is a legacy – his father and his brother Charlie were legendary Speculators. He’s not at their level, but he’s good at his job. So good that he’s given a trainee – a young woman named Aysa Paige. Laz is supposed to show her the ropes, but when their first case – a seemingly open-and-shut accident – turns out to have deeper ramifications, he quickly discovers that her gifts far outstrip his own. She’s the most naturally gifted Speculator since Charlie … and maybe even better.

As the two of them begin pulling at the assorted anomalous threads, the holes start getting larger. Every new lead takes them in a different direction, and despite Laz’s better judgment, he follows every one of them. It’s his job, after all. But here’s the thing about defining yourselves by the record – what happens when circumstances call the integrity of that record into question? Where’s your truth then?

With “Golden State” – much like he did with his previous novel, 2016’s “Underground Airlines” – Ben Winters has created a fascinating and oddly familiar world. There’s a queasy plausibility to his work – it’s easy to draw a straight line from our own world to the ones that he constructs. By following certain of our societal tendencies to their logical endpoints, he shows us just how far we might stray from our perceived direction – all without ever noticing that our course has changed.

Obviously, the truth is important. And again – the idea of a world where no one lies sounds appealing on its surface, but where’s the line? A world of mandatory truthfulness is a world without fiction. All stories must be true stories. All films are documentaries, all books are nonfiction and all visual art is representational. This is a place in which the only people possessed of poetic license are the men and women charged with keeping the world devoid of poetry.

Winters brings that particular reality home beautifully, with a periodic interjection from the manuscript of a “novel” being written by one of the secondary characters. Said novel is constructed of flat statements of fact and exact transcriptions from the record – there is nothing there that did not happen. It’s a less-is-more device; its handful of brief appearances serves the purpose perfectly.

“Golden State” is science fiction at its finest, a propulsive narrative filled with complex ideas that are expressed by engaging characters who occupy a rich and detailed world. It’s an immersive and thought-provoking work, one that challenges as much as it compels. The truth hurts.

Ben Winters is a master at the "what if..." novel. The Last Policeman trilogy posited what do people do when they all know the exact time and date of the end of the world? Underground Airlines asked what happens if the Civil War had not been fought and a peace agreement left slavery in the South? Now The Golden State takes us to a world after some kind of destruction was evidently caused by the world's inability to determine truth from lies, actual events from "fake news." In what once was California, now "The Golden State," a new society has been created based on truth only, the Absolutely So. Lies and falsehoods are illegal, and subject to prison or banishment into the desert. The story is presented through the eyes of Lazlo Ratesic, an experienced agent with the Speculative Service consisting of those with special talents able to literally determine truth from falsehood. To assist, there are cameras everywhere keeping record of every moment. When individuals have conversations, they note them in their "Day Book" and each person stamps the other's book for verification. Every Day Book is stored in boxes in their basement, just one step in what Ratesic calls "the byzantine business of reality maintenance." Ratesic works hand in hand with the regular police, and is called out to a seeming construction accident because of "anomalies." The story becomes a detective mystery of sorts, following in the standard twistiness of police procedurals with the added element of its alternate reality. Insert Lalzo's internal musings and torment over his brother's death, and you have one heck of a story. It will grab you from the start and draw you gradually into this alternate society that he somehow makes believable. And, of course, there are secrets to be revealed. I could actually use a little more revealing. I'm still musing myself over some of the final events. You will be left with questions, and the tantalizing possibility of a sequel. This would be an incredible story for book clubs.

I am not certain Mr. Winters is an author I should continue to read. I liked The Last Policeman fairly well, but I did not love it as everyone else seemed to have done, and I have yet to continue the series. I found Underground Airlines odd and forgettable. His latest novel, Golden State, left me underwhelmed. It put me to sleep a lot. I managed at least three naps in the course of reading it over three days. While I recognize the timeliness of a story about a country in which a lie is the biggest crime one can commit, I am not certain what Mr. Winters is trying to accomplish with his story. I could say Golden State proves that there is no one truth and that no matter how much one tries, the whole truth is unknowable. On the other hand, I could say that Mr. Winters is trying to prove that to believe that there is no such thing as truth means to give up on society and that it is the belief that truth exists which keeps society from devolving into chaos and anarchy. Either way, it is a bit too philosophical for my taste with no satisfying ending to offset the philosophy. The story takes some leaps that require stretching the imagination a bit too far, and there is a disturbing lack of explanation for at least one of those leaps. The whole story leaves me unimpressed and a bit befuddled. It also has me thinking I should probably stay away from anything Mr. Winters writes in the future.

Really interesting story. I just recently finished "1984" by George Orwell and found that "Golden State" read very similar. I enjoyed this novel but found the plot line a tad hard to follow. Overall, I enjoyed the story and loved all of the characters.

Laszlo Ratesic is proud to work for the Speculative Service. He is one of the few people who have the ability to tell when someone is lying and he spends his days pursuing those who choose to lie. In his society, truth is of the utmost importance, everyone is under surveillance, and those who don't tell the truth are arrested and punished. When people meet, they greet each other by reciting math equations or scientific facts. Laszlo and his new partner are called to investigate what seems to be an accidental death, but this one case will cause him to question everything he believes about the Speculative Service and the importance of truth.

Laszlo is a sympathetic character and it's hard to watch as everything he believed about himself, his colleagues and friends, and the good of their work comes crumbling down. As he investigates the death of a construction worker, he discovers that a whole week of his records are missing. In the Golden State, everyone is required to keep meticulous records of their days because truth can be verified if there is proof of everyone's movements and interaction. The lack of record leads Laszlo to do some investigating of his own, where he finds that truth is only required for some and that power (of course) trumps truth.

Ben H. Winters is a fascinating writer. Every time I read one of his books, I am fully immersed in a unique story and find myself grappling with some interesting and difficult questions. Golden State is no exception and I found myself thinking about the complexity of truth and the point at which it becomes harmful instead of good. This is a smart story and Winters is not afraid to play with form or the expectations of his readers. But there were also moments when he seems to be showing off just how clever he can be. In spite of this, I would heartily recommend Golden State to anyone who enjoys dystopia or any reader who appreciates good writing and inventive storytelling.


Golden State
By Ben H. Winters
Mullholland Books January 2019
336 pages
Read via Netgalley

I've been a Ben Winters fan since the Last Policeman trilogy but with this book he has broken through to the kind of mystery/reality twist that I've only seen Lethem/Dick accomplish well.

This book is a great mix of mystery and distopian fiction. Just when you think you've got it figured out, the plot shifts on you and a character you thought you could trust lets you down. Highly recommended.

For lovers of dystopian fiction, this book is a phenomenal choice. Set in the sometime distant future in a city resembling Los Angeles, the story revolves around a special government group who's job it is to enforce the city's primary directive: ensure that all citizens speak the truth. Any person who tells a lie is prosecuted to the fullest extent, and those who are unable to speak objectively are exiled from The Golden State. While investigating a routine homicide, chief investigator Lazslo and his partner stumble upon a conspiracy involving the highest echelons of the government, a conspiracy that could bring down the entire honesty infrastructure that this world is built upon. I absolutely loved the world-building here; I thought Winters' writing was so sharp and smart and interesting and I really enjoyed this high-concept plot, especially in the current political climate, where people are constantly questioning the truth and honesty in the media.

To write a book about the nature of truth seems prescient in these times, and Ben Winters does not disappoint. What I love about his writing is that he combines the fanciful (a world where "The Record" is an unassailable Fact of Being, creating one central truth by which all is governed) with such very human and relatable characters. Lazlso Ratestic may be one of his best--blindingly loyal yet discerning, devoted but skeptical, steady yet evolving.

And at the center of the novel stands the 'character' of truth and our relationship to what we believe to be right and true, certainly a concept worth consideration.

Highly recommend this novel, especially for discussion.

This was an intellectually interesting novel that I couldn’t quite connect with emotionally. Perhaps being monitored constantly to assure that no one ever lies is a cause of emotional distance?