This is one of the best books I’ve listened to this year. I loved the narration as well as the author and narrator Q&A at the end of the book.

The book itself has a fascination plot and is well researched. The mystery has a perfect amount of twists. I loved the historical aspects, the family connections, and every detail that was part of this book.

THE GOLDEN GATE is Amy Chua's debut novel, which completely amazes me as it is so well written ! It is a fascinating multi-layered historical mystery set in Berkeley, California in 1944. Walter Wilkinson, is an extremely wealthy industrialist and presidential candidate, who has been found brutally murdered in his hotel room at the illustrious Claremont Hotel. Berkeley Homicide Detective, Al Sullivan, who was having a drink with a lovely young lady at the Claremont that evening, takes on the murder investigation. It is clear that Wilkinson’s death was not just a random attack, he is a man that has quite a few enemies, so the murderer definitely had motive, and being at a hotel with do many people, a great place to blend in. The investigation takes a twist when it's revealed that there was another high-profile death at the Claremont, 15 years prior, of a little girl. Seven-year-old Iris Stafford, one of the youngest members of one of the wealthiest families in San Francisco, the Bainbridges, was found dead at the bottom of a hotel laundry chute. Is there be a connection between the two deaths? Are the remaining Bainbridge heiresses - Iris’ sister, her twin cousins or the family matriarch, their grandmother, Genevieve, involved with the recent murder? Set during the Waning years of World War II, with the awful internment of Japanese citizens in camps, the extreme labor strikes and awful discrimination against persons of color - Mexicans, Asians and Blacks, the story portrays the unsettled times of San Francisco’s past. The historical aspects were wonderfully woven along with the plot. I enjoyed hearing the various points of view, beginning with Genevieve’s point deposition to the District Attorney. This was an amazing first novel from Amy Chua and I really look forward to reading more from her.

Presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson has just been murdered, and detective Al Sullivan is on the case. The prime suspects are the three Bainbridge heiresses: Cassie, Nicole, and their cousin Isabella. As the story unfolds so does the discrimination surrounding people of color, women, LGBTQ people, and the Japanese, and brings to light a lot of California's ugly history of the 1940s.

It's very clear that Chua did her research, and that is one of the most interesting things about this book. You feel you are right there in Berkeley in 1944. While all that was certainly engaging, what kept me reading more than the history was Al and his eleven-year-old niece Miriam, who he takes care of because her mother has essentially abandoned her. Aside from that, grandmother Genevieve Bainbridge's testimony (which comes out throughout the story) reads like you're actually hearing it (especially in the audiobook).

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. I really enjoyed Robb Moreira and Tim Campbell but Suzanne Toren was amazing!

There's a lot going on in this book - which I expected based on the synopsis, but I was still a bit surprised at the scope of this first novel by Amy Chua. There's an interview with her at the end of the audiobook in which she describes her research methods, and as both a lawyer and a writer of several non-fiction books, she's clearly adept at research. It certainly shows here in this novel where she deftly weaves in historical, political and sociological information to help set the plot and tone to 1944 (and earlier) in Berkeley, California. It's an interesting mix of family drama, political intrigue (both global and local) and murder mystery. The characters are fascinating, particularly homicide detective Al Sullivan, who's called in to help solve the murder of a former presidential candidate. Interwoven throughout is the deposition of the grandmother of the three main suspects, who are her heiresses and granddaughters. But is she a reliable narrator?
It kept me interested throughout, and I found myself really liking the conflicted Detective Sullivan, and by the end was hoping that maybe this could be the start of a series centered on his character. The narration of the audiobook was excellent throughout, and I was happy that I'd chosen to listen to the audio version.
Thanks to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for providing a copy for an unbiased review.

Happy Pub Day to The Golden Gate today! This is Amy Chua's first novel, but has written popular nonfiction including Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.

This is nothing like that book! This is a murder mystery set in the 1940s in the San Francisco area. So many twists and turns, political intrigue and exploration of race. The detective on the case is mixed race and is confronted with the realities of the racist policies he is required to enforce. I loved how this book kept me guessing and weaved in aspects of real history and at least one real historical figure- Madam Chiang Kai-Shek.

Thanks to @netgalley @macmillan.audio @minotaur_books for providing me with this book! I listened to the audiobook and thought the actors were great! I rated this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐ and would recommend this to anyone looking for a great detective murder mystery with a little spooky intrigue enriched by historical and political context.

Once I started to The Golden Gate by Amy Chua I could not put it down. This book follows Al Sullivan, a dective in Berkley that is trying to solve a murder at the Clairmont Hotel. Al was in the right place ( the bar at the Clearmont) when Walter Wilkerson is shot at in his hotel room. Al has Wilkerson moved to another floor and room with a patrol officer stationed at the door. Wilkerson soon realizes that he left something in the former room and goes back to get it. Wilkerson is soon discovered dead in the room. This book has so many plot twists that it is hard to guess how was the real murderer and why Wilkerson was murdered. Every time Al tries to solve the mystery he has another angle to check out. All of his suspects are from the Bainbridge bloodline and Al is determined to get to the bottom of this case at whatever it costs him. This book is mainly set in the 40"s during WW2 and Amy Chua gives you the background of Chinese and Japanese internment camps. She also gives you the history on San Fransico and the surrounding areas. Love it!

A compulsively readable, genre-defying debut that is full of a rich cast of characters and features a mixed race Police Detective trying to uncover who was responsible for an assassination at a prominent hotel in 1944. Steeped in the history and culture of 1940s California (especially Berkley and San Francisco), this story is a fascinating historical fiction, murder mystery with fantastic insights into race and class at this time and place! Great on audio too narrated by Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren and Tim Campbell. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early ALC in exchange for my honest review!

This was a tough one to read with the rampant racism running throughout the book...yes, I know it was the times but looking back it still enrages and saddens me. Also, this book seemed a bit long and I had a hard time getting into it at first. I am not sure if that was a me problem or a book problem or a subject problem but will definitely read another Amy Chua book before I render my final verdict.

This book started out strong and then fell apart. The beginning was interesting: a prominent politician is threatened and eventually murdered and there are so many suspects. But then the story goes in so many directions: social commentary, racial tension, political intrigue, a ghost story with some gothic undercurrents; it was just too much to keep up with. I eventually lost interest as the investigation limped along. And it seemed to go on forever! Add into that, the different subsections by date, I felt like I was always on chapter 4. It was entertaining and I wanted to know how it would end but it really should have been shorter and tightened up.

1944. Berkeley, California. Detective Al Sullivan finds himself the lead detective on a murder case involving former presidential candidate Walter Wilkinson. With the abundance of enemies that Wilkinson has made in his life, the list of suspects is long. But strangely enough, the investigation seems to find its way back to the tragic death ten years prior of seven year old Iris Stafford, a member of the wealthy San Francisco Bainbridge family, at the same hotel. Despite the machinations of the Bainbridge family, the political aspirations of the district attorney, and the interest of Chinese First Lady Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, Sullivan is determined to find the truth and bring a killer into the light.

Holy cow. I don’t think I truly understood what I was getting into when I saw that this was a historical thriller, but I was absolutely blown away. It’s clear that Chua really took care and took the time to do the research about the time period. The historical elements are incorporated so seamlessly and in such an interesting way that it made me want to go out and do some research on my own.

The downside to the historically accurate elements presented in the book is that the reader also has to read through the thoughts and feelings of the time. Overt racism and prejudice is present throughout, especially when it comes to the Japanese. Even though it felt icky, I understood the need to include it in this book and it’s also a good reminder of how far we’ve come since then (even though it sometimes doesn’t feel like it).

All the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. There was never a moment where I was confident what would happen next. At this point, I’m still not sure if the ending is actually the truth of what happened and I love that!

One of the things that I really loved was that Sullivan is mixed race, but he can pass as white. He has to reconcile his actual identity with the one that he presents to the world. In addition to learning to accept his identity, he also has to learn to accept the kind of person he is.

With a full cast of compelling and nuanced characters, Chua brings history to life while still weaving an intricate story that leaves readers guessing through to the end. A bestseller in the non-fiction space already, Chua has penned a dazzling debut fiction novel that leaves me wanting more.

I had the pleasure of listening to an advanced copy of the audiobook which is narrated by Robb Moreira, Tim Campbell, and Suzanne Toren. The narrators really brought this story to life, understanding the nuances of each character and how they interact with one another.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from the publisher for free and have voluntarily written this review.

4 stars.*

As a fan of Amy Chua's nonfiction, I wasn't sure what to expect from her debut. This actually really impressed me!

The Golden Gate is a historical fiction mystery, with a film noir nod. It is told from multiple viewpoints, but the primary narrator is Detective Al Sullivan, a Berkeley cop struggling with his own inner feelings of belonging and race/class struggle. Chua does an impressive job marrying the history of the Berkeley area to the fictional story of the murder of politician and social denizen Walter Wilkinson.

Just the right amount of personal intrigue and drama mixed into a solid police detective story.

I thoroughly enjoyed the narration by Robb Moreira, Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell.

This historical mystery by Amy Chua is dark, with noir-ish elements that reminded me of the classic Chinatown. Although I didn’t exactly enjoy it, I am glad I listened to it and would recommend it to fans of 40’s noir fiction.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

(Rounded up from 2.5)

I seriously considered DNF’ing this book but I decided to plow through to the end to learn “whodunit.” The book did get more engaging in the second half but I still found myself skimming a lot. The Golden Gate is partly historical fiction and partly police procedural/mystery, with a large dose of social commentary. The main action takes place in 1944, with some chapters taking place in 1930.

You can tell that Amy Chua has a background in writing nonfiction because several parts of this book feel more like a nonfiction book than a novel. These side trips into history, while interesting, interrupted the flow of the narrative and really slowed things down. The book would have benefited from either eliminating these mini-dissertations or shortening them significantly. There were long sections about the history of California’s Bay Area, including the fur trade, the Gold Rush, opening of the Golden Gate Bridge, and the redwoods, among others.

The main narrator is detective Al Sullivan, who was born Alejo Gutiérrez, the son of a half-Jewish Mexican father and a White mother from the midwest. In 1931, when he was seventeen, his father and two half-brothers were deported to Mexico during the “Mexican Repatriation.” (This was actually a historic tidbit I didn’t know anything about.) So he took his mother’s family name when he joined the Berkeley CA police department, hoping to “pass” as white. Discrimination of all sorts was common in those days (and unfortunately still fairly common today), so he felt it would be a career disaster to keep his birth name. I came to really like Sullivan. He has a strong moral center, which was severely tested many times over the course of the story. He also was wonderful with his 11-year-old niece, Miriam, who was a terrific character. No one else interested me much, however.

In addition to the historical side trips, the flow of the narrative is also interrupted by excerpts from a deposition by one of the main characters, Genevieve Bainbridge, but her words are very relevant to the mystery. She tells a long-winded story about her family, meant to convince the police that none of her granddaughters were to blame for the murder at a fancy hotel of a presidential candidate who had been visiting Berkeley.

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title. (I switched exclusively to the ebook once I decided I needed to skim.) The audiobook has three narrators who all do a wonderful job: Robb Moreira (who does most of the narration as Detective Sullivan), Suzanne Toren, and Tim Campbell.
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Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook. All opinions are my own.

This murder mystery set in 1940s San Francisco was a solid historical fiction read. I enjoyed learning a lot about the history of California, particularly the Golden Gate Bridge and the history of immigration into the state. This was all clearly well researched. The murder mystery aspect was pretty intense and the investigation was a lot to follow. I did feel like it was a bit long and drawn out. There was quite a bit included that didn’t feel relevant to the plot. I prefer mystery/thriller books to be a bit faster paced, and while I found some of the side information interesting, it didn’t add to o the story. The audio narration was well done!

Loved that this was a historical thriller set in a place I could easily imagine. I was immersed so well that at times I just kept finding things to do so I would not need to pause it. It was a great combination of the old and the new that I would recommend to fans of either genre.

This book was my first foray into the mystery novel world in many years- and it was well worth it. Move over Death on the Nile, Amy Chua is in town. Well thought out, leaving the reader to follow down twisty paths that uncovered a new piece of the puzzle every where you looked. I enjoyed that even to the end of the book, the reader is given breadcrumbs and yet left guessing. The characters were all extremely vibrant, pulling you in from the moment they stepped onto the page, leaving you rooting for whoever was currently speaking. (except maybe the <spoiler.> scoundrels that took advantage of Miriam <spoiler>) I enjoyed the history interwoven through the story, the multiple perspectives and raw truth of the times. I would recommend this book to anyone. I don't typically read mysteries, but this made me think maybe I should start!

4.5 stars
I started this one at work and I’m so glad it ended up being a slow day at the office because I couldn’t put it down! At times I wasn’t really sure which genre this book wanted to be in-historical fiction, murder mystery, police procedural, with a sprinkling of possibly paranormal. Whatever it is, I found it oddly addicting.
I really appreciated every so often the author added a few paragraphs of California history when it ended up being relevant to that part of the story. It flowed into the narrative naturally and never felt like a history textbook.
When you get closer to the end (around 75% or so), you’re going to want to just cancel any other plans you might have so you can finish the book uninterrupted. You’ll have all kinds of twists and turns thrown at you. Don’t bother trying to keep track of them all… just hold on and enjoy the ride!

4 stars

I love the East Bay, truly more than anywhere else in the world, so of course I wanted to devour this historical mystery/thriller set in Berkeley (with important episodes across the Golden Gate, not to be omitted).

Al Sullivan is a detective with a complicated past (aren't they all?), and his multiracial background coupled with some of the steps he's taken to make that info a bit less overt make him an interesting focal point for the mystery he's trying to solve. Things get even more intriguing when the current mystery appears to be connected to a past crime. A local and somewhat notorious family filled with beautiful but troubled women just keeps resurfacing as Sullivan and readers look for answers. While the crimes and related mysteries are compelling enough, like all good detective-centered fiction, Sullivan's life, family circumstances, and personal struggles make for a compelling read on their own.

This is debut fiction from a known author, though transparently this is my first interaction with Chua's writing. I enjoyed the setting, the touches of history (Sullivan reminds readers often that he likes history and then he offers a lesson or detail to match), and the general plotting. I'd be happy to see Sullivan helm more books and look forward to reading _The Bay Bridge_ or the _580 at 5 on a Wednesday_ next!

The Golden Gate
Amy Chua
9/19/23

Thank you #partners @minotaur_books & @macmillan.audio for the #gifted copies

This was excellent!!! A wonderful mash-up of historical fiction and mystery, loosely based on true events, The Golden Gate is a well-researched, impressive debut! I especially appreciate the exploration of race and class.

The cast of audiobook narrators are amazing!!! I abandoned my print ARC for the audiobook because it was so well done!

Highly recommend!

A great historical mystery set in the backdrop of the hysteria, suspicion, and racism of WWII in California. Al Sullivan is a detective investigating the murder of a potential president. The likely suspects are a set of 3 daughters, the Bainbridges, but only 1 did the deed. He goes to their former guardian and grandmother, an incredibly sharp and witty woman who is determined to not let Sullivan anywhere near finding out the truth.

The mystery was great, but what really makes this book special is the historical aspect to it. There is just so much that relates to the paranoia of the time. But also be prepared, because this book also contains the inappropriate language of the time.

I really enjoyed this one. My only critique is just that it's very long.

Thank you Macmillan audio for giving me an advanced review copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.