370 (2013 #54). Golden State

by Michelle Richmond

I was excited to win this book from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program, because I'd read Michelle Richmond's The Year of Fog and really enjoyed it.  The description for Golden State was intriguing, as the background event going on in the book is a vote by the residents of the state of California on whether or not to secede from the United States.  I had no idea some Californians are actually proponents of this.  I thought my state of Texas was the only one talking about it - although for many (but not all) different reasons.

The action in this story takes place on the day of the vote, June 15 of an unknown year.  Protests and ensuing traffic jams provide the obstacles for Dr. Julie Walker, on her way from her soon-to-be-ex-husband Tom's radio station, to a small hotel near her employer, the San Francisco Veterans Administration hospital, to deliver her still-somewhat-estranged half-sister Heather's baby.

After a brief prologue (tied in nicely at the end of the book), the story starts around mid-day on June 15, when Julie has just arrived at the hotel.  Her sister has barricaded herself in a room, as a crazy man - who knows Julie - is holding hostages across the parking lot in her hospital office.

The story then flashes back to about six hours earlier, near the beginning of Julie's day, when she gets a text from Heather.  Additional chapters fill in the back stories about Julie and her relationships with Tom, Heather, and the crazy man, Dennis.

Early on, the reader learns that Julie and Tom lost a son, Ethan, and Julie blames Heather.  Wanting  to find out how and why (as well as the hostage situation) kept me reading, and I finished the book in one sitting.

There is one rather unbelievable plot point, and some issues are not resolved, but they are immaterial to the main story.  Richmond does a masterful job creating suspense and developing her characters with realistic interactions that are tenderly described.  Plus, she has a nice message to impart about life.

Definitely recommended.

© Amanda Pape - 2013

[I received this advance reader's edition through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.  It will be passed on to someone else to enjoy.] 

267 (2012 #12). The Year of Fog

by Michelle Richmond

Abby Mason is a photographer engaged to Jake Balfour.  One day in July, she takes Jake's six-year-old daughter down to a San Francisco beach on a foggy day.  She stops to take a picture of a seal pup, and when she looks up, Emma is gone.

The Year of Fog recounts the year Abby spends looking for Emma, beyond the time when others, including Jake, have given up.  Abby thinks Emma was kidnapped, not drowned, and wracks her memory trying to come up with some detail that will crack the case.  Through her search for Emma, Abby discovers a lot about herself and her family background.

Michelle Richmond's beautiful writing includes research and observations on the nature of memory and the art and techniques of photography. (I thought it was interesting that Abby also works with a Holga camera.)  I love a statement she makes through Abby on page 271 about photographing people:  "the image I've created...in my mind is not about the subject...so much as it is about the person I was when I knew him."

It's also obvious that Richmond knows San Francisco well, as the action in the book takes place all over the city and nearby areas.  She even has a Google Map on her site pinpointing locations in the book, with quotations from it.  At the Silicon Valley Reads 2011 program at the Palo Alto Arts Center on February 17, 2011, she said the book was written as a "love letter" to San Francisco and the Bay Area, a "story that could not take place anywhere else."

This story is suspenseful without being creepy.  This book had been in my TBR stacks for a while - I'm glad my book club chose to read it.

© Amanda Pape - 2012

[I purchased a copy of this book at the local Friends of the Library book sale.]