Review: Golden State

Golden State by Ben H. Winters
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well that was interesting. The story takes place in a dystopian future in which lying is a criminal offense. It follows a member of a police unit that specializes in detecting lies. A seemingly mundane event starts pricking at Laszlo and as he digs deeper he finds things aren't quite what he believed.

So one of the big things that I enjoyed about this book is that we get to see the world through the eyes of someone that seems to be wholly indoctrinated into this state of being where lying is not permitted. There are times where I wanted to see the story from the perspective of someone who isn't so deeply involved. I don't know that it would have changed the impact of the story much though. I like the way that characters recite facts to each other when they meet instead of the traditional greetings that we are used to. Things like that pop up throughout the book to reinforce that although it seems familiar, this isn't the world we live in. The mystery elements are pretty good.

When we finally get to see the world outside of Laszlo's, it gets a bit weird. I'm okay with it, and I thought the ending worked pretty well with the way it develops, but that shift could be too jarring for some. At a point where the story should start giving the reader answers, it serves to cause more confusion.

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