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“The engaging detective story…melds elements of noir, cop procedurals, political thrillers, and speculative sci-fi…[in] a fascinating examination that takes fidelity and correctness down a freaky Orwellian path.”
— USA Today
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“Winters has a knack for creating appealing detective fictions that skew reality in thought-provoking ways.”
— Washington Post
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“An entertaining new take on the venerable genre-blending of noir and science fiction.”
— Los Angeles Review of Books
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“Winters always finds a way to get at a larger truth about our present even
as he plays games with what we consider to be an acceptable form of reality,
and his new work is sure to delight in the science fiction and crime worlds.”
— Literary Hub
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“A skillful and swift-moving concoction…For those who like their dystopias with a dash of humor. No lie.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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“Thought-provoking, genre-bending…[and] keeps readers flipping pages.”
— Booklist
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“Kiff VandenHeuvel’s nuanced narration elevates this dystopian thriller, drawing listeners into Winters’s futuristic vision of California…This inventive tale of disillusionment is sure to intrigue listeners.”
— AudioFile
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“Golden State grabs notions of disinformation and literalism and brilliantly turns them on their head to see what falls from their pockets.”
— James Sallis, author of Drive
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, the ineffable language of public life performs a subtle kind of trick, marking out what makes a particular imagined universe different and — simultaneously, paradoxically — rendering it utterly, often chillingly, familiar.
— New York Times
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At a time in the real world when everybody seems to own their version of the truth and phrases like "alternative facts" are used to cover falsehoods, Golden State is, no lie, a fascinating examination that takes fidelity and correctness down a freaky Orwellian path.
— USA Today
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Winters has a knack
for creating appealing detective fictions that skew reality in
thought-provoking ways, producing a hybrid of the familiar and the uncanny. . .
. As you read, you feel your perception of the world slipping and warping. Winters brilliantly imagines the quotidian
manifestations of a truth-obsessed culture.
— Washington Post
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Mr. Winters has won major awards in both the mystery and speculative-fiction genres. The brain-teasing Golden State exists in a space where those two forms coexist. As a consequence, a sympathetic reader's imaginings may persist long after the book's puzzles have been solved.
— Wall Street Journal
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Nothing speaks to the power of a weapon like it inspiring a work of speculative fiction, and Ben H. Winter's Golden State is the dystopian take on the new tool of war du jour: lies.
— Paste Magazine, 'One of the Best Books of January'
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In Golden State, Winters has fashioned a wry commentary on our current era of fake news.
— The Guardian [UK]
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An entertaining new
take on the venerable genre-blending of noir and science fiction.
— The Los Angeles Review of Books
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Like any good dystopian yarn,Golden State shows . . . how any organization or government can warp good intentions into truly harmful ones.
— The Verge
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An entertaining, unpredictable read."—Financial Times
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A perfectly poised ontological-thriller-comedy-dystopian-allegorical-page-turner, yet with tenderly real characters in its chewy center, this turned out to be just the thing I was looking for.
— Jonathan Lethem
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Not many writers would take on Orwell, Ray Bradbury, the nature of truth, and the current administration all at a blow. Big shoes to fill--and they fit Ben H. Winters just fine. Golden State grabs notions of disinformation and literalism and brilliantly turns them on their head to see what falls from their pockets.
— James Sallis, author of Drive
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Golden State is a prescient, devastating commentary on humanity's disintegrating attachment to reality and truth, expertly told through the prism of a police-procedural, dystopian nightmare. Winters has written a 1984 for the 21st century. Not just a thrilling book, but an important one.
— Blake Crouch, author of Dark Matter
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'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."—The Maine Edge
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an ambitious and frighteningly timely novel.
— The Nerd Daily
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"Golden State is a gripping and brainy page-turner. . . . Winters is especially good at keeping his readers off-balance. Not even his biggest fans will see some of the twists and turns he's built into this, his best book yet.
— Library Journal, starred review
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Thought-provoking,
genre-bending . . . Winters seems to have a real affection for unusually
compelling premises. Another fine novel from a writer whose imagination knows
no bounds.
— Booklist
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A skillful and
swift-moving concoction . . . For those who like their dystopias with a dash of
humor. No lie.
— Kirkus
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Winters is an expert
at combining social commentary with gripping mystery plots, and the novel never
slows down enough to be accused of didacticism. With rich characters, frequent
twists and tense set pieces, Winters always nails the hardboiled basics.
— Shelf Awareness, starred reviews
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This near-future thriller by Edgar winner Winters is likely to provoke discussion.
— Publishers Weekly
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Another fine novel from a writer whose imagination knows no
bounds.
— Booklist