Set in 1944, this historical thriller is set in the Bay Area. The story weaves together a plot that is part crime drama with a historical family saga. The book covers a broad scope of issues which makes the story line bounce around. On occasion, it felt more like a historical textbook than a mystery novel. Although the plot could have been tightened up, it was an entertaining read.
Thanks to NetGalley and Minotaur Books for the opportunity to read this book.

Clearly well researched and cleverly weaves a thriller set against the backdrop of a historical accuracy, but this book was a miss for me. I had to keep rereading to keep the plot straight. I even reread after finishing and it didn't clear up any of the difficulties.
I can see others greatly enjoying this work especially if you like a good thriller that also adds in family drama, historical significance, and mystery.

Thank you St. Martin's Press, Minotaur Books for accepting my request to read and review The Golden Gate.

Stars: 2.5

I'm exhausted. I feel like I was stuck in an elevator with a person who had a monotonal voice and never stopped talking.

Right away the author grabbed me. The grandmother is being questioned by the detective. He is asking her which of her three granddaughters committed a murder. Wow. This was written like an old radio program. A noir -- I envisioned the detective interrogating Mildred Pierce.

Unfortunately this excitement did not last long. The book is too long. There are tangents that could be defined and cleaned up, but no they are stretched out. This book is an expansion of a high school creative writing paper or a history teacher incorporating politics, 40s, mixed race, housing properties based on race, wealth and class assignment.

The story as a whole didn't work for me; it is a slow burn. I do see a lot of potential.

Very intriguing story. Perhaps one of the best mysteries I've read this year. The murder mystery has many turns and changes and was unpredictable until the end. Historical fiction with politics, murder, international intrigue, psychology and more. overall a great read to finish the year. I look forward to more books from this author.

The Golden Gate transported me to 1944 California.

I was fully immersed in the place and the lives of the people, with this slice of history coming alive in my mind.

This book made me think about American culture, the people we call immigrants, and the stories told to justify treatment of the “other,” whoever that group might be at any given time.

Before reading, you might want to adjust expectations. The Golden Gate is marketed as a “historical thriller.” It is not a thriller. What we have is a slow-burn study of people, of a society, of a period in time when war, propaganda, and fear shaped thoughts and behavior.

The murder mystery is complex, as are the people involved.

My only complaint is that, at times, we get bogged down in a history lesson kind of feel, with long passages of exposition. While interesting, this had the tendency to halt the story’s pace and take away from the immediacy of the plot.

I alternated between reading my print copy and listening to the audiobook. The audio is exceptionally well done, and I loved being enveloped in the story.

*Thanks to Minotaur Books for the free copy.*

This was an interesting mystery novel that captivates from the very beginning. I love the era this story is set in, and enjoyed the history intertwined.

I'm impressed with the depth of the intrigue Chua managed to weave into this dark murder mystery. Parts of the story were engaging and intriguing, while other parts were a bit too cliche old-Hollywood, but overall it was an interesting story that left you second-guessing the characters and who really was the guilty party until the very end. Chua also includes quite a bit of accurate, though at times hard to read, history, dialogue, and prejudices that were an all-too-real part of life in this country, and particularly the west coast, in the 1930s and 1940s. For me, though, the most interesting part of the story was the history of the Bay Area that had been interwoven into the narrative.

An excitement historical mystery! Very engaging and loved the plot.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for an honest review!

A historical mystery set in 1940s California. A murder of a wealthy businessman is investigated by detective Al Sullivan and he finds ties to a tragedy from a decade before.

I wish this had been just from Sullivan’s point of view. I didn’t mind the interview transcripts from the perspectives from the granddaughters weren’t as successful for me. For detective novels, I don’t think it’s as good when it alternates perspectives.

A debut novel is a historical thriller touching upon the Japanese and Chinese discrimination in California in the period after the bombing of Pearl Harbor as a Mexican American detective faces his own insecurities while investigating a murder involving some of the most prominent families in the area.
The story is told through two points of view with flashbacks to an event that took place almost fifteen years prior. First being Detective Al Sullivan who also is temporarily caring for his adolescent niece. As she tags along on parts of his investigation, he imparts the darker parts of the history of California to her and how immigrants like his father were treated. The other POV is uniquely told by the written testimony of a reluctant Genevieve Bainbridge, a prominent figure in the Berkeley area and whose three heiress granddaughters are suspects in the murder investigation.
The Golden Gate written in more of a noir mystery narrative is quite compelling with all of its subplots and misdirections. I found it to be both compelling and unique!

San Fransico, 1944 and a definite noir vibe to this mystery. A first book from Chua and I would read more from her. I think it could have been a bit more edited in a few areas, but overall a good mystery worth reading.

The murder of a Wilkinson, a wealthy man and presidential hopeful, at a hotel in Berkeley kicks off this novel. Detective Sullivan who had had a drink with a soon-to-be suspect in the hotel’s bar is tasked with finding the killer. He quickly find that daughters of the very wealthy and troubled Bainbridge family, as well as Mrs, Chang Kai-Shek are all suspects, having political and possible romantic dealings with Wilkinson.

While Detective Sullivan travels around the city, often ferrying his sharply intelligent niece to her job, he relates the complicated and often ugly history of the area. He's half Mexican and can pass, but she can’t, which means that while he can interact relatively easily with the suspects, he realizes that his half-Jewish, half-Mexican background could prove to be a detriment if discovered by his fellow police officers or the suspects.

Author Amy Chua relates this story with two storylines, alternating between the Sullivan's investigation, and the testimony of the Genevieve Bainbridge, grandmotherto the suspect, who provides the prosecutor with a rundown of the Bainbridge family history, which is one of mental illness, failed romantic escapades, and the various entanglements and proclivities of her granddaughters that provide context for their present day actions.

I loved all the history Sullivan rattles off as he travels around the city, looking for leads. Author Amy Chua provides terrific context through these details for the murder case, but also for Sullivan's and Miriam's lives. Instead of bogging the story down with needless exposition, I found it only enriched my enjoyment of this already interesting mystery.

I also really enjoyed Sullivan's and Miriam's interactions. She's a got great energy, and I loved her attitude and smarts. The two have different experiences of their city, and this illustrates the difficult line Sullivan has to walk with during his job, while Miriam's choices are so restrictive and negative.

"The Golden Gate" has a lot going on in it, with complex and dysfunctional family dynamics at the heart of the story. It's also a great portrait of San Francisco during WWII, with its complicated and fascinating past. I greatly enjoyed this book, and would love to read more by this author.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for this ARC in exchange for my review.

Any Chua's debut novel focuses on life in California during World War II throughout the narrative. Much of the book digs into the factual history of what happened to Japanese and Chinese immigrants after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the internment camps where Japanese immigrants were forced to relocate, and the hatred and racism that Asian immigrants faced as a whole. There are also discussions of the treatment of Black Americans and Mexican immigrants leading up to and during that time period as well. Sullivan is a Mexican American who takes his mother’s name after grappling with the events of his own family’s past, and begins to develop a deeper relationship with his biracial niece Miriam, adding emotional and familial elements to the overall narrative.

Oh I liked this book! I found it compulsively readable. Switching POV between the detective and the grandma via the deposition was really enjoyable, and I love the asides about California and San Francisco history. The classic noir style made contemporary with realistic and historical looks at race and other biases was really refreshing. I didn't even care too much about solving the mystery, I mostly wanted to continue to read about these characters interacting and living their complicated lives. Truly an enjoyable read. I've been recommending it a lot.

This book is a historical mystery taking place in San Francisco in 1941 but it has several flashbacks of an event that happened in 1919. We follow a detective as he tries to piece together the suspects in the murder of a prominent political figure.
This book was sluggish at times and I really thought about giving up but then the story would come together and I'd be enthralled again. I really enjoyed the journey we went on in this book to find the murderer. It felt like we were one of the cops moving around in the investigation. The history of San Francisco was also touched on and I felt myself waiting for these moments . Overall this was a great debut and ill definitely pick up more by this author.

In 1944 Berkeley, Homicide Detective Al Sullivan is thrust into a new case: the assassination of a presidential candidate, wealthy industrialist Walter Wilkinson. As he delves into the case, Sullivan’s investigation entangles him with the Bainbridge heiresses, political ambitions, and the intriguing world of forensic advances, all while dealing with issues of race and class. A good read

An enthralling, unforgettable story with dynamic characters and a twisty mystery. Rich in historical detail.
Many thanks to Netgalley and to St. Martin’s Press for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

Detective Al Sullivan, Berkeley Police, is assigned to investigate the murder of a well-known political candidate. It’s 1944 and WWII is on everyone’s mind. The murder occurs at one of the San Francisco Bay areas elite hotels. References to a child’s death in 1930 at the same hotel keep coming up. There is lots of family background both on Sullivan and the various wealthy families in the area, as well as historical information on the location. This is a satisfying mystery, if a tad too long, full of red herrings.

I love a good mystery/thriller!!! Besides knowing the timeline of events this book didn’t really give historical or thriller. If anything it was a suspenseful murder mystery with a lot of twists and turns. There was also a lot of back and forth with who really committed the murder which kept me on edge. Just when you think you know who the killer is you’re wrong.

The author did well blending historical facts with fiction to perfectly capture the time period. We have a dual timeline set between 1930 and 1944 in Berkeley, California after WWII involving the death of two characters. While this wasn’t a ghost story I just knew when the death of Iris was mentioned and the doll was found in the hotel closet of Walter Wilkinson after he was murdered we’d get a haunted hotel type of vibe.

Instead we’re given backstories woven through both timelines explaining how everything and everyone is connected. The characters are well-drawn and the author masterfully uses her side characters to help build an atmosphere of tension and uncertainty. Isabella was definitely a manipulator but her grandmother was the slickest character of them all. The way she came off seemed shady and like she had something to hide.

Overall, this was pretty entertaining my only downside was the author constantly referring to the Japanese as Japs. I rolled my eyes every time she used the reference cause ma’am you’re overdoing it. But if you’re into detective style historical fiction you might enjoy this. Special thanks to the author & @minotaur_books for my gifted copy!!!

Rating 3.5/5⭐️

Ms. Chua’s writing is superb, great pacing, engaging, descriptive in a way that activated my imagination— a bit too good!

I really want to continue to read this book but I could get nightmares from reading about some little girl’s death and her doll’s appearance many years later at a murder scene. The hint of ghost story reminds me of The Shining so much so that it detracts from my wanting to read a good detective novel a la Agatha Christie.

I don’t like ghost stories or even the hint of it. It’s not my cup of tea. I’d highly recommend if you don’t mind it. It’s looking to be a rich in theme novel, if only I could get past the goosebumps and nightmare inducing scenes.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.