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scytmo's review
5.0
What an excellent read! I’m not familiar with Lee Goldberg’s books, so I came to this with no expectations. This is a well paced police, investigative, procedural, mystery in and around Calico in modern day California, inextricably linked to events over 100 years earlier in the same location.
The plot kicks along at a nice pace, with elements of the story and the mystery being revealed throughout - with lots of surprises along the way. I found the central character, Beth McDade, interesting and likeable. She has a chequered past, with some aspects of her character that still get her into degrees of trouble - but she is competent, determined and loyal, giving her the doggedness to get to the bottom of the complex events she’s investigating.
The parallel story in 1880’s Calico paints a vivid picture of life in a small mining community, which felt real and alive to me, with a good mix of supporting characters.
The story kept me on my toes the whole way through. The uncovering and resolving of each layer of mystery was satisfying without being predictable, and I was intrigued by how all the threads would be resolved right to the end.
My only minor gripe is that the central theme of the book is left unmentioned for the first 7 chapters, despite being (to me) very obvious, which I found quite frustrating. Although perhaps that’s just me, as it’s also not mentioned in the blurb, so I won’t reveal it here. It certainly didn’t distract from a 5-star review for an incredibly engaging and interesting read.
Thank you #NetGalley and Severn House for the free review copy of #CalicoBook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The plot kicks along at a nice pace, with elements of the story and the mystery being revealed throughout - with lots of surprises along the way. I found the central character, Beth McDade, interesting and likeable. She has a chequered past, with some aspects of her character that still get her into degrees of trouble - but she is competent, determined and loyal, giving her the doggedness to get to the bottom of the complex events she’s investigating.
The parallel story in 1880’s Calico paints a vivid picture of life in a small mining community, which felt real and alive to me, with a good mix of supporting characters.
The story kept me on my toes the whole way through. The uncovering and resolving of each layer of mystery was satisfying without being predictable, and I was intrigued by how all the threads would be resolved right to the end.
My only minor gripe is that the central theme of the book is left unmentioned for the first 7 chapters, despite being (to me) very obvious, which I found quite frustrating. Although perhaps that’s just me, as it’s also not mentioned in the blurb, so I won’t reveal it here. It certainly didn’t distract from a 5-star review for an incredibly engaging and interesting read.
Thank you #NetGalley and Severn House for the free review copy of #CalicoBook in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
emcgriff123's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
dburley37's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
This is a unique mystery/science fiction book. I absolutely loved it. The characters had depth, and plot took alot of imagination. I always look forward to reading Mr. Goldberg's books.
rgetch06's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
5.0
donnek's review
5.0
This was one weird story! I had never read anything from Lee Goldberg before but have seen several episodes of a few of his tv shows. I hope he has plans on writing a series around Beth McDade and/or Calico. Beth is just likeable and interesting enough to be a good MC and Calico is just weird and creepy enough to be a good setting for a series. What do I know though, I’m neither a writer nor a publisher. I’m just an avid reader who would read a sequel or second installment on either Beth McDade or Calico.
The story starts out in Feb2019 and the book summary pretty much introduces a few of the storylines. One being Beth’s banishment to the only CA law enforcement agency (Barstow Sheriff Dept) that would hire her after the scandal back at the LAPD over her affair with a subordinate. The other one being the disappearance of a well-known LA chef/influencer/podcaster, named Owen, last seen at the local gas station, at 2am a couple of nights ago, coming home from Vegas.
As a former Angeleno, I can confirm that Barstow is nothing more than a pitstop on the Mohave Desert highway from LA to Vegas. It’s claim to fame being the famed Route 66 museum. It’s a town whose residents are pretty evenly split between a horde of tweakers, gangbangers, sex workers and the first responder personnel (police dept, sheriffs dept, EMT’s, and CHP) that covers the area. There’s also a Marine base there in Barstow, where even most of the first responders and service members who work in Barstow would rather commute from Victorville than live in Barstow.
Anyway, Beth’s former LAPD subordinate/lover, Trent, alerts Beth to the disappearance of Owen and asks for her help in finding him. At the same time, it’s revealed that the homeless man, as well as the clothes that he was wearing, were more than 100yrs old. Then Owen’s skeleton was found by a crew on a local construction site. It was determined that he had been dead for more than a 100yrs. Ok, that’s when the bizarre and creepy takes over. The story flips back between present-day and the past. None of this is a spoiler since it takes place in the first 15-20% of the story. Without getting into any big spoiler alerts, I will say that this is a time-travel story, and a pretty good one in my opinion.
This was one that was hard to put down and a very late night finishing it because I simply could not go to sleep until I knew how it ended. Not sure if anyone else felt this, but did it seem like the ending was a lead-in to a sequel or a second installment? Please, please, please, Mr Goldberg, let there be more Beth McDade and Calico. PLEEEAAASSSEEE!!!!! I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #SevernHouse #Calico
The story starts out in Feb2019 and the book summary pretty much introduces a few of the storylines. One being Beth’s banishment to the only CA law enforcement agency (Barstow Sheriff Dept) that would hire her after the scandal back at the LAPD over her affair with a subordinate. The other one being the disappearance of a well-known LA chef/influencer/podcaster, named Owen, last seen at the local gas station, at 2am a couple of nights ago, coming home from Vegas.
As a former Angeleno, I can confirm that Barstow is nothing more than a pitstop on the Mohave Desert highway from LA to Vegas. It’s claim to fame being the famed Route 66 museum. It’s a town whose residents are pretty evenly split between a horde of tweakers, gangbangers, sex workers and the first responder personnel (police dept, sheriffs dept, EMT’s, and CHP) that covers the area. There’s also a Marine base there in Barstow, where even most of the first responders and service members who work in Barstow would rather commute from Victorville than live in Barstow.
Anyway, Beth’s former LAPD subordinate/lover, Trent, alerts Beth to the disappearance of Owen and asks for her help in finding him. At the same time, it’s revealed that the homeless man, as well as the clothes that he was wearing, were more than 100yrs old. Then Owen’s skeleton was found by a crew on a local construction site. It was determined that he had been dead for more than a 100yrs. Ok, that’s when the bizarre and creepy takes over. The story flips back between present-day and the past. None of this is a spoiler since it takes place in the first 15-20% of the story. Without getting into any big spoiler alerts, I will say that this is a time-travel story, and a pretty good one in my opinion.
This was one that was hard to put down and a very late night finishing it because I simply could not go to sleep until I knew how it ended. Not sure if anyone else felt this, but did it seem like the ending was a lead-in to a sequel or a second installment? Please, please, please, Mr Goldberg, let there be more Beth McDade and Calico. PLEEEAAASSSEEE!!!!! I want to thank NetGalley and Severn House for sending me this eARC in exchange for my honest review.
#NetGalley #SevernHouse #Calico