Ben H. Winters (Underground Airlines and The Last Policeman) sets Golden State in an alternate or possibly future society where the state of California has become a separate nation known as the Golden State. The rest of the former United States has undergone an unknown disaster, seemingly related to the spread of misinformation and the erosion of objective truth. In response, the Golden State has instituted constant surveillance and rigid adherence to collectively understood facts referred to as Objectively So.
Protagonist Laszlo Ratesic is a veteran Speculator, a type of law enforcement officer committed to prosecuting lies and untruths in all their forms. His emotional life belies his professional success; he struggles with feelings he still holds for his ex-wife, and he lives in the shadow of his brother, a genius Speculator killed in the line of duty. When Ratesic is assigned a young, talented partner, he finds himself shaken out of his lonely routine and on the trail of a suspicious death that leads to a larger conspiracy.
In many ways, Golden State is a reflection on contemporary preoccupations about fake news and alternative facts. However, its downsides are readily apparent. Any form of fiction or untruth, no matter how minor, is proscribed, including the utterances of the mentally ill.
Winters is an expert at combining social commentary with gripping mystery plots, and the novel never slows down enough to be accused of didacticism. Even as Ratesic's faith in his society erodes, it remains a provocative and compelling alternative to the uncertainty that can seem to undergird modern life. --Hank Stephenson, bookseller, Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill, N.C.