Calico
Calico is a parallel-narrative, time-slip historical thriller in which we meet Beth McDade, a homicide detective in Barstow, California in 2019. Called to the scene of an accident involving the fatal collision of a motor home with a vagrant, she finds things don’t quite add up. Apart from anything else, the filthy man’s clothing looks about a century old, which could mean he’s been living rough, off the grid. Other strange anomalies are apparent in the skeletal contents of a coffin found at a building site. Meanwhile a YouTube wannabe chef disappears without trace. Beth’s curiosity kicks in fast, her thoughts seconded by the coroner. Barely into her investigation, she is tracked by powerful forces and threatened to drop it or risk her career. But, of course, she can’t. Then: a lightning storm, an unexplained disappearance, explosions at two military bases, a highway bus accident, and the motorhome accident. Beth needs to find the connection.
Beth is a savvy, streetwise cop who’s made mistakes and paid for them, but whose sense of fair play is admirable. Basing his novel on the actual silver mining ghost town of Calico, now a California State Park, Goldberg paints an unapologetically unsanitary, malodorous 1880s Calico, where sewers and drainage are non-existent, and water and bathing almost so. The desert dust works its way into every nook and cranny, in both contemporary and historical settings, which are equally compelling and leave the reader breathless for more. A cleverly complex plot wreathed in Goldberg’s brilliant humour makes this a rocket-paced story; a minutely researched historical tale with a sci-fi twist which imparts a message to accept the lot we are given and make the best job of circumstances that we can. Goldberg’s protagonist certainly does. This novel, where wryly amusing moments abound, comes highly recommended.
