Golda’s Hutch Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given a free advance reader copy of this book by Books Forward in exchange for an honest review.

Content warning: this review mentions sex and BDSM.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I’ve read strange novels. Many of these are bizarre in a variety of ways, but today’s book is not that at all. It’s simply different because of how it tackles the plot. I’ve never read a novel like it at all. What title am I talking about? It’s Golda’s Hutch by Robert Steven Goldstein – a good novel about desire, politics, and power in late 1990s San Francisco.

Golda’s Hutch is about an executive of a technology firm and how certain people try to oust him. Craig Schumacher is not your average boss. He’s a gentle spirit, a vegetarian, does yoga with a rabbit named Golda, and values connection over competition. However, beneath his calm exterior lies a secret that he works to keep hidden. Enter Byron Dorn – Craig’s  employee and chaos incarnate. Crude, impulsive, and driven by envy, Byron is excited when he and his wife Adele stumble upon something that could possibly bring Craig down. But when Byron enlists another couple into his schemes, things get more complicated. Yet, Craig isn’t the only one with secrets. As the stakes rise, everyone will have to decide what they’re willing to sacrifice to get what they want and when they’re willing to walk away. 

When reading Golda’s Hutch, one of my first thoughts was how much it reminded me of Macbeth. That play and this book involve ousting a person in a high position and tackle the same themes of desire, politics, and power with similar gusto. The main differences are the locations and the pacing. The play takes place in medieval Scotland, while the novel is in late 1990s San Francisco. In terms of pacing, Macbeth moves fairly quickly with the main character killing the king early in the second act. Meanwhile, Golda’s Hutch proceeds at the same pace as Hamlet, where it takes the entire play for the protagonist to murder the monarch/his uncle/stepfather. The final difference between them is that the play is plot-driven, while the book is a character study of six different people.

Despite Golda’s Hutch’s thin plot, there was a lot to admire about the book. The characters were memorable in their own ways. Craig is not like most business executives, yet he doesn’t brag about it. Byron is the complete opposite by being an alcoholic and, wait for it, a meat lover! The supporting characters are just as wonderful. My favorite was Justine, whose husband Nigel gets roped into Byron’s schemes. She works as an embalmer and forms connections with the corpses she treats. Justine was quirky in a way that felt natural. 

While all the characters have unique traits, they have two things in common. The first is their love of food. They’re eating all the time from pepperoni to eggplant bruschettas. In fact, each chapter is named after a food that the characters consume. I was on the hunt finding when those edibles were going to be mentioned. It added to the uniqueness of the novel. 

The second is that they all hold secrets. Craig’s is the one everybody focuses on, but there’s another one he has. His wife Shosanna is a dominatrix. While he is comfortable with the lifestyle she has, he doesn’t like that she has sex with another male client on occasion. She encourages him to have other partners although it’s clear that he doesn’t want to. Others have demons as well. Byron has panic attacks whenever he thinks of the choices he made and didn’t make. This humanizes him to some degree. Each one has a hutch that they want to keep shut.

Even though it’s a good book, I have two complaints. The first one involves the plot itself. I’ve already mentioned how thin it could be, but let me explain more. Not much happens on the page despite it being a story about bringing down a so-called powerful man. Like Hamlet, Byron likes to take his sweet time formulating his scheme. It also doesn’t help that major developments sometimes happened off the page. I forgave these because of how good the character work was. It was more interesting seeing Craig, Soshanna, Byron, Adele, Nigel, and Justine interact with each other and other people.

The other problem I had with it was the ending. Some reviewers have pointed out how it didn’t end with a bang, and I agree. Everything prior seems to indicate that readers were in for a big climax. Technically, something highly dramatic happens, but not to the character one would expect. It was less of a bang and more of a “Oh!”

But, these are only nitpicks.

Golda’s Hutch by Robert Steven Goldstein is an interesting novel. It evokes Shakespeare with how elevated the situation is without making it too obvious. The best thing about it was the characters, who were clearly defined, and despite how different they were from each other, Goldstein was able to bring out their similarities like their love for food and their secrets. I would recommend this to readers who like books that take place in San Francisco, heavily utilize food, involve overthrowing people in power, and the BDSM community. Golda’s Hutch will be out tomorrow, March 11, so go check it out wherever you get your novels.

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