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    The Golden Hour
    The Golden Hour
    The Golden Hour
    Audiobook7 hours

    The Golden Hour

    Written by Todd Moss

    Narrated by Piter Marek

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An extraordinary thriller debut of twenty-first-century espionage, by a former deputy assistant secretary of state who "knows where all the bodies are buried-literally" (W.E.B. Griffin). The Golden Hour: In international politics, the hundred hours following a coup, when there is still a chance that diplomacy, a secret back channel, military action-something-might reverse the chain of events. As the top American diplomat for West Africa, Todd Moss saw a great deal about how diplomacy and politics actually work. But as he shows us, the results aren't always pretty. When Judd Ryker is appointed director of the new State Department Crisis Reaction Unit, he figures he has a mandate to help the United States respond more quickly to foreign crises, but he hasn't reckoned with the intense State, Defense, Pentagon, White House, and CIA infighting and turf battles he would face. Then comes the coup in Mali. It is his chance to prove that his theory of the Golden Hour actually works-but in the real world, those hours move very, very quickly indeed, and include things he'd never even imagined. As Ryker races from Washington across Europe to the Sahara Desert, he finds that personalities, loyalties, everything he thought he knew, begin to shift and change beneath his feet-and that friends and enemies come in many forms.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 4, 2014
    ISBN9781490631493
    The Golden Hour

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    Reviews for The Golden Hour

    3.5/5

    34 ratings5 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Reviewed by JoAnneReview copy provided by New American LibraryThis is Wurtele's debut novel and it was a riveting read. The book takes place during World War II in Tuscany, Italy and you felt like you were there with the vivid descriptions of the countryside, vineyards, food, villas, farmland and churches along with the Nazis, partisans, bombings, and tales of the war. It's a story of family, honor, strength and love along with all the fears invoked by the war as well as the horrors of the Jews being rounded up and sent away on trains to the camps. The Bellini family are the main characters and you get to know them intimately. Giovanna finds herself on the outs with her family due to her beliefs and stand against the war and because of the strong feelings she comes to have for Mario, who is Jewish, and who she ultimately falls in love with. The prologue set the stage for the storyline but you nearly forgot about it due to the action that takes place throughout the book. You are reminded of it with the reading of the epilogue which gives nice closure to the story. I enjoyed the journal entries written by Mario while he was hiding from the German army. There was a happily ever after that didn't seem like it would come to bear with a few tears shed along the way. This book was reminiscent to me of The Sound of Music with the daughter thinking she is in love with the Nazi soldier as well as Paris Noire by Francine Thomas Howard that also had black soldiers serving in the war in Europe. This was an enjoyable read which I initially did not think it would be and I look forward to reading other books by Wurtele in the future. Favorite Quote: ...Mother had decided not to ask the Germans' permission, but simply to go ahead and set a table under the huge, spreading linden tree. If challenged, she planned to use my eighteenth birthday as an excuse and hope she could prevail upon their goodwill. I had wanted to include Violetta in the celebration, but Mother worried that even one more guest might ad to the noise and make it riskier.
    • 4/5
      I call this one WWII lite - There are no gut-wrenching, heartbreaking concentration camp scenes, no in-your-face heinous acts of senseless cruelty but the presence of war is the backdrop for the main story - the coming of age and eventual love story of Giovanna Bellini. At seventeen years of age, I found Giovanna to be very naive and protected. At first, when the Germans occupied her little town, Giovanna thought they looked dashing in their uniforms. When Giovanna was caught in a budding flirtation with a German officer by her mentor, Sister Graziella, she was forced to do something else with her time other than work at the school where they shared space with the occupying Germans. It was a little hard to believe Giovanna was so oblivious to the plight of the Jews. In short order, Giovanna had to grow up quickly, leaving behind foolish romantic notions with the enemy as the brutality of war shows it's ugly face.She does decide she wants to do something to help the war effort and when her brother Giorgio seeks her help in feeding his little group of partisans, Giovanna does not hesitate to do what it takes to comply. Under cover of working for a local clinic and at great risk to her personal safety, Giovanna becomes very involved in helping the group. It's here that she meets Mario, a wounded partisan. In tending to him, Giovanna is forced to make some very difficult decisions. Of course, the two start to fall for each other." I sat still for a long time, watching Mario breathe. Who was this man for whom I had possibly just sacrifed a life, maybe two? I couldn't explain the urgency I had felt, the compulsion to rush to his aid, the magnetism that drew me then and that kept me now at his side, hanging on his every breath as if my own depended on it." Even though, this was predictable, Wurtele did a great job in developing their relationship and all the characters in general. They were very well fleshed out and managed to evoke numerous emotions in me. I was proud of Giovanna when she stood up to her father whose ideals differed greatly from her own. I couldn't stand her whiny, self-centered father. Her mother just made me want to shake her out of her apathy and tunnel vision. Wurtele also excelled at description; I felt I had been transported to Italy and set down in the midst of the action. I think this would make a good book club selection as there are numerous issues that could make for some interesting discussions. A reader's guide is included at the end. Even though this was a little different in tone and location from the WWII books I have read, I enjoyed it very much.
    • 2/5
      Children's fiction/time travel adventure. It starts out as a suspense-mystery (are all those people really ghosts at the abandoned hotel?) but quickly turns into another book about time travel; characters find themselves in the middle of the French Revolution and must escape from several sticky situations. Reasonably entertaining, but apart from the Xavier's and Xanthe's African-American ethnicity, nothing very remarkable.
    • 4/5
      I liked the fantasy elements brought out in the first chapters: a hotel that slides through time, and a "golden hour" when time stands still. Once we got to 18th century France, I lost interest. But I guess I'm not much of a time travel book buff.
    • 4/5
      After their mother is killed in a car crash, Rowan and his little sister, Nina, are sent to their strange aunt’s home in Maine. There they discover a run-down hotel with a time travel portal.Nicely done, with a tip of the hat to time-traveling books before. Williams gives it a fresh taste and in an interesting time: revolutionary France. I’ll read others by her.