Lee Goldberg The Walk

[Giovanni Gelati]

Getting this post started was a tough one for me. I received an opportunity to read a novel by Lee Goldberg that he had penned a few moons ago, how many I am not sure. I think
most good novels are not like bread and don’t have a shelf life and get stale
and moldy after a certain date. The Walk
was originally printed in January 2004; mine was printed August 25, 2010. The
new technology is amazing. But I digress yet again.

The Walk is not an Adrian Monk novel so I didn’t know what to expect. Here is what is on the back cover: “It’s one minute after the Big One. Marty Slack , a TV network executive, crawls
out from under the Mercedes parked outside what was once a downtown Los Angeles
warehouse, the location for a new TV show. Downtown LA is in ruins. The sky is
thick with black smoke. His cell phone is dead. The freeways are rubble. The
airport is demolished. Buildings lay across streets like fallen trees; it will
be days before help can arrive.

There’s no power. No running water. No order.

Marty Slack thinks he’s prepared. He’s wrong. Nothing can prepare him for this ordeal, a quest for his family and for his soul, a journey that will test the limits of his endurance and his humility, a trek from the
man he was to the man he can be…if he can survive The Walk.”

Interesting huh. I live in an area of the country that does not have to worry about this type of thing. The closest thing we have had was a flood back in 1996 and that was enough for me for my lifetime. An earthquake
and the aftermath is a difficult thing for anyone to wrap their heads around. Lee
Goldberg had me involved and caring about Marty right from the beginning. I am
consistently amazed at Goldberg’s ability to write. He has the knack of using
humor as a great tool to draw us in. The Walk
is another case in point. I am not going to spoil anything here, but as we get
to follow along with Marty in this post-earthquake LA , the pain , suffering,
carnage and devastation is consistently buffered by Lee Goldberg’s amazing
narrative of not just the situation, but the various microcosms that exist in
the area.

Lee Goldberg’s humor and humanity are what carry the novel on its swift and moving journey. The action was surprisingly good and the read was quick. I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at many of the scenes and the
characters he creates that are just original and totally unique. I love the
jaded quality of many of the characters and by the novel’s end, we outsiders of
the TV industry have picked up some of the jargon and lingo and feel like we
are insiders. But do we really care? Yes I say that we do, as we want to know
what happens to Marty and the people he cares about.

I am not going out on a limb here. This novel was fun and it was a quick read. It had plenty of action and it is a nice surprise in this age of what is new. I say try something old that could be something new to you. The Walk was no stroll; it is a fast
paced romp that rocks. I for one am glad I got the opportunity to read this
novel; its existence was a secret to me. The new technology is amazing stuff;
hopefully I will be able to find more gems in the Lee Goldberg files. Don’t forget to check out this Sunday’s post
as Lee Goldberg is one of the authors highlighted in our Top 20 Novels of the
Summer. Please go to our new Gelati’s Scoop Fanpage and press the Like button
and get on board for the fun and fireworks in store after Labor Day.

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