The Walk

By: Lee Goldberg

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 6 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

It's one minute after the Big One. Marty Slack, a TV network executive, crawls out from under his Mercedes, parked outside what once was 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.

Marty has been expecting this day all his life. He's prepared. In his car are a pair of sturdy walking shoes and a backpack of food, water, and supplies. He knows there is only one thing he can do... that he must do: get home to his wife, Beth, go back to their gated community on the far edge of the San Fernando Valley.

All he has to do is walk. But he will quickly learn that it's not that easy.

His dangerous, unpredictable journey home will take him through the different worlds of what was once Los Angeles. Wildfires rage out of control. Flood waters burst through collapsed dams. Natural gas explosions consume neighborhoods. Sinkholes swallow entire buildings. Aftershocks rip apart the ground. Looters rampage through the streets. 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 humanity, a trek from the man he was to the man he can be... if he can survive The Walk.

©2009 Lee Goldberg (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Best Goldberg story yet

This book is not the usual crime/humor/parody from LG. Goes deep into human nature, how some would react to a disaster.
Marty,a big movie exec. tries to get home, to his wife, after "the Big One" hits Calif. Pretty much total destruction all around, so its a harrowing journey. He meets Buck within a short while and this guy is REALLY obnoxious! Other reviews complain of language and his attitude but that is the character and LG writes him beautifully! Luke Daniels does a fantastic job narrating, especially Buck, you will hate him, lol! The story would not be the same without his attitude, yes he is crude, misogynistic and maddening but please don't let him turn you away, you'll miss a great story.
Marty goes thru hell, almost to the point of "REALLY"?! More? But it's all for a reason. Goldberg is great with the doing the "almost too much," if you have read True Fiction and Killer Thriller, (fantastic humor) but keeps it right at the edge. There are some really tragic incidents that LG handles with his dark humor, even some LOL for sure. The ending is a perfect little twist. I always do stuff while I'm listening to audios but the last 30 min i stopped and just listened. Kept me engaged the whole way. This is my absolute favorite LG book, dont pass on this one because of the bad reviews,they obviously didnt read to the end.

Very Enjoyable Characters

The characters were fun. The story was a solid urban adventure. There was a lot of comic relief in one character. I laughed outloud many times. The story was very interesting, and all loose ends were tied up, but some of them a little too cleanly. Seemed like there should have and could have been a little more detail. Regardless, I recommend it. You will.not be disappointed. ~JTC~

Fun listen

Good time for a few hours. Give it a listen. I’m biased as I’m from the locale but it’s really enjoyable to know EVERY single street and landmark by memory.

Keep Listening

Any additional comments?

I was hesitant & skeptical at first because the main character is so hard to like. However, if you keep listening and can get past some of the crude humor, the book has some hilarious parts. The author does a great job of putting Marty through the ringer without going too far. The ending is sad, happy and has a nice twist (I had my suspicions but the author did a great job of throwing me off.)

what a great story

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. And the narration made it such an epic storytelling. There was clear delineation between the different characters voices, which isn't always the case. I like how the gate guard came across a little like Barney Fife in both actions and voice!

Excellent

Luke Daniels is an excellent narrator! He made a really good story even better! I highly recommend this audio book ...you will laugh out loud. Lee Goldberg is a master at writing a story that holds your attention while sprinkling in a little comedy. Definitely one of my new favorite authors!!

THE WALK is worth your time!

What a good job the writer did on the people and events.This one of the best stories on THE BIG ONE .

Fun and Introspection

This is my first Lee Goldberg book. It was very enjoyable. The main character lives through 'The Big One' in California and spends the book trying to make it home to his wife. The journey takes you through his internal journey as he makes discoveries about himself and his life. But reading it just feels fun, eventful and entertaining. There're gun fights, explosions, crazy people and bodily functions. Very fun, but with the added bonus of emotional enlightenment. Good stuff.

Luke Daniels is the narrator. If you have read my other reviews, you know I have a complete talent crush on Luke Daniels. He is amazing. Listen to anything he narrates. You will find it enjoyable. Seriously. He's that amazing.

The Goldberg Formula Works Again

How does he do it, I wonder as I read yet another Lee Goldberg novel (third in the last couple of months) where seemingly stock characters navigate familiar plot lines, yet I identify strongly with the characters and find myself invested in their predicaments. But I can see how he does it: he starts off with a main character who, despite seeming to come from central casting, feels like a real person, right off the bat, and throughout. Secondary characters too.

My wife says you can fry cardboard and it will taste great because it's fried. In writing, you can write cardboard (cutouts) and they will taste great if you make them real characters that readers can empathize with. You can make them walk home many miles across the wrecked L.A. landscape after the Big One, through tidal waves, overpass collapses, gas explosions, wildfires, and mounds of dead bodies, referring explicitly to the Irwin Allen disaster movies they hark back to, and you buy it because the character is real, fully formed, flawed yet capable of growing.

This also explains why Goldberg can be so prolific. He doesn't have to sweat the plot points all that much because his characters show him the way. He even has his character in The Walk, a failed writer turned TV producer, say as much. It's truly amazing to me as a wannabe writer -- he seems to do it with ease, yet it is such a simple and basic tenet of writing. Character. Character is everything. Goldberg can create character.

The Walk also has a great twist ending. I saw it coming about an hour ahead of time, and I was hoping throughout that hour that he was actually taking us to that twist. And he did. It's like ... if I name what it's like, it would be giving it away, so I won't. Also gotta give a tip of the hat to voice-meister Luke Daniels -- his voices can sometimes be too much, but they work here.

Buck

I liked the premise of this story and the narrator is a favorite of mine as I loved his narration of The Iron Druid. What I didn't like about this story was Buck. Buck is about as annoying of a character as they come. He comes off way too strong and by contrast, Marty is much too passive. I understand why this dynamic was necessary as I figured out the twist to the story by the halfway point. Overall it was just OK for me but I think most people would probably enjoy the Walk, so I would recommend it.