Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Review for November Road by Lou Berney

About November Road

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (October 22, 2019)

  “When people say they want to read a really good novel, the kind you just can’t put down, this is the kind of book they mean. Exceptional.” –Stephen King, New York Times bestselling author Named a Best Book of the Year by Entertainment Weekly • Washington Post • AARP • Newsweek • Dallas Morning News • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • 

Crime Reads Set against the assassination of JFK, a poignant and evocative crime novel that centers on a desperate cat-and-mouse chase across 1960s America—a story of unexpected connections, daring possibilities, and the hope of second chances from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Long and Faraway Gone.

 Frank Guidry’s luck has finally run out. A loyal street lieutenant to New Orleans’ mob boss Carlos Marcello, Guidry has learned that everybody is expendable. But now it’s his turn—he knows too much about the crime of the century: the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Within hours of JFK’s murder, everyone with ties to Marcello is turning up dead, and Guidry suspects he’s next: he was in Dallas on an errand for the boss less than two weeks before the president was shot. With few good options, Guidry hits the road to Las Vegas, to see an old associate—a dangerous man who hates Marcello enough to help Guidry vanish. Guidry knows that the first rule of running is "don’t stop," but when he sees a beautiful housewife on the side of the road with a broken-down car, two little daughters and a dog in the back seat, he sees the perfect disguise to cover his tracks from the hit men on his tail. Posing as an insurance man, Guidry offers to help Charlotte reach her destination, California. If she accompanies him to Vegas, he can help her get a new car. For her, it’s more than a car— it’s an escape. She’s on the run too, from a stifling existence in small-town Oklahoma and a kindly husband who’s a hopeless drunk. It’s an American story: two strangers meet to share the open road west, a dream, a hope—and find each other on the way. Charlotte sees that he’s strong and kind; Guidry discovers that she’s smart and funny. He learns that’s she determined to give herself and her kids a new life; she can’t know that he’s desperate to leave his old one behind. Another rule—fugitives shouldn’t fall in love, especially with each other. A road isn’t just a road, it’s a trail, and Guidry’s ruthless and relentless hunters are closing in on him. But now Guidry doesn’t want to just survive, he wants to really live, maybe for the first time. Everyone’s expendable, or they should be, but now Guidry just can’t throw away the woman he’s come to love. And it might get them both killed.

My Thoughts...

I love reading historical fiction and November Road is a wonderful addition to my favorites list.   JFK has been shot.  Even now no one really knows what happen in Texas on a horrible day in 1963.    While this is not a book about JFK it centers around people who know too much about what happen to him and who was involved.    Guidry is on the run from the person who wants to rid the world of everyone who knows something about what did happen concerning the assassination of JFK. 

The other story is Charlotte's.   She has taken her two adorable little girls and left her drunk husband to find a better life for herself and her daughters.    Between Oklahoma and California, she manages to cross paths with Guidry and the two combined efforts to get to where they need to be. 

The storylines come together, there are second chances for both Guidry and Charlotte, and I enjoyed the historical aspects that were thrown in throughout the story. 

 
Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble


© Brandon Michael Smith

About Lou Berney

Lou Berney is the author of three previous novels, Gutshot Straight, Whiplash River, and multiple prize-winning The Long and Faraway Gone. His short fiction has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. He lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Find out more about Lou at his website, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

3 comments:

  1. This sounds like an interesting book, I've read lots of positive feedback about it so I've got this on my winter reading list. Thank you for being on this tour! Sara @ TLC Book Tours

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  2. I have come to love historical fiction so much. JFK's assassination was such a huge event I look for books that have this event in it.

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  3. I agree, the time surrounding JFK's assassination is fascinating!

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