November Road by Lou Berney – 299 pages
Book Blurb:
In the shadow of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in November, 1963, we meet Frank Guidry, a New Orleans-based hit man and mobster, and Charlotte Roy, a dissatisfied wife and mother of two little girls, Joan and Rosemary, living in Oklahoma. Frank is a handsome, womanizing, sharp loner with no attachments, who must flee multiple people who want him dead, as he knows the real story behind JFK’s assassination. Charlotte, on the other hand, lives a life of desperation, dead-ends and few choices. She seems destined to remain trapped in a small town, contending with a loving but uninspired, lazy, alcoholic husband filled with excuses – so she packs up her children and dog and just leaves, knowing she needs to take her future into her own hands. Both characters end up on the run, westward, desperate to escape their destiny and create one of their own choosing. The pair, with virtually nothing in common, cross paths and end up forming an unlikely connection in this page-turning thriller.
My Review: 4 stars – Guest Review
November Road had me flat out charmed and intrigued by the first chapter of this book and I was hooked instantly. The writing is colorful and witty, the main character (Frank) sharp and debonair, and the picture painted of New Orleans in 1963 vivid and enchanting. Frank’s life is one of quiet energy, solitude and constant calculation – always needing to be one step ahead of everyone else. I loved Charlotte’s fortitude and ambition, risking everything to find a better future for herself and her daughters. When the two meet – Frank rescuing Charlotte, the girls and their dog after a car accident – he does so in order to use them as a cover; intending them to be disposable.
I loved watching the evolution of Frank as he realizes that there is so much more to Charlotte and his girls, as he taps into feelings he’d never allowed. Though there was quite the cast of characters which sometimes left me confused, I soon “got to know” them all and enjoyed watching them snake their way through the story, wanting to see how their parts would conclude. These characters’ tangential story lines didn’t engage my attention as much as Frank’s and Charlotte’s, but they served the purpose of adding suspense to the convoluted game of cat-and-mouse throughout this well-thought-out novel.
There are only a few women of note in the novel – Charlotte and her girls, Frank’s “boss” Seraphine, and Charlotte’s headstrong aunt. They are all strong, smart and powerful, especially considering the era in which this is set. Frank’s development is interesting to watch, as he begins making decisions from a different, less selfish place, to right a past wrong and allow himself to have a real connection with another person.
This book is expertly crafted to keep the reader guessing – it’s a total page turner and my assumptions were definitely not always correct. There are many different viewpoints, which one could see in this story – even the little girls’ – and I loved that the story could be turned and viewed from different vantage points. By the second half I had a different idea on each page as to how the story would end, and was grateful for the little bonus epilogue at the end. This was definitely a pleasant surprise! Reviewed by Guest Fairy Stephanie H.
Quotes I liked:
What was life but this? A series of rapid calculations: the shifting of weights, the balancing of scales. The only poor decision was a decision you allowed someone else to make for you.”
-“Charlotte longed to live in a place where it wasn’t so hard to tell the past from the future.”
-“Now the pain came, building and building, like a band warming up before a show, one instrument at first then the others joining in.”
-“With every decision we create a new future…we destroy all other futures.”
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