November Road

A Novel

By: Lou Berney

Narrated by: Johnathan McClain

"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)

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly • Washington Post • AARP • Newsweek • Dallas Morning News • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • Chicago Public Library • Real Book Spy • CrimeReads • Litreactor • Library Journal • LitHub • Booklist

Winner of the Hammett Prize, the Left Coast Crime “Lefty” Award for Best Mystery Novel, and the Oklahoma Book Award for Best Fiction Novel!

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.

This audiobook includes an episode of the Book Club Girl Podcast, featuring an interview with Lou Berney about November Road.

©2018 Lou Berney (P)2018 HarperCollins Publishers

Run out and get this book right now!

It is a thrill to review a book that is this great. I have liked Lou Berney's prior books, but this one is better than the other three or four combined, and they were excellent. The publisher's summary lets you know about the setting and the characters, but there is nothing like listening to the fantastic narration and getting to know the people and following along in their extremely romantic, funny, thrilling romance and adventure. Frank Guidry is a con man who knows too much about the assassination of JFK, and as a result his superiors in the mob are determined to track him down. He hits the road. And there he comes upon Charlotte Roy and her divine little girls, Joan and her sister, whose name I have temporarily blocked. In any case, Frank falls hopelessly in love with the three of them. They are on the road running away from a needy, alcoholic father and husband, Dooley. The family has been living in a small town in Oklahoma, which, as it turns out, is where Lou Berney grew up and still lives. His imagination is just a marvelous thing. The reassembled family hits Route 66, all the way through the Texas Panhandle, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona and on to Las Vegas, where they meet up with Moe Dalitz, a mobster in his own right. Moe hates Carlos, the opposing mobster who is Frank's boss. Moe hates Carlos so much that he is willing to send Frank all the way to Viet Nam to run his own new interests (read: gambling, prostitution, drugs and who knows what else). If only to spite Carlos. Moe has a stable of lily-white teenage boys and girls who laze around his mansion playing ridiculous, dangerous, drugged-out games for him. Confused? Don't be. Lou Berney pulls all of this off with supreme aplomb. You root for Frank and Charlotte all the way, even though Frank must invent an identity to protect himself from the cold killer Paul Barone, who will off anybody just for kicks.
I love everything about this book. I hope you do too. I cannot imagine what Mr. Berney and the delightful Jonathan McClain can come up with next. I can't wait.

Loved it!

Great story AND narration! I'll be looking for more books by this author. The narration really brought it to life

Good book; entertaining

Liked the storyline, good characters. Good book for a road trip; especially if you’re going from Louisiana to Las Vegas.

Highly recommended

I loved everything about this book. The narrator did a great job portraying the characters. the characters came alive for me and the author kept the tension taut. A page Turner.

Incredible!

Riveting, exciting, sentimental. I laughed a few, I cried a few. But never was bored. A great story. I didn't want it to end.

sound issues

the fluctuating voice level was really frustrating. I'd have the volume where I wanted it, then the reader would drop his voice so low that I couldn't hear it - by the time I'd turned the volume up, the whispering was done and I'd missed what was said. This happened several times per chapter. The story was good and exciting - first time I'd listened to this author.

New take on the assassination

It took a while to get interesting. This is not about the Kennedy's or the politics of the time. Narration was good for the kind of story being told. This actually read like a book out of the 1960s. At one point I checked the publication date. Though criticized elsewhere I liked the ending. Overall, I enjoyed it.

Narration is outstanding

This story is violent and dark and yet a love story all the same. Well written, the narration took it over the top for me. Excellent book.

Beautifully written but less than perfect.

Mr. Berney has beautifully observed, nuanced chAracters and some interesting twists but it needed to end more strongly to be satisfying and take it to the next level. Superbly narrated, it was a worthwhile experience.

Thanks, Don Winslow! You were absolutely correct.

I saw a note on Twitter by Don Winslow about this title and thought I'd give it a try based on his recommendation. He said "One of the best books I've read in years." and he was right. Engaging plot. For the last half, I couldn't wait to get back to it to find out what would happen next. Sometimes books feel rushed near the end ... like the deadline is looming and the last few pages are pushed out the door. It's not the case here. The storyline wraps up nicely without those lingering, unanswered questions. It's tidy. And though it's not at all like real life, it's the kind of ending I needed right now.