November Road
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.
Reviews
“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 on November Road)
“November Road is a remarkable and unforgettable reading experience... You will recommend it to friends. You will read it again. Berney is a writer to be read and admired. This is a staggeringly brilliant book and a flat-out terrific read.” (Don Winslow, New York Times Bestselling Author, on November Road)
“From its first frenetic pages to its wrenching final ones, Lou Berney takes us on the ride of a lifetime...It’s a crime story, a love story, a deeply American story. With November Road, Berney proves beyond doubt that he’s one of the most talented crime novelists working today.” (Megan Abbott, New York Times bestselling author of You Will Know Me, on November Road)
“Lou Berney has quickly become one of crime fiction’s stand-outs, a quietly subversive writer who can surprise the most jaded readers. November Road delivers everything we have come to expect from him -- and then some.” (Laura Lippman, New York Times bestselling author of Sunburn, on November Road)
“November Road is a thriller that defies categorization. A triumph of plot and prose and a brilliant depiction of the contradictions of 1960s America, the innocence, the violence, and the longing.” (Ivy Pochoda, author of Wonder Valley and finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, on November Road)
“Nothing less than an instant American classic. Haunting, thrilling—and indelible as a scar.” (A.J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author, on November Road)
“November Road is an absolute gem of a crime novel. Utterly immersive and pitch perfect in every way.” (Gilly Macmillan, New York Times bestselling author of What She Knew, on November Road)
“In November Road, Lou Berney shows you everything that crime fiction can be—a tightrope story that takes you across the entire landscape of America, lived by characters as real as anyone you’ve ever known... It’s the best book I’ve read this year—and second place isn’t even close.” (Steve Hamilton, New York Times bestselling author and two-time Edgar winner, on November Road)
“Berney’s emotional, empathic writing keeps the dynamic between these two lost souls intriguing, and it resonates on a larger scale, placed as it is against such a vivid backdrop... and there’s no complaint from this reader on his keeping the pages turning.” (Entertainment Weekly, “Required Reading”, on November Road)
“Berney’s gentle, descriptive writing brilliantly reflects these times of both disillusionment and hope... Perfectly captures these few weeks at the end of 1963—all that was lost and all that lay tantalizingly and inevitably just beyond the horizon.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on November Road)
Lou Berney
"I’m Lou Berney, author of the forthcoming NOVEMBER ROAD, a thriller and love story set against the backdrop of the JFK assassination. Don Winslow calls it “a staggeringly brilliant book and a flat-out terrific read.” And yes, since you’re wondering, I do plan to deliver a roller bag full of unmarked hundred-dollar bills to his house.
I’m also the author of three other novels, one of which, THE LONG AND FARAWAY GONE, won the Edgar, Anthony, Barry, Macavity, ALA, and Oklahoma Book awards. I discovered that there are a lot of different ways to nervously stammer and stumble through an acceptance speece.
Between the ages of 12 and 19 I was fired from approximately nine different jobs, including newspaper delivery boy (dereliction of duty), apartment complex maintenance man (general incompetence), and photo darkroom attendant (dereliction of duty, general incompetence, inappropriate use of darkroom). Since the age of 19, I have not been fired from a job.
My wife and I travel whenever we can (and whenever we save up enough airline miles). We’ve been to Australia, Japan, Egypt, and Colombia. My favorite experience was in Rwanda, where we visited the mountain gorillas. The guides warned us to be careful because although the gorillas are gentle, they are “gorilla gentle.”
I love dogs. No, I really mean it. I LOVE dogs. I happen to live with the best dog in the world, a golden retriever who thinks he can control me with his mind. But the joke is on him, because every time he stares at me I just give him a treat and he goes away.
A (very) small sampling of my favorite writers, in no particular order: Kate Atkinson, Elmore Leonard, Kelly Link, Walter Mosely, Laura Lippman, Flannery O’Connor, Don Winslow, Megan Abbott, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Louise Erdrich, Stephen Harrigan, Ivy Pochoda, Lynda Barry."
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