November Road by Lou Berney

 

In this novel, the reader meets Frank Guidry who works for the Mob, doing whatever he's asked to do.  When the Kennedy assassination bursts into the news, Frank is back in New York and shocked like everyone else.  Except that he remembers flying into the city two weeks before and stashing a car in a parking garage.  Except that now he is asked to go back and get the car that's in its place and get rid of it.

Frank realizes that there is more going on than the newspapers realize and that Lee Oswald isn't the whole story.  He flies in and does his job but when he reports in, he realizes himself that he is now a loose end and the Mob is ready to tidy up all the loose ends.  He manages to get out of town and now is on the run.  

Along the way, Frank meets Charlotte Roy.  She has just left her husband and taken her two daughters with her as she drives to Los Angeles to stay with an aunt.  She is determined to make a new life for herself and her girls but when her car breaks down, she agrees to let Frank take her as far as Las Vegas where he has a friend who will loan her another car to make it to California.  Along the way, Frank comes to think that a wife and children are exactly what he needed in his life and Charlotte wonders if Frank is the answer to all her problems.  Will they make it to California with the Mob on their trail?

Lou Berney is an American thriller writer.  His novels have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Steel Dagger and other awards.  In this book, he draws the reader into the lives of both Frank and Charlotte and make them care if the pair manage to find that normal life they are looking for.  There are twists and turns along the way and bursts of violence that are breathtaking.  One thing I particularly liked in this novel is the epilogue that looks back from twenty or so years out and lets the reader know how everything ended up.  This book is recommended for thriller readers.