Book Reviews: November Road

November Road
by Lou Berney

You may or may not believe that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman who murdered JFK and Officer Tippit before being murdered in turn by Jack Ruby. It is a fact that powerful mob bosses Carlos Marcello of New Orleans and Santo Trafficante Jr. of Tampa both despised JFK and his brother, Attorney General RFK. In 1962 and 1963 each boss made impassioned predictions (really threats) to their associates that JFK was going to be murdered soon and implied that they and/or their friends would have something to do with it.

Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby had tenuous connections to both southern Mob bosses. Ruby was also a low level flunky to the Chicago Outfit fronted by noted psychopath and JFK hater Sam Giancana. All three Mafia leaders were involved with the Cuban exile movement and CIA abortive attempts to murder Castro and invade Cuba. So there's a lot of smoke there. November Road asks the reader to imagine that there's not only smoke but also fire.

Frank Guidry is a loyal (well loyal to money and himself) lieutenant of New Orleans mob boss Carlos Marcello. Frank doesn't handle murder or any heavy work. Frank is a fixer and arranger. He greases the corruption wheels to get things done. Frank and Carlos go back. But Frank's first loyalty is to Frank. When an old friend pops up begging for Frank to hide him from Carlos' executioners, Frank offers help but promptly leaks his friend's location. Hey, people might have seen them together; Frank doesn't want any misunderstandings with the notoriously exacting and unforgiving Carlos. Frank wants to live, dammit! He may only have a life of empty hedonism but Frank believes that's better than the alternative.

However when another mob associate turns up very dead, Frank searches for some common denominators. The common thread is Dallas. 

Each man had performed some task in Dallas that, however minor, could be linked to the JFK assassination. Before the murder, Frank dropped off a car in Dallas. 

When Carlos, thru his special assistant, the enigmatic Creole woman Seraphine, "asks" Frank to retrieve this vehicle so that it can be destroyed, Frank tries to convince himself that he's too valuable to be eliminated. 

Charlotte is an Oklahoma woman trapped in an unhappy marriage with her alcoholic husband Dooley. Charlotte and Dooley have two young daughters. Dooley isn't abusive but he is an emotional and financial drain on Charlotte. Charlotte is tired of hiding Dooley's drunkenness from their daughters.Charlotte is fed up with condescension and patronizing assistance from her in-laws. Charlotte wants more from life. She is inspired by the growing civil rights and womens' rights movements. Charlotte would like to become a photographer. Charlotte takes her daughters and leaves Dooley. Charlotte heads for Los Angeles, where she intends to obtain a divorce.

Fleeing west to make a deal with the only man he knows with the motive and power to protect him from Carlos, Frank meets Charlotte on the road. Selfishly, Frank decides it's smarter to travel with a woman and children because Carlos' people are looking for a single man. However, although Charlotte is naive and affection starved, she's not stupid. Her questions to and interactions with Frank change him. Sometimes even a cynic craves faith. And even a sinful man may need forgiveness. Charlotte and Frank are at a crossroads. Charlotte and Frank cause each other to rethink their assumptions and worldview. Can you start a relationship with a lie?

This was a good read at about 300 pages in hardcover. Despite the setting this is not a mob novel. It's a road novel, with pithy but pungent descriptions of the politics, policies and people of the time. This very much includes segregation and automatic male assumption of female lesser status and competence.