I’ve been reading a lot of alternative historical fiction lately because being able to “hang” a story on historical events I know well and either change the known narrative or have the plot of the novel fit within the cracks of the mainstream history helps me get into the mindset of the book. So, when I saw an uncorrected proof of November Road for free with any purchase at my local bookstore, I took the opportunity to read it.

Combining two very different stories, like Devil in the White City, the readers got a little bit of cat and mouse/man on the run with Guidry and a “make your own road”/drama with Charlotte. The intertwined plots blended together well and persuaded the reader to be interested in the individual stories, as well as the combined one. I appreciated the ending because in it, Charlotte finally turned a major corner by not accepting to go overseas with Guidry. Instead, she made her decision based on what she felt like she needed to do for herself and for her daughters. She wanted them to be able to choose their own destinies instead of having those be chosen for them like she suspected they would have been in small town Oklahoma. The ending ended up being an empowering, uplifting one without being a happily ever after, which are the kinds of ends I prefer.

For me, a 4/5 means I really liked the book and I would recommend it to others but it isn’t one of my favorite books. This wasn’t a favorite (5/5) because some of the scenes felt contrived, like when Guidry kills the man who is watching him in Vegas. I like to see the characters I feel connected to win and I know, I’m reading a book about a guy running away because he knows too much about the JFK assassination, but it felt forced. I also thought the epilogue felt misplaced. It was funny and provided a good canvas to see how the girls from the novel remembered their mom, Charlotte, which we know from reading the rest of the story, was important to her. But for me, it quite didn’t land.