A very sharply written crime story, and a very believable re-imagining of the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

Set in 1963, Frank Guidry works for New Orleans mob boss, Carlos Marcello. He realizes that the job of delivering the getaway car for the man who assassinated John Kennedy puts him in danger. He knows too much, and is now expendable. During his getaway, followed by hitmen, he uses a stranded woman (Charlotte Roy) and her two children as cover to evade his pursuers.

“With every decision we create a new future. We destroy all other futures.”

“It was two o’clock in the afternoon, or what residents of the French Quarter called the crack of dawn.”

“If it’s a fair fight, Barone learned early on, you’ve screwed up somewhere.”

Quotes from the book.

• Sydney Morning Herald: “This is 21st-century American crime fiction at its apogee.”
• Kirkus: “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.”

Adaptation. Movie to be produced and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Link to IMDB

Author’s Website: Lou Berney