Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jan 2010
304 pages
Genre: Thrillers
Publication Information
It's late at night when Florida sheriff's deputy Sara Cross arrives at the scene of a roadside shooting along a deserted highway. Another deputy, Billy Flynn, her former partner, who also happens to be her former lover, has fatally shot a twenty-two-year-old man during what started out as a routine traffic stop, and she's the first to arrive on the scene. He claims that the man pulled a gun, and that when he didn’t respond to Billy’s commands to drop it, Billy shot him. Billy is clearly upset, shaken up; Sarah sees the gun in the dead man’s hand and the bag of illegal weapons in the trunk of his car and believes Billy’s actions were justified.
Up north in New Jersey, Mikey-Mike runs a major drug operation and is tightening his hold on the competition, making a deal with a new supplier. Morgan, a middle-aged enforcer for Mikey who’s been in the life too long, would like to make one last score, walk away, and retire for good. Mike asks Morgan to head to Florida to find out what’s holding up his new deal, and Morgan sees the job as a possibility for his last big payday.
As more details of the roadside shooting emerge with Sara's investigation, and as Morgan follows the trail Mikey lays out for him, the two storylines begin to merge into a much darker, more menacing scenario than either Morgan or Sara imagined. Sara, in order to protect herself and her son, must follow the truth no matter where it leads.
"Starred Review. Powerful ... Stroby explores moral choices that leave his devastatingly real characters torn between doing nothing and risking everything."
- Publishers Weekly
"Starred Review." - Kirkus Reviews
"Gone 'til November is rock-solid crime fiction that melds compelling characters, crisp writing, and a finely rendered portrait of Old Florida, the state's thinly populated, less-storied interior." - Booklist
"Sure to appeal to fans of Edna Buchanan and John Sandford." - Library Journal
"In Gone 'til November, Wallace Stroby's mastery of character and dialogue is mated to a hellacious narrative engine. His heroine, Sara Cross, is a wonderful creation." - George Pelecanos
"This is a first-rate novel, with characters who live on in the reader's mind long after the book is finished. I always expect great things from Stroby, and Gone 'til November is a significant addition to an already impressive body of work." - Laura Lippman
"In these days of megaformulaic blockbusters, it seems almost impossible to find a novel that not only has depth of characterization, but a compelling plot. Gone 'til November achieves both and seamlessly. ... This novel sings, darkly and irresistibly." - Ken Bruen
This information about Gone 'til November was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Wallace Stroby is an award-winning journalist and a former editor at the Newark Star-Ledger. This is his third novel, following The Heartbreak Lounge and the Barry Award--finalist The Barbed-Wire Kiss. He lives in New Jersey.
The Flower Sisters
by Michelle Collins Anderson
From the new Fannie Flagg of the Ozarks, a richly-woven story of family, forgiveness, and reinvention.
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
As death stalks a gothic mansion in Miami, the lives of two women intertwine as the past and present collide.
The Funeral Cryer by Wenyan Lu
Debut novelist Wenyan Lu brings us this witty yet profound story about one woman's midlife reawakening in contemporary rural China.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
