Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road Book Blog Tour, Review, and #Giveaway #LoneStarLit

I’m really surprised that I don’t read more alternate history books. My favorite episodes of science fiction TV shows are always the alternate reality ones. And I’m totally loving Timeless and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, two shows about correcting historical wrongs. Bonnie and Clyde: Resurrection Road is an example of how flipping around the characters and the stories that we know into an entirely new story really works.

Alternate History:

If you aren’t familiar with the alternate history genre, these books showcase history, but a history where one or more events are different from what we know. Remember how Marty McFly changed the future by altering his past? This novel is a similar situation. In Resurrection Road, Bonnie and Clyde (yes, that Bonnie and Clyde) are tasked with essentially saving the United States in 1934. The novel is a great twist on history. I shudder to even think how WWII would have gone had Bonnie and Clyde not been around to thwart the plot to assassinate F.D.R.!

Characters:

Bonnie is a hoot – strong, intelligent, with loads of moxie, in both the historical and present story lines. I really have the sense that Bonnie kicks butt. She defies expectations, doing what she wants. I love how the authors write her character. She doesn’t back down for anyone. Men always underestimate her:

“You always forget about the ladies,” she said. “Think we’re just shrinking violets – that we’re going to faint dead away. Honestly, it’s embarrassing.”

But really, in Clyde’s own words,

“she’s the brains. … I’m the muscle.”

In the present story, she is just as plucky and conniving, coercing Royce, a reporter she’s hired, into telling the story her way, with her stipulations. My dream casting for (older) Bonnie is Sophia Petrillo from the Golden Girls!

As for Clyde, he feels less rounded and complete as a character. I think this is mainly because Bonnie tells most of the story. We learn second-hand how horrible it was for Clyde in jail and why he started his life of crime. Mostly though, we learn that Bonnie and Clyde are stronger together than apart.

“Nothing lasts forever, except true love and Texas summers.”

I only wish that Clyde had a larger presence in the novel. I think this would have enhanced to story a lot.

I also really enjoyed the secondary characters in Resurrection Road, especially the other women. Suicide Sal, their handler, knows everything about Bonnie and Clyde, yet still trusts they will do the right thing in the end. Marianne, the Russian assassin, understands the importance of loyalty and honor, becoming instant frenemies with Bonnie.

Story \ Writing:

I enjoyed the premise of Bonnie and Clyde, that criminals are being recruited by a secret agency to defeat other, worse, criminals. I don’t know all that much about the historical Bonnie and Clyde, but I thought the authors did a great job portraying the fictional Bonnie and Clyde. I really believed that the secret spy agency made the correct choice in faking the deaths of Bonnie and Clyde! History and the New Deal are the winners from this arrangement. The two separate story lines weave together seamlessly. Royce is researching Bonnie’s story while she’s telling it. The plot moves quickly, keeping me interested in what will happen next.

Bonnie has fifty years of stories to tell Royce before she’ll let him publish anything. These stories will hopefully provide the authors plenty of opportunity to give us more stories to read! I’ll certainly be in line for the next Bonnie and Clyde story.