Review: Three Days in Autumn by Robert Bartlett

Three dramatic days condense the well-lived life of Cole Murphy, a custom motorcycle builder who reveals his character through a prism of random events that underscore his integrity and goodness in the evocative Three Days in Autumn by Robert Bartlett.

On a ride from Charlotte, North Carolina, to prepare his mountain home for a family visit, an accident blocks Cole’s bike and he’s thrown into a ravine. What comes next is a series of events that tests the big man’s strength as his family and law enforcement search clue by clue to find him.

With a cast of characters that weave through the story, the novel moves along with the steady persistence of Solomon, a deputy in Haywood County, North Carolina, where the accident occurs. The story throws cartel henchman, volatile deputies, and skeptical bosses in Solomon’s way, but he won’t let go of his hunch that someone needs saving. Meanwhile, a disoriented Cole finds his way through the darkness to a homeless camp. There, he encounters good and bad, trying to figure out what happened to him.

Bartlett gives the reader a novel with family at its core: Cole’s home-from-the-Army son, Logan, his high school daughter, Scarlett, and his loving wife, Lea. As they try to understand what has happened to Cole, Bartlett paints in the details of their lives together. Through them, Cole’s character is highlighted. As Cole struggles to stay alive, the glimpses from his family life underscore his determination. When he encounters the kindness of a young girl, Cole’s goodness shines, even in his broken state, and his protective nature rises to the surface.

The narrative is straightforward and well-told, wonderfully encapsulating a family’s instinct to love and protect each other as chaos and catastrophe strike. As the chapters flip by, Bartlett weaves the three main threads together, as Cole, his family and the sheriff all push toward the same goal – saving Cole. With startling effect, minor characters smash their lives into the protagonist’s orbit, enlivening the story and engaging the reader.

The novel does need a light edit to remove some misspellings and some overly descriptive paragraphs where characters use proper nouns that stilt the dialogue slightly. However, those instances are rare. The story overall is tightly written, and every episode – especially the tough scenes that take place in the homeless camp – bring a taut tenseness that illustrates Cole’s growth as a character, as he gradually gathers his strength.

For a work of character-driven fiction, Three Days in Autumn really is a page-turner. Readers will rush to the end to find out just what happens to Cole and how the characters’ storylines merge. It’s sort of a slow building suspenseful thriller that pushes the reader forward with the simple question: Will they – the cops, the family, and Cole – all find each other in time? In many ways, the novel is more than a story of love and family, and works as a novel of tense suspense. All told, this well-crafted work of contemporary fiction is more than worth the read – in autumn or any season.