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James Sallis

Drive Paperback – September 5, 2006

by James Sallis (Author)

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Much later, as he sat with his back against an inside wall of a Motel 6 just north of Phoenix, watching the pool of blood lap toward him, Driver would wonder whether he had made a terrible mistake. Later still, of course, there’d be no doubt. But for now Driver is, as they say, in the moment. And the moment includes this blood lapping toward him, the pressure of dawn’s late light at windows and door, traffic sounds from the interstate nearby, the sound of someone weeping in the next room . . .

Thus begins Drive , the story of a man who works as a stunt driver by day and a getaway driver by night. He drives, that’s all—until he’s double-crossed. Powerful and stylistically brilliant, Drive has been hailed by critics as the "perfect piece of noir fiction" ( The New York Times Book Review ) and an instant classic.

Print length

158 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harvest Books
Publication date

September 5, 2006
Dimensions

0.39 x 5.25 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0156030322
ISBN-13

978-0156030328
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Editorial Reviews

Review

PRAISE FOR DRIVE

"Full throttle . . . Sallis' riveting novella reads the way a Tarantino or Soderbergh neo-noir plays, artfully weaving through Driver's haunted memory and fueled by confident storytelling and keen observations about moviemaking, low-life living, and, yes, driving. Short and not so sweet, Drive is one lean, mean, masterful machine. A."--Entertainment Weekly

"Imagine the heart of Jim Thompson beating in the poetic chest of James Sallis and you'll have some idea of the beauty, sadness and power of Drive . . . [It] has more thought, feeling and murderous energy than books twice its length."--Chicago Tribune

From the Back Cover

An Entertainment Weekly Top 10 Fiction Book of 2005

A Washington Post Best Book of 2005

Driver works as a stunt driver by day and a getaway driver by night. He drives, that’s all—until he’s double-crossed.

"One stark and stunning tale of murder, treachery, and deceit . . . [Drive] packs a wallop."—Boston Globe

"A perfect piece of noir fiction . . . focus[ing] on those hollowed-out moments when a man’s moral landscape suddenly shifts and he’s plunged into darkness."—The New York Times Book Review

"Imagine the heart of Jim Thompson beating in the poetic chest of James Sallis and you’ll have some idea of the beauty, sadness and power of Drive."—Chicago Tribune

"Bottom line: Drive is a chopped and channeled, foot-to-the-fire-wall, hardboiled ride."—This Week

James Sallis is the author of the Lew Griffin novels and over a dozen other books, including the biography Chester Himes, a New York Times Notable Book. He has been short-listed for the Anthony, Nebula, Edgar, Shamus, and Gold Dagger awards. He lives in Phoenix, Arizona.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harvest Books; 1st edition (September 5, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 158 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0156030322
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0156030328
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 6.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 0.39 x 5.25 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #993,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6,464 in Hard-Boiled Mystery
- #12,714 in Superhero Comics & Graphic Novels
- #106,213 in American Literature (Books)

Customer Reviews:
422 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		18%
3 star		11%
2 star		4%
1 star		4%

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Aaron

A Difficult Read For Me

Reviewed in the United States on December 20, 2017

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I had trouble with this one.

For the first several chapters, 'Drive' really impressed me, with an engaging opening and florid characters and intelligent narrative. There was some great writing evident, and the story seemed promising; however, about a quarter of the way through, I started encountering some awkwardness in the text, such as disorienting shifts in time and perspective, and an over-brevity in the descriptions, which seemed to omit key details necessary to comprehend what exactly was happening. I found myself having to reread whole paragraphs, and sometimes whole pages; and, when this continued through the remainder of the book, I lost track of the plot developments and other elements, eventually to the point of disrupting all sense of transport in my mind. By the time I reached the ending, it meant nothing to me.

Granted, this all might've just been me and my personal reading style or thought processes or something, rather than inherent flaws in the book; but, in any case, my enjoyment was considerably reduced. That said, 'Drive' is not without merit, and I did still get something from it, ultimately. Even if it reads as strangely as I perceived it, I could see the book appealing to most any fan of fast-paced crime fiction.

My thanks goes out to this book's author and publisher. I am grateful for your work.

* * *

Some notable quotes from 'Drive':

"I was going to be the next great American writer. [...] Then my fist novel came out and gave credence to the Flat Earth folk -- fell right off the edge of the world." -- p.59

"Doc raised a hand to point shakily to the IVs. 'See I've reached the magic number.' 'What?' 'Back in med school we always said you have six chest tubes, six IVs, it's all over. You got to that point, all the rest's just dancing." -- p.129

7 people found this helpful

Helpful

ReN

Not the movie, but that's okay.

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2016

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This is a solid noir. It doesn't rely on provocative, and corny, descriptions of the women. Instead it focuses on creating a strong story that brings the reader in. In fact, it demands attention.
One thing to be prapared for is that the story can get very confusing at times. It flashes back and forth through time and there are some chapters where it will take a moment to readjust perspective and realize who, where, and what is taking place.
This isn't the Driver of the movie either. This Driver is in fact somewhat more human than the movie version.
I only gave the book a shot because I fell in love with the movie, but the book has found its own special place in my heart for its own qualities.

14 people found this helpful

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Bren A. Parr

You're going to ignore the warnings and buy the book anyway.

Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2017

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I'm in no way, shape or form an author nor an expert reader, but this book...
Let me be honest, I saw the movie first, ok?
That's the first thing I'll say.
What you saw in the film is not what you'll get in this book.

Now, let me be a little rude, I feel like I just wasted my weekend on this book, I knew that this book would be nothing like the movie, I didn't go in expecting to be blown away. I expected at least something that might entertain. What I got, do you want to know what I got? A wasted weekend.

Buy the book or not, I don't care, but understand this, I warned you.

Why 2 stars? Because this book inspired one of the best movies to come out of the 2000's so far and doesn't deserve a 1 star for that reason alone.

6 people found this helpful

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Radix

Nice try, still amateurish effort & feel

Reviewed in the United States on May 11, 2019

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Mostly enjoyed this as light reading. I have to hand it to the movie/script writer for polishing off the rough edges of the primary work.

“Driver” (we never get a name, which is kind of silly) is an interesting character with a well imagined past. The character is set as a kind of unwitting vigilante & man used to living a double life.

A professional stunt driver and a heist driver for hire, Driver is a young man troubled by his past and only sorting that out as best he can amidst an amoral setting of Hollywood farce and the darkest shades of the criminal underworld.

I recommend this read, though the “Writer’s” prose is an underperformer, he delivers a good pulp original.

Helpful

Misty Smith

Skip the book; watch the movie

Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2019

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Nicholas Windig Refn really did a good job of taking the good parts of this book and then translating the rest into something beautiful in his adaptation. It's not that the book's bad, because it really isn't, it's just that Sallis' writing is so particular, and at times, hard to decipher; at others, just downright pretentious. The non-linear format is definitely unique in its set-up, but somewhat hard to follow, and really pulls you out of the story, making it hard to enjoy.

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Yasmin Foster

Lean...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 22, 2021

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Boy, this book is lean. Lean to the point where I couldn’t hold onto the damn narrative, it kept slipping out of my grip like a pissed off python. Didn’t know what was happening half the time and the unnecessary flashbacks that kept interrupting the story didn’t help, just left me trying to work out if we’re in the present or past now – while wrestling on the ground with that python of a writing style. I’m only thankful that this book was as short as it was. It’s a shame because there are nuggets of good writing here and if it was mixed in with meatier writing then it would have been a lot more enjoyable.
Driver is also an emotionless husk of a protagonist that we’re supposed to be engaged with enough to stick with him throughout the book. Saying that, I can understand why Driver is like how he is, given the flashbacks of his childhood, which I’d argue were the only flashbacks worth anything as it shows us the foundations of Driver’s adult personality. Though given that I can’t recall half of the narrative I cannot, for the life of me, say if he has any character growth or not by the book’s end.

2 people found this helpful

J. McDonald

Drive.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 22, 2017

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I came to this by way of Nicolas Winding Refn`s recent filmed version; I was not disappointed.

Sallis is a relatively new name to me, though he's been writing in this genre for years; this short, but beautifully crafted novel is a fine example of modern hard-boiled contemporary noir – a classic of its kind.
We never learn the name of the main protagonist (Driver), who lives a dual life as stunt-man/getaway-driver in the Hollywood city of LA; the novel jumps between time-points in order to provide some back-story to events in the present, when a robbery goes wrong and our anti-hero has to deal with a crime boss who doesn't like loose ends of the kind Driver has become.
The writing style is smart, humorous in places and never stylised in the way some lesser writers tend to approach this kind of material.
Much as I enjoyed the novel for itself, it also made me appreciate what a fine job of adaptation Hossein Amini`s screenplay for Refn`s film was; though there are a few differences in the plot-line the movie stands well as a version of the original.

An instant classic, well worth reading whether you've seen the film or not; as the original, it of course takes precedence – a quick read (you'll read it in a few hours) and a good one from a master of the genre.

3 people found this helpful

Gert and Daisy

A great drive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 23, 2020

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I find that this type or genre of book can go either way for me it hooks me in straight away or I end up struggling to get any feeling for the storyline and the plot. The hook for me with this book was the writing style and dialogue it is slick punchy and funny in the right place it has a simple revenge type plot but it’s understated not all guns blazing a cracking read. I like Mr Sallis style so it’s onto his next book for me.

One person found this helpful

C. F. Nisbet

Better ending than the film

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 13, 2021

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Good book, gives more back-story than the film, and is a good read. Although the ending is similar to the film, there was a slightly better twist than in the film. Spare action, no padding. To those who say the book and film don't go very deep, which was my first thought, I would say that any amplification of the story would have quickly become repetitive, both in the book and film.

Highly recommended to those who have watched the film first.

Jaime Peters

Great Novel - But not like the film.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 4, 2014

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Without a doubt, I loved the film. It was fast moving, sharp plot, adequate action and had the feel of a Michael Mann crime thriller. Ryan Gosling was well cast as the enigmatic 'Driver'. And for me, it was a good film. Although something about it made me think of the 1978 Walter Hill film, The Driver.

I thought the book would have mirrored the screenplay but it didn't. It actually didn't resemble the film at all. And this is what continually confuses me about Hollywood's treatment of a good novel. It's like they take a book and change it. They retain its name, keep a vague storyline, then rewrite the whole lot. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. But please, enjoy the novel on its own merits. It is not like the film. Sallis writes solid crime fiction. It is fast and punchy, and the dialogue is good.

I am currently reading 'Driven' and I am under no illusions that the film may suffer the same fate as the first. If you don't mind this, then you'll enjoy Drive. I did. And I didn't come away disappointed.

2 people found this helpful

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