Drive

By: James Sallis

Narrated by: Richard Powers

Length: 3 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Drive is 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" (New York Times Book Review) and an instant classic.

©2005 James Sallis (P)2007 Blackstone Audio Inc.

Critic reviews

Drive is full of sly humor, poetic details and plenty of rude violence...a terrific ride." (Los Angeles Times)

"Full throttle...Sallis's riveting novella reads the way a Tarantino or Soderbergh neo-noir plays...Drive is one lean, mean, masterful machine. Grade: A." (Entertainment Weekly)

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

Great main character, great book

I really liked it. In the realm between Chuck Hogan and Richard Stark. I've done way worse with 3 hours.

Good book, terrible performance

Narrator was terrible. The accents were truly embarrassing. The story would be better served with a new performance.

infinitely better than the movie

I did not even know this was a book until my editor mentioned it. I write a lot of driving scenes, so I decided to listen to this and holy smokes... a fantastic, thoroughly flushed out anti hero. Cool noir piece written in modern prose, set against increasingly Hispanic Los Angeles.

Top notch pulp-noire.

I cut my teeth on these books; tightly wound whirlwind pacing, written with a literary work ethic akin to the archetype seasoned genre pro seen less and less these days. You can very much feel the presence of a hard nosed career novelist grinding it out on an old typewriter in a smoky studio apartment.

Fans of the film may initially be somewhat bemused by the absence of the nostalgia drenched neon tone of Refn's cinematic adaptation, but hang with it a minute. What the source novel lacks in contemporary style it's made all the more worth the read for the insight into the history and personal character of the driver, who was intentionally left a question mark in the film.

The central arc of the story takes place every other chapter, familiarizing you with driver's history in the interim giving the story a very streamlined and rapid pace. Unearthing the history of the spectral character of Driver is worth the read on it's own.

All in all, if you enjoy genre fiction this is a tight, satisfying read. Above all however, if you're a fan of the film I would consider this required reading.

-M.R. West.

Great but not as good as the movie

I am usually a huge fan of books over movies, and this book offers a lot the movie doesn't, great to get some back story on driver. That being said I think the movie had the more compelling story while the characters are all true to the book!

wow

oh my gosh Driver is literally me
he couldn't be more me if I

Convoluted...

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I saw the movie which was great then thought the audio book would be fantastic. Unfortunately for me, this was not the case; I found the audio version hard to follow and difficult to figure out what was going on for much of the time.

Would you recommend Drive to your friends? Why or why not?

No I wouldn't.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Paul Michael Garcia?

Yes, the narrator was good.

Short & sweet.

the reader and his female voice is goofy at times but he knocks it the park.

otherwise short & sweet and never a bore.

If you love the movie you might not enjoy the book

Drive is my absolute favorite movie so of course I had to read (listen to) the book. Unfortunately I was kinda disappointed. The movie has a much more straightforward story line, and waaaaay less jumping back and forth between past and present narratives. In my opinion, even the character development in the movie is superior. Sure, you learn some of Driver's backstory, which isnt in the movie, but I thought part if the appeal of his character was that little air of mystery that we see in the movie, not knowing very much about him other than the fact that all he does is drive. The book felt almost too drawn out, and despite my love of the movie, I almost didnt finish the book because I started getting bored. Plus, isnt part of the appeal of the movie the aesthetic, with neon lights and a vaporwave feel to the sounds of Kavinsky? Bottom line is if you're a lover of the movie (like me), you might not like the book so much.

Great neo-noir, quite different than the movie.

Loved this book but you need to pay close attention as the story is non-linear.