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)  

A little confusing but good

Any additional comments?

Short noirish novel about a movie stunt man who moonlights as a getaway driver for various heists. Well-written if occasionally confusing because the author has stripped the story so much to the bone that context is often missing from scenes. Still, enjoyed this one. Will probably read again.

excellent, but non-linear

a very modern noir-ish tale about a stunt driver who also drives getaway. but be warned, you need to pay attention because it is told non-linearly and you can get lost easily if you're distracted, but it will be worth it if you stick it out. different, and for me much better than it's sequel.

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.

I friggin love this book.

Such a short sweet thriller, anyone with an audible subscription should listen to this. It’s less than four hours long, so you have nothing to lose!

movie was better

movie was better..............
but glad I listened.....
wondering if I'll be reading the sequel

great book, awful narrator

the book itself is great, a lean mean short thriller... the narrator sounds like he is bored too tears reading the story making it hard to find it interesting as a listener. if I hadn't read the book before I'd have never known it was as good as it is...

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.

The Movie Is Better Written

This is ok, and will prove entertaining if you loved the movie, but don’t get your hopes up.

It’s all rather sloppy and half-developed, like a quickly sketched out idea that wasn’t much revised. Details are inconsistent. The plot structure and timeline are needlessly haphazard. Etc.

The film offers much tighter and deeper characterization and plot.

The performance, unfortunately, is on par with the writing. His primary narrative voice is good, but his accents and other characters range from tolerable to quite bad. Accents are frequently inconsistent, and sometimes don’t match the character’s stated origins. (The Irish-sounding Mexican lady is a notably outlandish moment.)

On the whole, if you like pulpy crime fiction enough that you can put up with slapdash execution, then this isn’t all bad. It clearly has the seeds of a good idea, and some nice scenes and flourishes, which is what the movie took and grew into something much richer.

If you’re new to crime fiction and want something like this but much better, check out George V. Higgins instead.

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.

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.