Sallis, a serious writer, author of a biography of Chester Himes that's the gold standard on that underknown talent, delivers a happy surprise to the committed reader of darker books and more gritty crime fiction. In this age of no thought left unexpressed, no feeling left unaired, no absurdity left unplumbed in the gazillionologies of two-thousand-page forest-rapers, that feels like the first cool breath of autumn after the horrid belchings of summer. That means the reader's not stuck to the floor of the book in sticky goo, like in many violent novels. The killings all take place in front of our eyes, but apart from the short and matter-of-fact reports of the means and aftermath of each killing, there's no ghoulish lingering on the pain or the gore.
DRIVE 2011 REVIEWS SERIES
I like Sallis's New Orleans series featuring Lew Griffin, too, but this begins a new-to-me series of noir novellas featuring Driver. I'm a sucker for that kind of all-rounder.
DRIVE 2011 REVIEWS HOW TO
It's got an anti-hero just as antiheroic as you want him to be.he knows how to do everything, drive, fight, drink, kill, pick a noir skill and Driver (no other name) has it. My Review: It's 153pp of very noir-y noir. That's all.'), he goes after the ones who doublecrossed and tried to kill him.". In classic noir fashion, he is double-crossed and, though before he has never participated in the violence ('I drive. "about a guy who does stunt driving for movies by day and drives for criminals at night. Set mostly in Arizona and L.A., the story is, according to Sallis. Thus begins Drive, a new novella by one of the nation's most respected and honored writers of noir fiction. 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.” But for now Driver is, as they say, in the moment. Later still, of course, there'd be no doubt. The Publisher Says: “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. 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 Rating: 4* of five Rating: 4* of five The Publisher Says: “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.