Starred review from February 20, 2012
The enigmatic loner known as Driver, introduced in 2005’s Drive, takes to the road again after two thugs assault him and his fiancée on a Phoenix, Ariz., street in this terse, brutal, poetic, perfectly wrought sequel. Maybe Driver is paranoid, but is it really paranoia when one team of hit men after another track you down and try to put you on ice? “Two cars this time, and they’d waited for an isolated stretch of road. Chevy Caprice and a high-end Toyota.” Sallis once again pays homage to the tight behaviorist style of French noir master Jean-Patrick Manchette (“he felt the trachea give way and fold in on itself”) and the bleak existential world of criminals beloved by fans of the films of Charles Bronson and Alain Delon, not to mention the passionate cult following for the 2011 film version of Drive. As is the case for all such episodes in the life of the stoic driver, you can come into this excellent novel cold, strap in, just hit the gas, and go. Author tour. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary Agency.
Starred review from August 1, 2005
I drive. That's what I do. All I do." So declares the enigmatic Driver in this masterfully convoluted neo-noir, which ranges from the dive bars and flyblown motels of Los Angeles to seedy strip malls dotting the Arizona desert. A stunt driver for movies, Driver finds more excitement as a wheelman during robberies, but when a heist goes sour, a contract is put on his head and his survival skills burn up the pavement. Author of the popular six-novel series set in New Orleans featuring detective Lew Griffin (The Long-Legged Fly
, etc.) and such stand-alone crime novels as Cypress Grove
, Sallis won't disappoint fans who enjoy his usual quirky literary stylings. Reading a crime paperback, Driver covers "a few more lines till he fetched up on the word desuetude
. What the hell kind of word was that?" Lines such as "Time went by, which is what time does, what it is" provide the perfect existential touch. In this short novel, expanded from his story in Dennis McMillan's monumental anthology Measures of Poison
, Sallis gives us his most tightly written mystery to date, worthy of comparison to the compact, exciting oeuvre of French noir giant Jean-Patrick Manchette. Agent, Vicki Bijur
.