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” (New York Times Book Review) and an instant classic.
James Sallis (1944–2026) was an American author of crime novels, science fiction, biography, and poetry. He is best know for his novels featuring Lew Griffin, an African American amateur detective. He won the Bouchercon lifetime achieve award, the Hammett Award for literary excellence in crime writing, and the Grand Prix de Littérature policière for The Killer is Dying. The film version of his novel Drive won the Best Director Award at the Cannes International Film Festival.View all by James Sallis
