Book Report #40 - Drive by James Sallis

Drive

by

James Sallis

 I was searching for a movie to watch, not long ago, when I saw the Ryan Gosling trailer for Drive; now THIS looked like an intense movie.  Unfortunately we didn't watch it - it was not what we were looking for at the time.  But the story stuck in my head and I  searched for it on the web and discovered the movie was based on a novella by James Sallis.  Coming in at 158 pages this is the kind of crime novel not seen in decades.  I was happy to see it available as an ebook and downloaded it to my Kobo Vox.

I loved how Sallis toyed with the time line; starting in the middle and flashing back and ultimately forward in the story made it very enjoyable.  I was not able to read it in one sitting, although it felt possible, and I did suffer a bit of confusion when I put the book down for a couple of days then tried to remember where I was when I picked it up again.  So I would suggest giving yourself plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the story.

This is a wonderful example of neo-noir, gritty, scary and very, very interesting.  The story revolves around a gifted Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a get-away driver for criminals in his spare time.  In time the life of crime is more alluring to him and he is slowly drawn in to the world completely.

I've always been fascinated by stories like these; how can a normal person turn to a life of crime?  I found myself rooting for him to make the right choice only to watch him spiral further into a world he can't control.  It was great stuff.

I'll be watching the movie this week, for sure.

Book Report #39 - The Drop by Michael Connelley

The Drop

by

Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly is a household name and his books are well reviewed everywhere so I'm not going to pretend that my thoughts are going to make much of a difference.

Connelly is actually on my must-read-in-order list but sometimes I'm loaned a book and feel that I should read and return it in a timely manner, plus his novels are so well written that a person can jump in at any point and not feel left out.  I've dabbled in Connelly's work and I've never been disappointed.  His plots are tight, his narrative is quick and his characters leap off the page fully formed.  Sometimes I like to cast the movie version of the books in my head; I still don't know who should be cast has Harry Bosch.

The Drop was another good read, in it Bosch solves two cases both of which have nice surprise twists.

Connelly is also good at giving his fans little treats along the way; I really liked his tip of the hat to Castle.  Connelly has appeared two or three times, as himself, on the show so it was fun to get a reference in the book.

It was a very enjoyable book.