Driven (Sequel to Drive)

by James Sallis

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

I really enjoyed Drive, the writing, style and non-linear story, so I was interested to see where this story will go with the sequel. The first major issue with Driven is that it tries to continue a story that really didn’t need to be continued. But now, Driver seems different. Driver’s campaign against those who double-crossed him has ended; now seven years have passed and driver has a new life and a successful business. One day he and his fiancée were attacked by two men and while Driver can defend himself, his fiancée is killed. Driver finds that his past is catching up him. Will he face it?

I feel let down by this book, like this was more of a gimmick to follow the success of the movie adaptation of drive rather than a continuation of Driver’s story. The noir voice is still there but the non-linear story has disappeared and the book ends in an unsatisfying way. Even Driver has undertaken a transformation, but his personality doesn’t seem to suit the character I got to know in the first book. The plot never lived up to its predecessor and this just made this book a weak attempt of a sequel.

I’m not going to lie, I did enjoy this book but having recently read Drive, this book just can’t live up. Personally I think there is no real reason to continue the story of Driver; he is a great character but trying to tell the readers what happened to him after he got his revenge seems redundant and unnecessary. The new characters weren’t that great and the shady Felix had so much potential. I wanted to enjoy this book so much more but I continually compared it to Drive and in the end that was this books downfall.