05/29/2017
Los Angeles limousine driver Michael Skellig, the hero of Hanson’s nimbly plotted first novel, has spent the past 28 hours ferrying around Bismarck Avila, a celebrity skateboard mogul. A former Special Forces sergeant, Michael is waiting outside a Santa Monica hotel for his client when he believes he hears the voice of the Chechen torturer he killed a decade before in Yemen warning him of danger. He runs inside the hotel just in time to save Avila—but not one of his bodyguards—from two gunmen. Michael wakes up hours later in the hospital only to discover that the police suspect him of the murder. Avila will vouch for Michael with the LAPD—if Michael agrees to become his full-time personal chauffeur. But the job is more than just driving Avila: Michael needs to find—and stop—the person who’s targeting the skateboarder. Hanson, creator of the TV series Bones, melds well-placed bits of humor with a serious look at the emotional trials of returning veterans. The energetic plot demands a sequel. Agents: Eve Attermann and Claudia Ballard, William Morris Endeavor. (Aug.)
Praise for Hart Hanson and The Driver
“Hanson's storytelling voice is off the charts: blunt, morbid, morally indignant and furiously funny.”—The New York Times Book Review
“It is so hard to be unique in crime fiction and Hart Hanson has done it big time with The Driver. It’s got all the ingredients: high risks, strong momentum, unseen turns and a set of gripping characters. You can’t ask for more!”—Michael Connelly
“An outstanding debut thriller. Readers of Scott Turow and Harlan Coben will appreciate the intricate plot and rich character development.”—Library Journal (starred review)
“The Driver is an action-packed, humor-infused novel that doesn’t disappoint. Hart Hanson’s debut is chock full of eccentric characters, from soldiers with a cause to crooked cops to diva wannabes. This is a book that is sure to fly from the shelves to the bedside tables.”—The San Francisco Book Review
“The first chapter delivers an entertainment smack upside the head that will keep readers rapt to the story's end....Wryly funny and whip-smart, Hanson's narrative seamlessly weaves in serious themes, pop culture and a bit of a love letter to Los Angeles.”—Shelf Awareness
“[A] remarkable debut… The dialogue is crisp and street-tough, and the action redefines relentless. Expect lots of buzz for what is sure to be one of the season’s hottest first novels.”—Booklist (starred review)
“Hanson, creator of the long-running TV series Bones, takes to crime fiction in high style. Like Carl Hiaasen, he shows great pleasure in combining nasty violence with an arch comic sensibility...[a] fresh-voiced first novel.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Hanson, creator of the TV series Bones, melds well-placed bits of humor with a serious look at the emotional trials of returning veterans. The energetic plot demands a sequel.”—Publishers Weekly
“Riveting, smart, and funny, The Driver is a masterfully crafted debut. Michael Skellig is the hero we’ve been waiting for—a wry war veteran who doesn’t take anything (or anyone) too seriously, even while staring down the face of a sawed-off shotgun.”—Harlan Coben
“Funny and smart.”—Dallas Morning News
“[A] hugely entertaining thriller...Infused with dark humor.”—The Oklahoman
“The Driver has it all—crisp dialogue, complex characters, anda plot that zips at breathtaking speed. I see the beginning of a great career in thriller fiction.”—Kathy Reichs
“The Driver is packed with action...tightly plotted...The characters [are] sharply drawn and sympathetic (the hero's) or scary (the villains). Good or bad, they all come alive on the page.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
“[A] page turner.”—New York Post
“The Driver is everything a great thriller should be—always smart, often funny, and relentlessly exciting. The novel features imaginative mayhem from the first pages, a terrific twisting plot, and countless fresh elements, starting with its hip, witty, limo-driver hero, who deals with the eccentric world of high-profile skateboarding and the lingering sadness of many of our vets. I loved every page.”—Scott Turow
“Hart Hanson has given us a wonderful debut novel in The Driver. Former Army Special Forces Sergeant Michael Skellig runs a limousine service in Los Angeles, staffed by his hand-picked team of former war companions. Skellig and his people are living casualties of America's wars—damaged in different ways but clinging to their lives with determination, anger, and resourcefulness. Set in an LA of narcissistic celebrity, corrupt law enforcement, and limitless greed, The Driver is grim, funny, violent, and moving—all on the same page.”—T. Jefferson Parker
“The Driver is smart, brash, and funny, with characters who strut right out of an Elmore Leonard novel. For thrills, chills, and plenty of laughs, Hart Hanson is your man.”—Tess Gerritsen
“The ghost of Raymond Chandler is apparently alive and well and living inside Hart Hanson. I felt as though I was reading a 21st century reboot of The Long Goodbye. Brutal, gripping and funny. A dazzling debut.”—Charles Cumming
★ 08/01/2017
Michael Skellig, a former army special forces sergeant, owns a small limo service, run with the help of an undocumented immigrant and two army vets with issues. Together they form a loyal close-knit family. The saga starts with an offer from Bismarck Avila, a bad-boy rock star skateboarder, to buy Skellig's company after he intervenes in a shoot-out at a nightclub where Avila is the target. When Skellig declines the offer, Avila blackmails Skellig into being his exclusive driver. Enter a crooked cop and another threat on Avila's life, with Skellig as his best chance at survival. VERDICT Bones creator Hanson has written an outstanding debut thriller. Readers of Scott Turow and Harlan Coben will appreciate the intricate plot and rich character development. Although there is a fair amount of violence, loyalty and "doing the right thing" are the main themes of this novel.—Susan Carr, Edwardsville P.L., IL
2017-05-15
Hired as a bodyguard for African-American reality TV star Bismarck Avila, a rapper and skateboard mogul, "astoundingly vanilla" LA limo driver Michael Skellig draws on his background as an Army Special Forces officer in Afghanistan to save his client from killers.Skellig graduates from being Avila's driver to being his bodyguard after he saves the young celebrity—but not one of his 300-pound protectors—from gunmen at a nightclub. Hard-edged LAPD detective Delilah Groopman, with whom Skellig has had a serious flirtation, wrongly suspects he killed the muscleman himself, so he must outrun not only the bad guys who are out to do in Avila, but also the sexy police officer. That becomes exceptionally complicated after Skellig kills a dirty LA cop who is torturing members of his limo company's team of wounded veterans. Hanson, creator of the long-running TV series Bones, takes to crime fiction in high style. Like Carl Hiaasen, he shows great pleasure in combining nasty violence with an arch comic sensibility ("When one is obliged to dispose of a murdered body, one faces a Gordian knot wrapped around Pandora's box, which contains Occam's razor," says Skellig, a nonstop stream of pithy comments). Skellig's crew of Afghanistan veterans is an entertaining bunch. It includes Tinkertoy, a female mechanic with a quirky case of PTSD, and Ripple, a barely-19-year-old with issues of his own. The ghostly warnings Skellig hears, in the voice of a terrorist he shot in Yemen, add to the fun. Bones showrunner Hanson's fresh-voiced first novel is a lark, which is saying something considering the violence to which its characters are subjected.