The novel “The Driver” by Mark Dawson was published for the first time in 2014. It’s the third book in the John Milton series and follows “Saint Death“.
John Milton seems to have found a certain peace of mind working as a taxi driver in San Francisco. One evening, he takes Madison to a luxurious party and realizes she’s a prostitute. If he’s stopped by the police, he could face legal trouble, while he must keep a low profile. He doesn’t want to abandon the girl on the street, so he takes her to her destination.
While waiting for the party to end, John Milton hears screams and, when he enters the house, sees the girl in a clearly altered state. He tries to help her, but she’s paranoid and runs away. Someone in the neighborhood has called the police, and John wants to avoid being seen by the cops, but when Madison goes missing, he decides he must do something, along with her boyfriend. His resolve is strengthened by the discovery of other girls’ bodies.
In his wanderings around the world, John Milton seems to have found some stability, but he knows that for someone like him, it’s impossible to be sure he’ll escape his former boss’s agents. On the contrary, as much as he tries to live a normal life, he knows he must be ready to leave at any moment.
Mark Dawson also uses “The Driver” to delve into John Milton’s struggles that led him to become a fugitive. The author includes essential information about the protagonist’s past life, but focuses on his present. Milton attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, where he struggles to open up to others because his personal history is filled with very dark secrets. For this reason, information about his past is no substitute for reading the previous novels in the series. This problem especially concerns the first novel, which recounts the key events that lead to the protagonist’s attempt to turn his life around.
Among the commitments John Milton has made on his journey of redemption is to help others when he can’t help the people he has wronged. In his case, wronging someone meant killing them, so his only option is to try to help the people he meets in his new life.
Those who have already read the previous two novels in the series know that the stories are full of action, sometimes violent. In his new life, John Milton kills only criminals, and the situations he finds himself in reveal the habits of a man who used to kill in cold blood when ordered to.
In some ways, “The Driver” is structured more like a detective story than a spy story or an action-based thriller, because the mystery of what happened to Madison is central to the plot. In a case where the cops investigating the case don’t exactly seem like the heirs of Sherlock Holmes, John Milton investigates in his own way, handling himself among cops, a mafia family, and politicians who enjoy parties with prostitutes.
This is still a novel centered on John Milton’s attempt to build a new life. This means it’s wrong to consider it a detective story, and anyone who wants to read it as such would likely be disappointed, especially by the ending. There is, however, a certain detachment from the espionage elements that are important in the previous novels in the series. Mark Dawson also offers perspectives other than the protagonist’s; in this case, connected to the world of politics and some of its dark sides.
In the end, “The Driver” should be considered above all an action-packed thriller with some political ramifications. Essentially, Mark Dawson doesn’t simply repeat the same narrative structure as his previous novels, but leaves the world of espionage and covert operations in the background, at least for the moment. This novel is part of a series with an ending that provides a conclusion to the plot while also leaving the protagonist’s personal story open to new adventures. If you enjoy the genre, I recommend reading it. It’s available on Amazon USA, UK, and Canada.
