Driving Alone: A Love Story

by Kevin Lynn Helmick

A gritty, Southern Gothic morality tale, this novel reveals that the high cost of hard living is brutally hard dying. Billy Keyhoe’s luck just ran after beating his girl to a bloody pulp and being shot by the clerk at Earl’s 66, he takes off in his daddy’s beat-up ’65 Caddy, leaving all his troubles in the rearview. At a crossroads on the way toward West Texas from Georgia, he picks up Feather, a beautiful hitchhiker who seems to know more about Billy than he knows about himself. The farther they go, the more he is drawn to Feather; but he unfortunately discovers that even true love cannot save him and he may have gone too far to ever make it back.

102 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2012

About the author

American fiction writer, literary modernist. Novels include Clovis Point, Sebastian Cross, Heartland Gothic, Driving Alone.

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't give five-star ratings lightly, but I'm giving one to this slim volume, a novella that is more prose poetry than simply hard-biting story-telling.

Driving Alone is a beautifully written story about Billy Keyhoe, a loser whose luck just ran out. I don't want to give too much away because the beauty of the book is having Billy's whole sad life unfold in language that belies the very violence that defines it. There is nothing "spare" about this spare volume, but rather it is full of lushness that almost takes your breath away.

Here's an excerpt:

She was something strange and beautiful, like a butterfly he wanted to catch and keep. It occurred to him that he’d never been in love before, had never made love before, not in the way he wanted to with her. He’d had sex many times, and now it all seemed so fleshless and mechanical and wasteful. He had taken but never given, given but never taken. Never had he exchanged these gifts at the same time the way lovers do. He watched her radiate from across the seat, fluttering and dancing in the night wind. He thought of his behavior along the road when he tried to take her, catch her, and he wished with all he had in his black heart that he could take it back for fear that he might have marred the dust of her butterfly wings and soon she would leave and limp across the breeze and die alone in a meadow of her choosing.

She had a way that was as true as the dawn. It was something he had longed for somewhere in his memory. She would be the unforgettable one. And as he felt around into their futures, he somehow knew that their time together would be short and end eventually as truth always does.

And here's what other readers had to say:

"Finished reading Driving Alone by Kevin Lynn Helmick. Driving Alone recasts the manic pixie dream girl as a noir, bruised angel of judgment wandering the back roads of the American South, waiting at the crossroads to be picked up by desperate drivers running from themselves. Highly recommended. You’ll want to grab this when it comes out."
- Spinetingler magazine

"Driving Alone is gorgeously grim new take on redemption and romance. It is unsettling and provocative; combining the classic romance of the open road with the claustrophobia of a morality play. If Hell is other people, Driving Alone has the Devil riding shotgun."
- Jared Shurin, reviewer for Pornokitsch, director and literary judge for The Kitschies

"Hardboiled, hardbitten and haunting as well as lyrically libidinous and lovingly lascivious, Kevin Lynn Helmick tackles sex and death along the lost highway the way the damned do—alone."
- Jedidiah Ayres, author of A F*ckload of Shorts

An intense nightmare that shimmers with beauty and darkness. Helmick broils these characters in southern humidity and human tragedy until the reader is left sweating, breathless and amazed.
- Fred Venturini, author of The Samaritan

"A journey into darkness and painful self-discovery … a brilliantly lyrical and richly painted hybrid of noir and magic realism. Superb."
- Paul D. Brazill- The Gumshoe, Guns Of Brixton, Drunk On The Moon.

(Full disclosure: Blank Slate Press, the company I co-founded, is the publisher.)

[Julie N · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't sold when Lisa from TLC pitched this one to me using words like "gritty" and "harsh." She wasn't too sure it would appeal to me either. But then she mentioned Southern Gothic, which is a HUGE love of mine, and also happened to name drop the setting - Waycross, GA. My mom's family is from Waycross and my Mema and Aunt Barbara still live there. I've spent holidays there for my whole life. I HAD to read it when I heard that parts take place in Waycross.

Basically, it's a Southern Gothic novella that follows a ne'er do well good old boy, Billy, who beats his girlfriend and flees town (Waycross) in his daddy's old Cadillac. When he stops to pick up a mysterious hitchhiker, he is forced to examine his life and how all roads eventually lead home (Waycross again). Bonus shoutout to Homerville, where I have had my own creepy experiences late at night (long story short - late night, deserted town, telling ghost stories with my siblings while road tripping to Mema's, man appears out of NOWHERE and we all scream and freak out - not neatly as interesting as Helmick's story, but HOMERVILLE! Another person has heard of this place!)

Writing
I was at times impressed and at times wished for more from the writing. I reviewed a PDF and so I'm thinking some of the issues I had with the writing (inconsistent verb tenses mainly) could have been a pre-release issue as opposed to an issue with the final copy. My other main issue with the writing is that it's described as a "morality tale." And I could not for the life of me tell you what the moral of the story is. I mean other than "don't be a woman-beating jerk". Which I think most people already have figured out before reading the book. Billy is a bad man and he deserves the bad things that happen to him. So I'm not really sure how it's a morality tale, other than when you do bad things, lots of times bad things happen to you in return.

Entertainment Value
I was totally into the story. As far as entertainment value is concerned, I was hooked. I read it quickly and easily and I think the length is perfect for the story Helmick is telling. I wouldn't add or take away any of it. I loved the whole "devil went down to Georgia"/"mysterious hitchhiker - OR IS SHE" thing the story had going. It's a very familiar story, but I think that Helmick put his own spin on it. It certainly feels Southern and certainly has the gothic elements I was looking for.

It is, however, certainly gritty. More gritty than my typical read, but not so gritty that I couldn't handle reading it. The language is more explicit than I prefer, but fitting for the story. And I loved that Helmick included several "Southernisms" that I recognized (What's your name? Puddin' Tane...) There are also assault descriptions, including an attempted sexual assault, but nothing more graphic than you'd read in your typical thriller.

Overall
If Southern Gothic is your thing, or if you're a fan of grit, or if you're a fan of that somewhat supernatural Southern setting, I think this one is worth trying out. It's not a long or difficult read, so the time commitment isn't huge, and I found the story to be incredibly entertaining.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billy Keyhoe is a loser. Thirty years old with no job, no plan and a wreck of a life. And now he’s really gone and messed things up: An argument with his girlfriend turned brutal with Billy beating her badly and an attempted robbery at Earl’s 66 netted him a tank of gas, twenty dollars and a shotgun blast when the clerk discovered what he was up to.

Now Billy is on the run driving his daddy’s old ’65 Caddy out of Georgia and heading for West Texas. Along the way he picks up a beautiful but mysterious hitchhiker who appears out of nowhere. She tells him her name is Feather, like in a bird. When Billy thinks to himself, “stripper name”, Feather replies, “I ain’t no stripper”. Feather knows what Billy is thinking, and Billy is charmed by Feather. As they drive, Billy’s life begins to unfold in a journey of self-discovery as he thinks back on his parents and his dysfunctional childhood.

Who is Feather? She knows Billy and has the power to manipulate him yet he can’t remember when or where he met her. Revealing much more about this tightly woven Southern Gothic would ruin the story for the reader. This is the point at which the plot takes off and the tension and suspense begins to build into a mind-bending psychological tale.

The characters are nicely developed and at times I was tempted to sympathize with Billy as the layers of his life were peeled away, exposing his humanity. This was fast-paced and compelling with vivid, descriptive prose. The gritty language and slang gave the story an authentic feel. The foreshadowing and symbolism revealed gives the astute reader hints of what is to come.

The shorter format of the novella was the perfect length for this dark, engrossing tale. Recommended, especially for fans of the genre.

[Eric Beetner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like the skeletal hand of Jim Thompson reached out of the grave and slapped me across the face when I read this slim book. A noir road trip into darkness deeper than I ever anticipated. The prose sizzles like a fried egg on the hood of Billy's Cadillac in the deep Georgia heat. The story swelters and swoons in a cross-bred version of Wild at Heart and every sad luck femme Fatale paperback from the 50s.
This is top notch modern day noir. The words grow together like kudzu on a back road until you're in too deep and there is no way out without a machete and the last drop of hope in your veins, but even that won't be enough.
Damn fine stuff.

[Amira Makansi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this gritty, Southern noir. It's filled with elegant prose and vicious emotions, and it brought me forcefully into Billy Kehoe's wasted life. Billy ain't a good guy - he's mean, petty, he abuses men and women equally, and his life is in tatters. But Helmick makes you sympathize, even empathize with him, as he draws you out onto the open road into the car with Billy and all his suffering.

A powerful read.

[Kim House · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. A must read!

[Elizabeth A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though he doesn’t literally have “Born to Lose” tattooed on himself, Billy Keyhoe would seem to have been given the karmic equivalent of the mark. Twenty-nine years old, his life has been most notable for its failure to launch. The only thing he’s proven himself any good at is smoking, drinking, and beating on his girlfriend.

Even he’s bright enough, however, to realize he’s hit a new low when in a fit of jealous rage he delivers a particularly savage beating one night, so he grabs a few things and hits the road in his beater of a ’66 Caddy. His intention is to put Waycross, Georgia in the rearview and start over somewhere in West Texas.

When he spontaneously decides to rob Earl’s 66 during a stop for gas on the way out of town, that goes about as well as the rest of his life, netting him a whopping $29 and a pissed-off clerk unloading her shotgun at him for his efforts.

Things seem to take a turn for the better when Billy picks up a beautiful hitchhiker named Feather. He realizes it’s kind of odd she was just standing at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere, but Billy has no idea how truly odd things are going to get before their journey is over.

Author Kevin Lynn Helmick packs more into the hard-hitting 91 pages of Driving Alone than many writers manage in works several times as long. As the story unfolds, it quickly becomes clear to the reader that there’s more to Feather than meets the eye–she’s not just a pretty face and a “Jesus Slave” belt buckle. It takes Billy a little longer to catch on, but he slowly comes to understand that Feather can help him make sense of his life, but that in order to have any hope of moving forward he must first go back and revisit how it is he got to this point–how he became the person he is.

Along the way, Helmick plays with both Billy and the reader’s minds, causing both to question what exactly is happening between Billy and Feather as they verbally and physically spar with one another. Billy’s crude, blunt personality seems to have met a match of sorts in Feather’s (somewhat) more refined and circumspect one, and it’s a wonderful juxtaposition which Helmick deftly explores. His decision to present the dialog with a distinctive cadence which incorporates a rural slang only adds to the gritty, undeniably Southern feel of the story.

Driving Alone is a magical mix of crime fiction, romance, and Southern Gothic, and I highly recommend you join Billy on his enlightening journey of self-discovery…where it ends may surprise you.

[Joshua Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel, the latest from author Kevin Lynn Helmick, is a great read and highly recommended. I read the manuscript in galley and I thought it was fantastic. I honestly can't wait to read the actual book.

Helmick's prose is so natural, and so real, he presents you with that greatest of all reading experiences: the feeling that you've lived the story. I still have moments where I think I lived through scenes from his earlier novel, Heartland Gothic, and have those same `flashbacks' when I remember scenes from Driving Alone. I really need an uninterrupted month or two so I can just sit and read through his books slowly; even though, after that, I might not be able to tell my actual life from the stories. Memorable characters, brilliant dialogue, and vivid landscapes are all woven together by Helmick to give a reader an honest and unforgettable experience.

Below is a brief blurb about the book from the Blank Slate Press site:

"Billy Keyhoe is a loser whose luck just ran out. After beating his girlfriend to a bloody pulp and being shot at by the clerk of the convenience store he was trying to rob, Billy takes off in his daddy’s beat-up 66 Caddy on a road trip from Waycross, GA toward West Texas. On the way, he picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Feather, who seems to know more about him than he knows himself. As they drive, he slowly realizes his life is being judged and that he has to finally face up to his past. The farther they go, the more Billy is drawn to Feather until he realizes he “had fallen in love somewhere out there in the night, with something or someone, or just an idea, it wasn’t clear.” But what was clear was that Billy had never been in love before, that he didn’t understand what love could do to a man, and that he’d never “done one fuckin thing right” in his entire life until he’d picked up Feather. Unfortunately for Billy, he discovers that even true love cannot save him."

Their website is here:
http://blankslatepress.com/authors/ke...

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Billy Keyhoe is pure white trash, the son of a drunk and a whore, who has fulfilled a prophecy of follow right along in their tumultuous footsteps. At the beginning of the story, Billy has just beaten his girlfriend after a night of drinking and he pulls into a local gas station with the intention of filling up his old jalopy and leaving town to never return. Billy robs the station and is well on his way out of town when he comes across a beautiful hitchhiker named Feather Dane, and together they take a long, slow trip down the corridors of Billy's dark past.

Reminiscent of Barry Gifford and Ron Rash, Driving Alone is a short, beautifully rendered story of pain and redemption found too late. Helmick is an extremely talented storyteller with a gift for writing realistic regional dialogue. The story of Billy and Feather's short, emotionally brutal road trip is a one sitting read, albeit the author does telegraph the ending of this haunting story midway through the book, but this in no way diminishes the overall grace and originality of the writing. A great piece of southern gothic storytelling and well worth the price of admission.

[Rory Costello · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plenty of positives here: tremendous atmosphere and description, very strong use of language and dialog, and a well-drawn anti-hero in Billy.

The only thing that kept me from really liking this work, as opposed to just liking it, was a claustrophobic sense while reading. "Driving Alone" is not long, and I believe it was Kevin Helmick's design to have it be all one continuous piece. For me at least, though, a few judicious breaks would have helped me take in the hot and heavy air more easily.

[Derrick · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, the unreliable narrator lends itself to books that are suspenseful and fun to read. This quick novella is book that the reader is never quite sure what is happening, what is real, and what will happen next. Helmick crafts a story about a lost soul who is on a long road to possible salvation or to possibly nowhere. It is a lot of fun going along for the ride and finding out his final destination.

[ABC Group · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kevin Lynn Helmick's novella ranks right up there with The Pillowman or the writings of Donald Ray Pollack. A dark concise study of a self-created hell that begs the question of how we make our choices in life. At once a story about redemption and love, we are reminded that we ultimately must face the consequences to our decisions, but in doing so, we do this alone.

[Misha Crews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it. Gritty and compelling. Great texture, great characters. This is the first story I've read by Helmick, but it won't be the last!