Tiger Drive

by Teri Case

One family. Too many secrets. Four people who want to matter. In Nevada, Sloan family matriarch, Janice, is tired of her white trash life--dealing with debt, kids, her son's motorcycle gang, and Harry, her drunk of a husband. She can't shake her lifelong dream of singing at the Grand Ole Opry.

As Janice's teen daughter, Carrie, plans her escape to college, Janice confronts the fact that she's forty-eight and running out of time. She decides to leave her two young sons with Harry and move to Nashville for one year to pursue her dream. But before Janice can leave, Harry's worst betrayal yet destroys everyone's plans, and detectives start digging up the family dirt.

Times are desperate for the Sloan Family. They might survive if they can become each other's unlikely heroes. Do they have what it takes to confront the truth about their lives and each other and break free from their way of life on Tiger Drive?

Debut novelist, Teri Case puts us inside the minds of mother, father, daughter, and son to portray how addiction, poverty, and secrets can derail the best of intentions. But with a little hope and a dose of trust, the human spirit can prevail.

"Tiger Drive is an outstanding [novel], with . . . layered characters, relationships that make me ache for the characters and yearn for a positive resolution, and character journeys that intertwine in heartbreaking, soul-soaring ways." --Deborah Halverson, DearEditor.com

"I LOVED Tiger Drive so much . . . I know I'll be thinking about these characters for a long time." --Lizette Clarke, Author Accelerator

Genres: Fiction, Family

412 pages, Paperback

Published February 4, 2018

About the author

Teri Case is the award-winning author of Tiger Drive and In the Doghouse. Finding Imogene (Jan. 2024) is her third novel. She now lives in Washington, D.C. She often travels—watching, learning, and writing about people who want to matter.

Teri runs the Tiger Drive Scholarship for students who want to reach, learn, and grow beyond their familiar environment by attending college.

www.tericase.com

Reviews

[Jennifer ~ TarHeelReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 bright stars to Tiger Drive, a beautiful story of a dysfunctional family! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

In reading the synopsis of Tiger Drive, I was interested in this family’s story. The Sloan family lives in Nevada in a trailer park. Harry, the father, is an alcoholic, and Janice, the mother, is fed up with him. Everything has become overwhelming to Janice. She’s doing this all on her own, she’s drowning in debt, and she has kids to take care of (two young ones, and four mostly grown); but all she wants to do is sing in the Grand Ole Opry.

Carrie, one of the teen daughters, plans to escape life on Tiger Drive by going to college. She’s been saving every penny to have a different way of life. On the cusp of her leaving, Janice decides to run, too, giving her two young sons to Harry. None of this happens, though, because another secret of Harry’s is uncovered, his biggest yet.

All the Sloans want a different life, but how will they create one, and how successful will each family member be?

The talent of Teri Case shines in the complexity of her characters.. Starting with Harry, there’s a tenderness and a large amount of regret and shame built into his drinking and his discoveries of just who he has hurt physically and emotionally after his black outs. He doesn’t want to be this way, but he has no idea how to be different. The same is true with strong Janice. She’s been the mom and caretaker, but she’s tired, and she’s ready to let it all go to find her piece of the pie. Carrie is ready to run out the door, but at the same time, she feels an immense love towards her family, and she wishes she could help them all. It’s like they are on a ship that’s going under, and she’s trying to figure out who to put on the life raft with her. This richness carries on throughout each of the individual characters.

Tiger Drive is a well-written novel of a family in hard times that could be any family, one on the possible cusp of change, but one in which the secrets of the past continue to weigh it down. The stories of each character come together so beautifully because they are part of this thing called family, and love, though extraordinarily complex, continues to bind them together.

Overall, I found Tiger Drive to be relatable, vividly real, and written emotionally from the heart; a story of utter despair clashing with hope and faith at every turn.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com

[Kathy Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very real depiction of how life’s chances are lost when truths are hidden. Afraid of these truths turns Janice’s life to a very different direction, keeping her dreams on hold, her children, in turn do not wish this current life for themselves, and each travel in different directions. The father’s secret compels him to try to teach his son life’s harsh lessons and only imbitters the boy. Carrie is determined to make a better life for herself and is frustrated by her family’s seeming inability to break the cycle of debt and proverty. A very tragic event begins to uncover buried secrets and frees binds allowing everyone to feel that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I loved this book, I wish there were a young people’s version that I could give to the youngsters in my life.

[LibraryCin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars

Janice and Harry have been married for 30 years, but Harry is an alcoholic and is abusive. They have seven kids, four who still live at home in their “double-wide” trailer (there’s a story there!), though two are in their late teens and close to leaving. Janice had to give up her dreams when she got pregnant young and still pines for what she gave up.

It’s told from a few different points of view: Janice’s, Harry’s, WJ’s (their oldest son who has problems of his own), and Carrie’s (their youngest daughter, who at 17, will be graduating from high school soon and desperately wants to find a way to go to college).

Really liked the story, but I thought the end wrapped it up too nicely; it didn’t seem realistic to me. It wasn’t enough to bring my rating down to 3.5 (good/liked it), as I really liked most of the rest of it, but it was just enough to bring my rating down that little bit from 4 stars. The abuse at the very start of the book was a bit tough for me, though. I think almost all the characters were pretty unlikable, at least in one way or another, but they were still interesting enough that that didn’t put me off. I guess most of them had some redeeming quality of some type and/or the reason they were the way they were was explained.

[Ananda · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the first page these characters draw you in. I went through every emotion from anger to frustration to hope. As a teacher I know these characters. I know too many like WJ who just can't find their place and make poor choices that have real consequences. Students like Carrie who are determined to turn their lives around but who have more challenges than people would ever imagine. And Janice...the mother inside me just screams for Janice to be the mother her children need.

The author, incredibly, was able to draw me in to Janice's story so she became more than a failure as a mother....she became the representation of a women who has made hard choices, who has set her own dreams aside, who has little control over her own life. I read TIGER DRIVE while women were marching around the world and I just felt sorrow for Janice. She, like so many women, do not feel empowered and carries the burden of a lifetime of hardship.

This book is important. This story must be told. A story of people. Real people who struggle and make mistakes and who want more for themselves and their children. This story gave me an insight into the lives of so many of my students who go through the same issues.

This story made me cry and gave me hope. Thank you Teri Case for sharing. Because everyone wants to matter.

[Cathey Nickell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading TIGER DRIVE, and after wiping my tears, I am writing my review. I'll be careful to not add any spoilers here, because I'd hate to give away the ending. Carrie is a high-schooler, a worrier, a list-writer (she calls them her "roadmaps to a different life"), and a shooting star to a hopefully brighter future. Her mother, Janice, is a singing star-wannabe, whose poor choices have dulled her shine ... but yet she never gives up hope. Harry, the father, is what I'd call a fallen star; he gives us a peek into depression, secrets, sadness ... and—in spite of it all—love. And finally, big brother WJ (a star in his own right) ... a man full of anger, disappointment, and angst over the fear of being his authentic self. I love this story, which gives a truthful glimpse into family dysfunction, lies, and poverty, and the turmoil that's created when these issues seep into personal lives.

[Nancy Nordenson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished Tiger Drive about ten days ago while on a plane. The last 100-plus pages were so were so good that I had to put down the book between chapters and look out the window or close my eyes, take a deep breath, and yes, sometimes wipe a tear or two. One thing I've been thinking about long after the last page is how much the author must have truly loved her characters – and these were not always easy characters to love. In fact, the story was sometimes hard to read because of the difficult lives these characters led. Yet in a way that was different than in many other novels I've read, in Tiger Drive no character was outside the love and respect of the author.

[John Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

A family drama where the characters' tragic flaws matter more than their circumstances.

Each family member gets their own time in the sun, and all have believable motivations for what they do. All are sympathetic, even when they do appalling things. The author evokes empathy even for a violent drunk and a drug-dealing gang member. It's extremely well done, and I was kept interested in what happened to every character as they followed their own tragic arcs.

Great story, great characters, great execution- and expect to get emotional.

[Brian Joyner]

A quick-read, this gripping novel reveals the dangers of secrets. When all is revealed, hope comes alive.

The author is a master at story-telling. She interweaves stories from the past with a driving narrative about one family’s struggle with secrets and lies. The multiple POVs were clear, and each character had a distinct and unique voice. The characters were all so three-dimensional that I found myself hating, liking and loving them within the course of different chapters. The pacing is superb, and I couldn’t put the book down until I had finished. It’s so different from anything I’ve experienced in my life, but I felt that I could relate to each and every character. A wonderful read that left me with a new love and respect for my own family. The truth shall set us free, and the truth is that this book is fantastic!

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiger Drive by Teri Case is a work that defies classification. It is, by turns, a story of hope and despair, victory and defeat, loves lost and found. It may seem like a cliché to say that you will laugh and cry as you view the world through the eyes of Harry, Janice, Carrie and WJ, but you will feel that and much more. “Dysfunctional” isn’t a big enough word to encapsulate the Sloan family. They are the people society is quick to dismiss, disregard and discard. Hope probably shouldn’t live on Tiger Drive, but miraculously it does.

Case delivers a gripping story, with complex and incredibly diverse characters. On the surface it may seem that you don’t have a lot in common with the Sloans, a white-trash trailer park family, but in truth they embody the true human condition—the fact that we all have the capacity to love, hate, encourage, and disappoint in equal measures, and that what truly makes the difference is our ability to carry on in the face of despair.

[Dave Edlund · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiger Drive is a powerful novel of personal drive that will both tug at your heart strings and have you shouting with joy. Author Teri Case crafted this novel around the members of the Sloan family. Father, mother, children—they all have their foibles. We are treated to each character’s point of view; their fears and desires; plotting; pettiness. Case is so adept at her choice of words, grammatical construction, and tempo, that the reader falls effortlessly into these lives—broken and yet still filled with hope. And in the end, doesn’t that describe each of us? Moments of loss, later overcome by hope and a willingness to work for improvement, for something better, is a cornerstone of human spirit.
Teri Case won the IBPA Ben Franklin Gold Award for Tiger Drive, and it is a well-deserved honor. 5 stars

[Cathy Zane · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a psychotherapist working with children and families, I loved this book and Case's compassionate treatment of her characters, all of whom feel abandoned by hope and each other but ultimately find redemption and connection, each in their own unique way. Family dysfunction is painful to see, but there's always more to the relationships than meets the eye. Case does a masterful job of slowly revealing secrets and hidden strengths. I moved through many emotions while reading this book - anger, sadness, hopelessness and hopefulness - never imagining in the early parts of the book that I would ultimately finish the last page feeling uplifted.

[Lisa Manterfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

In her stellar debut novel, Teri Case tells the story of a family on the brink of falling apart. Harry believes his family would be better off without him, Janice is about to abandon them to fulfill her own dreams, and WJ is one mistake away from losing his freedom. Only Carrie seems to have any kind of concrete plan for a better future. But when the unthinkable happens, the family must find a way to pull together to save one another.

This is a gritty story of a group of people careening towards rock-bottom. It's one of those books that's hard to read when things get desperate, but infused with enough hope and human spirit that you have to keep turning to the pages to see how the characters will survive.

I highly recommend this for fans of Liane Moriarty and Bryn Greenwood.

[Bridget Gordon Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an incredible inside look of a family struggling through generational poverty, trauma and addiction. It’s incredibly relevant, important and impactful. The writing is beautiful, the story flows naturally, and the characters are complex.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this way more than I expected. Resonated with me. Good read with some surprises.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was one of my favorites of the year. It deals with generational poverty and addiction in a way I’ve never read before. A must read!

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly loved this book. Not only do you hate the characters but you also feel bad for them. I found near the end I could see how Janice became so bitter and did the things she did. Although I couldn't believe her selfishness.

Harry was a little rough to read about without wincing every few seconds that he screwed up.

I suggest the read! I definitely shed a tear and in the end everything about WJ made so much sense.

[Lorie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Three cheers for Carson City, Nevada native, Teri Case on her debut novel! I was lucky enough to receive it as a gift from a friend.

Teri gets deep and personal in this family drama set in a trailer park very similar to the one in which she and her siblings were raised. The voices of the mother, father, sister, and brother are both vibrant and heartbreaking. Each character demonstrates the damage that poverty, abuse, and addiction can wreak on human beings. To protect themselves, they inflict further damage by keeping secrets from one another. While readers may not like the characters, they will find it hard not to empathize.

“Do you ever think we all would just be happier if everyone worked together and supported each other? I feel like my parents…and my older siblings only take care of themselves. It’s like my family doesn’t think there is enough of a good thing to go around, so they all scrap for the best of the worst, climb over each other, fight over rations, and then boom…they vanish when someone needs them. And that leaves me no better than them and looking out for myself…”

The author successfully paints each character into a corner, where neither they nor the reader can see any way out. Could these characters ever find redemption? Each of them will need to find resilience and the fierce drive of a tiger if they are to survive much less succeed.

More importantly, I believe Tiger Drive reinforces one of the reasons I read–to experience lives outside my own. The characters’ desperate lives and blistering responses to the chaos swirling around them are so foreign to my own life, that I was at first taken aback. Their struggles caused me to reflect on the assumptions and judgments I may have made when I encountered troubled children and families not only in my teaching career, but also in my life. I hope I have at least been kind. As a human being, kindness and compassion should be my first response. My prime directive. It costs us nothing to “make room for hope, faith, and opportunity” in our hearts. Having one person believe in us can make all the difference.

Thanks for a compelling read and the lesson, Teri.

[Arlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not "just another read" about a dysfunctional family. The author had her own family experiences to draw from which added to the reality of this story, but more importantly she got into the psyche of every one of the main characters. This book is a page turner because you want to know more about the motivations of each character as the story progresses. You come away from this book affected.

[Eadle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don’t feel good about writing a negative review, but since being dishonest is the alternative, I’ll give my true opinion. It was awful. I can’t believe how it’s rated. I’m the lone naysayer.

The only thing worse than the inner dialogue was the actual dialogue. It was so stilted and unrealistic.

And it was redundant. Okay, I get it. Harry is an alcoholic gambling addict with beaucoup regret. Janice is a shitty mom and karaoke queen who dreams of going to Nashville. (At 48.) Carrie is a bitter and frustrated, albeit ambitious high school student with her sights on a college education. WJ is gay, a biker, a fighter, a drug dealer, a sanitation worker and belongs to a motorcycle gang, although he himself does not own or ride a motorcycle. He was beat up frequently by Harry, his stepfather, but he doesn’t know that Harry is not his real father. That is pretty much the whole book right there. I saved you reading hundreds of eye-rolling pages.

The little blurbs before each chapter were nauseating. Janice identifies with Patsy Cline, WJ with Popeye (puh-leeze!) and Carrie with a dictionary.

An author puts a lot of time into writing a novel and I admire the effort and discipline and I want to recognize that. I gave it two stars instead of one because I liked the ending. I see Ms. Case has written another novel that has won some kind of award. I’m going to pass. Quite frankly, I don’t see how this one was published. My apologies to Ms. Case.

[Marta Lee Lane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tiger Drive explores unaddressed mental illness in the Sloan family. It’s a story of how depression fractures a family and the strength that comes after healing. Through fiction, author Teri Case shows the truth of life: unhealed trauma ruins lives. The author delivers the character’s deranged actions with compassion, compelling the reader to finish the tragic tale. Case created abusive characters and made me care about their hopes, dreams, and regrets.

“None of her children had children—something they’d been smart or just plain lucky about. They’d never have to reflect on their own wins and losses as a parent or feel the angst she felt and carried over the years, and therefore, they’d never think of her as an individual navigating life without a how-to manual, only someone who’d been a bad mom. They could just sit and judge and constantly point and wag finger: Bad Mom. Bad Mom.”

My heart breaks for Janice and her broken dreams, and at the same time I’m appalled that any mother would treat her children the way she does. I was pulled in both directions throughout this story. I enjoyed the rich inner lives and quirks of the characters while outraged and disgusted by the way the family treated each other—which hit close to home.

I recommend this book to readers who believe in starting over and second chances.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

God, I loved this book. Where even to begin? If someone had told me about a book whose characters live in a trailer..a mom and a dad and their too many kids and how their lives are rife with abuse and secrets and lies, I'm not sure I would have run to the book store to buy it. But man. In the skilled hands (and brain) of Teri Case, this is a MUST READ. (Plus, don't take my word for it. Tiger Drive won an IPBA award for fiction!)

What Teri is particularly skilled at is character development. (propelled by her degree in psychology no doubt) As someone who has always been fascinated by what makes people tick, this gripping page turner didn't disappoint. It also highlights how our history, regardless of the details, follows us into the future, into every decision and reaction, until something strong enough to shake us loose from its grasp happens. Witnessing the development of these characters and going along for the ride of ups and downs had me hooked from page 1 to the end.

No spoilers here. Just read it. You won't be disappointed!

[Michelle Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teri Case does an amazing job developing four characters so deeply that you can't help but see a piece of yourself in each one of them. I've never lived in a trailer park, never had dreams of going to Nashville . . .never experienced most of what the characters in this novel experience. And yet, Case manages to show us the humanness of each of the four main characters this book so well that any reader would be hard-pressed to not relate on some level. And that's what will keep you turning the pages. She addresses alcoholism and drug addiction, bad parenting, poverty, domestic abuse, and family secrets in a story about how fragile our dreams can be and how truth can give us hope, even after it seems like everything has fallen apart.

[Dawn Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Teri kept my attention the whole time. The situation isn’t easy, but isn’t that the way life is? Although my own life was quite different, there were many areas where I identified with the character, Carrie. Her family is complex and we get to know and care about each one. My heart ached for a positive outcome.. read it and find out how Teri resolves this story of resilience.

[Lorie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was a very good book. Once I started reading it was hard to put down.

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book pissed me off but at the same time kept my attention which is hard to do.

[Travis Hupp · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel is achingly realistic. The only thing that kept me from giving it 5 stars is that the ending was a tad corny for my tastes after the jaded realism of the rest of the book. It was also sort of an abrupt end; I wanted to know more about what happened to these characters. The novel could have easily went for another 50 - 100 pages; it's that engaging. I didn't want to let these characters go, which is the highest praise when it comes to fiction, in my opinion. Be ready to be mad at each of these characters for their foibles even while rooting for them do to their perseverance and grit.

[Amanda Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definite mixed feelings on this one. The first half to three quarters felt so tough to get through and without a real plan. I had a hard time feeling a connection, and not simply because these are unlikeable characters. But then it becomes more of the redemption story it hopes to be, and with a bit more background, was an easier read.

[Vanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book and fast read! Could not put it down!

[Emma OBrien · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't mind me, I'm just bawling my eyes out at the way this book ends! This one hit hard and will stay with me for a long time.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. A must read if you like drama.