Ride Sharing

by Mike Monson

Ride Sharing is 37 stories, vignettes, and sketches based on Mike Monson's two years working as an Uber and Lyft driver in Northern California. Some of the material is verbatim accounts of events, some of it is completely made up, and some a combination of fact and fiction. At this point, the author can't quite remember what parts are true and what is a lie. Mike Monson is the author of the noir/crime novellas The Scent of New Death, What Happens in Reno, and A Killer's Love, as well as the crime novel Tussinland. He has written feature scripts based on his novellas What Happens in Reno, and The Scent of New Death (retitled for the screen as Revenge Plot). He is currently working on a crime novel.

99 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 11, 2020

Reviews

[Scott Cumming · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crime author, Mike Monson, gives us a series of vignettes about his job as a driver for Lyft/Uber and the colourful characters he meets along the way. It paints a picture of the type of clientele he meets along the way and the various forms of drugs and drug addiction that appear quite easy to get in California and the U.S. I’m sure Mike gets plenty of normal rides and has highlighted the more dangerous and wacky ones for us, but those he encounters have certainly lead wilder lives than this dear reader. Monson, though, remains impartial to their plights and tries not to judge his passengers except where he fears for his safety/sanity. Certainly an eye-opening wee non-fiction read.

[Eddie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really clever book of flash fiction from the POV of a ride share driver in Modesto, CA. I follow Mike Monson on social media and he posted some stories similar to these a while back and I loved them. Happy to see they found a home in a book

[Alan Rainey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark(ish) little snapshots of the people who get in the narrator's Lyft and go from seedy apartments to methadone clinics, on dates, and to buy weed in the San Joaquin valley. We feel our driver's (Mike) dread and discomfort at times. I read it on my iPad, and often switched to maps and zoomed in on towns like Waterford, Ceres, Oakdale, Coultersville, and others I never heard of before, trying to imagine the place I was reading about. Keep 'em coming Mike.

[Michael Pool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vintage Monson style, very fun to read!

[Benji · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy it

A very entertaining snippet of life in the Central Valley of California from the point of view of a Lyft/Uber driver. My only complaint is it’s too short. We need more Mike.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Streets of Modesto

Staying at home because the world is disease ridden, I was highly entertained riding with Mike and his fares the around Modesto.