What do you think?
Rate this book
They Drive by Night
Struggling trucker brothers Nick and Paul Benay—hauling their produce loads between Los Angeles and San Francisco—are driving day and night, fighting fatigue and the fear of falling asleep at the wheel with endless doses of black coffee and facing the dangers of the California highway.
- GenresNoir
Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
2 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 14, 2016
I'm calling this Trucker Noir. It was a great read.
This isn't really a crime story (unless you count the trucking company owners who are constantly cheating the truckers), but it's got all the other characteristics of a hardboiled or noir story. Existential crisis, fatalism, a protagonist who's headed for destruction but can't seem to do anything to pull out of it.
In this hardboiled novel from the 1930s, Nick is a trucker whose big break is always around the corner but he can't seem to get ahead. He's always at his wit's end, always tired, always pushing himself. He sees other truckers crash and burn (literally) but never admits that it could be him. Then he falls in love with a woman, which raises the stakes for him, as he wants to do well enough to marry her. And that's all I'll say for now. This was a quick read.
This isn't really a crime story (unless you count the trucking company owners who are constantly cheating the truckers), but it's got all the other characteristics of a hardboiled or noir story. Existential crisis, fatalism, a protagonist who's headed for destruction but can't seem to do anything to pull out of it.
In this hardboiled novel from the 1930s, Nick is a trucker whose big break is always around the corner but he can't seem to get ahead. He's always at his wit's end, always tired, always pushing himself. He sees other truckers crash and burn (literally) but never admits that it could be him. Then he falls in love with a woman, which raises the stakes for him, as he wants to do well enough to marry her. And that's all I'll say for now. This was a quick read.
August 3, 2024
They Drive by Night' by AI Bezzerides really hit the spot with its straightforward, no-frills prose. It's a raw and realistic look at life on the road, capturing the grit and grind of the '30s. Written back in 1938, Bezzerides' first novel paints a vivid picture of the tough lives truckers led back then. Not necessarily for everyone, but if you appreciate hardboiled fiction, it's worth checking out.
October 13, 2015
This is an enjoyable slice of Americana that's several decades old but still holds up nicely. Start with one part John Steinbeck circa "The Grapes of Wrath" -- especially the description of California in the 1930s and its economy. The dialogue makes me think that Bezzerides was a forerunner of Charles Willeford. Finally, I wonder if Georges Arnaud, the Frenchman who wrote Le Salaire de La Peur -- the great novel which became an even greater movie about doomed truckers -- drew some inspiration.
This new edition also features an excellent intro from film historian/author Jake Hinkson that's worth the price of admission by itself.
This new edition also features an excellent intro from film historian/author Jake Hinkson that's worth the price of admission by itself.
September 15, 2016
Nice quick easy read about two brothers who are wildcat truckers in 1930s California and their struggle to succeed. Very hard-boiled; reads like a noir crime novel although the "crime" is not committed by an individual but by the "system" against the average man trying to make a living as a trucker.
May 25, 2023
A top-notch noir, as bleak and dark as you'd wish, and miles better than the film version.
It's always a sign of good writing to me if a novel can make me fascinated with a subject I'd otherwise have no interest in, and this one had me breathless over the pricing of apples.
Long-haul trucking is no joke, and in 1938, when this was written, there were fewer regulations. The drivers are at the mercy of a business that exploits them in every possible way, some of them fatal.
It's always a sign of good writing to me if a novel can make me fascinated with a subject I'd otherwise have no interest in, and this one had me breathless over the pricing of apples.
Long-haul trucking is no joke, and in 1938, when this was written, there were fewer regulations. The drivers are at the mercy of a business that exploits them in every possible way, some of them fatal.
March 15, 2023
Long Haul is about 2 brothers who try to make a living running product im their truck up-and-down the state of California. Mostly, they pick up and deliver Produce, but sometimes it's other product.
Their lives are precariously balanced on a thin edge, because they're behind in their payments on the truck, with the danger of the sheriff showing up and towing the truck away, constantly looming. Moreover, the packing house is cheating Them out of money, and lying to them and holding back their balances.
When You're reading this, You expect something to go wrong every minute, because they drive going without sleep for days.
There's a part where a trucker that took off right before Nick and Paul did, insistent on going on with his load, despite Going days without sleep. When Nick and Paul have barely started down the highway, they see a fire off to the left. They pull over, and find out that it is indeed The trucker. He had fallen asleep and run off the highway, rolling over and his truck bursting into flame.
"Nick tried to get to them, but the fire was too hot: 20' away it scorched him, and he began to run wildly around the truck, shouting and crying, trying to make himself heard.
Suddenly one Of the doors burst open and 2 balls of fire ran bouncing to the highway, rolling, trying to beat out the flames. But the bodies Had been drenched in gasoline and the fire would not go out.
Nick jerked himself from the frenzy which had drove him around in circles and ran to his truck for the one blanket and returned to the 2 men. He had forgotten about Paul, but as he bent down, He found his brother beside him.
'jesus, he's cooked, he's burning, nick.'
'shut up, you son of a bitch, work fast, come on.'
they worked swiftly, but it wasn no Use. As they extinguished one body, The other began to burn again. Somehow, from the back of his head, nick saw a man come running from a farmhouse across the way. Cars stopped, the road was crowded. The bodies were crackling now. An ambulance came shrilling down the highway and when Nick looked up, he saw a cop directing traffic. Paul was gritting his teeth, crying, 'we shoulda put 'em out, We shoulda put 'em out, it's our fault, We shoulda put 'em out.'
Nick stiffened his hand and slapped him hard.
'Too late, one of the interns said. the bodies had stopped burning now and lay whimpering and twitching, charred on the pavement, Arched back from the heat. he shot something in a syringe into their arms.
Another part emphasizes the cruelty of truckers hauling "food animals":
"water had dropped from the tap and was frozen into white, glittery crystals On the ground and the ice was encrusted around the pipe. Sheep in double-tiered livestock trucks baaed endlessly and cattle in another truck trampled Each other, trying to get out. Three of them lay on the floor, but the drivers in the restaurant could hear nothing of the short, terrified bawling of the cows."
the end is horrifying.
Long Haul has some really ugly racist parts in it.There's one part where a man of Chinese descent is loading some oranges on a truck. , and Nick starts speaking to him in pigeon English. And there's another part where Nick and Cassie go to the beach, and they're walking Down the beach and they pass something called "n-word" beach. 🤢
In another part, Nick and Paul are waiting around with other truckers for a load to carry, when a woman comes by that the truckers have used Up as a sex worker. Many of them contributed to her current disheveled state, but they are cruelly insistent on rubbing it into her.
"Mary stood on guard, for when she was not alert the men would reach out and grab at her flabby bottom, Then Spring back, laughing. She smiled at the boy, revealing her white gums; one of the men shuffled his feet to make her think he was after her and she Turned quickly, her stomach jellying from the motion.
'he's only got two bits,' said the floor hand.
Mary opened Her arms and her fat face, her thin arms, her long loose breasts lunged forward, a sweet, sickish breath surged down upon the boy and he turned and ran. The men began to slap each other on the back, knocking each other about and laughing.
'Jesus, did you see him run? Christ, he was scared. hey, joe where ya goin'?' "
Their lives are precariously balanced on a thin edge, because they're behind in their payments on the truck, with the danger of the sheriff showing up and towing the truck away, constantly looming. Moreover, the packing house is cheating Them out of money, and lying to them and holding back their balances.
When You're reading this, You expect something to go wrong every minute, because they drive going without sleep for days.
There's a part where a trucker that took off right before Nick and Paul did, insistent on going on with his load, despite Going days without sleep. When Nick and Paul have barely started down the highway, they see a fire off to the left. They pull over, and find out that it is indeed The trucker. He had fallen asleep and run off the highway, rolling over and his truck bursting into flame.
"Nick tried to get to them, but the fire was too hot: 20' away it scorched him, and he began to run wildly around the truck, shouting and crying, trying to make himself heard.
Suddenly one Of the doors burst open and 2 balls of fire ran bouncing to the highway, rolling, trying to beat out the flames. But the bodies Had been drenched in gasoline and the fire would not go out.
Nick jerked himself from the frenzy which had drove him around in circles and ran to his truck for the one blanket and returned to the 2 men. He had forgotten about Paul, but as he bent down, He found his brother beside him.
'jesus, he's cooked, he's burning, nick.'
'shut up, you son of a bitch, work fast, come on.'
they worked swiftly, but it wasn no Use. As they extinguished one body, The other began to burn again. Somehow, from the back of his head, nick saw a man come running from a farmhouse across the way. Cars stopped, the road was crowded. The bodies were crackling now. An ambulance came shrilling down the highway and when Nick looked up, he saw a cop directing traffic. Paul was gritting his teeth, crying, 'we shoulda put 'em out, We shoulda put 'em out, it's our fault, We shoulda put 'em out.'
Nick stiffened his hand and slapped him hard.
'Too late, one of the interns said. the bodies had stopped burning now and lay whimpering and twitching, charred on the pavement, Arched back from the heat. he shot something in a syringe into their arms.
Another part emphasizes the cruelty of truckers hauling "food animals":
"water had dropped from the tap and was frozen into white, glittery crystals On the ground and the ice was encrusted around the pipe. Sheep in double-tiered livestock trucks baaed endlessly and cattle in another truck trampled Each other, trying to get out. Three of them lay on the floor, but the drivers in the restaurant could hear nothing of the short, terrified bawling of the cows."
the end is horrifying.
Long Haul has some really ugly racist parts in it.There's one part where a man of Chinese descent is loading some oranges on a truck. , and Nick starts speaking to him in pigeon English. And there's another part where Nick and Cassie go to the beach, and they're walking Down the beach and they pass something called "n-word" beach. 🤢
In another part, Nick and Paul are waiting around with other truckers for a load to carry, when a woman comes by that the truckers have used Up as a sex worker. Many of them contributed to her current disheveled state, but they are cruelly insistent on rubbing it into her.
"Mary stood on guard, for when she was not alert the men would reach out and grab at her flabby bottom, Then Spring back, laughing. She smiled at the boy, revealing her white gums; one of the men shuffled his feet to make her think he was after her and she Turned quickly, her stomach jellying from the motion.
'he's only got two bits,' said the floor hand.
Mary opened Her arms and her fat face, her thin arms, her long loose breasts lunged forward, a sweet, sickish breath surged down upon the boy and he turned and ran. The men began to slap each other on the back, knocking each other about and laughing.
'Jesus, did you see him run? Christ, he was scared. hey, joe where ya goin'?' "
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Want to read
July 31, 2011"[historian Kevin] Starr at least acknowledges You Play the Black’s unique merit, calling it 'the most sociologically explicit of the hardboiled California novels,' albeit with a 'crackpot utopian subplot.' Which sounds about right. The book does read like James Cain filtered through Thomas Pynchon" [Woody Haut, 'Snappy and Reckless: On Why Richard Hallas Deserves More Respect,' Los Angeles Review of Books,, July 29, 2011, http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/82085...].
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews