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Drive By

4.0 of 5 stars 4.00 · rating details · 33 ratings · 9 reviews

'That was brilliant,' Jake says. 'That was without doubt the most satisfying moment of my entire life.'

When Johnny, Jake, Drac and Badger take the law into their own hands and give an irritating neighbour a drive-by soaking, life feels good. Then something terrible happens as a result and Johnny's guilty conscience won't leave him alone. But are the weird things that start...more

Paperback, 397 pages

Published March 1st 2012 by Bloomsbury UK

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Apr 24, 2012 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: provided-by-publisher

This contemporary young adult novel by Jim Carrington is an intriguing read with an unique premise. Johnny and his mates, Jake, Drac and Badger, are teenagers enjoying the freedom of summer holidays in suburban London. When a kicked ball goes astray into an elderly couple's yard the boys are indignant that they refuse to return it. A few days later the group exacts their revenge on the 'Poisoned Dwarf', drenching the woman from water guns shot through her open car window. The boys ride away laug...more This contemporary young adult novel by Jim Carrington is an intriguing read with an unique premise. Johnny and his mates, Jake, Drac and Badger, are teenagers enjoying the freedom of summer holidays in suburban London. When a kicked ball goes astray into an elderly couple's yard the boys are indignant that they refuse to return it. A few days later the group exacts their revenge on the 'Poisoned Dwarf', drenching the woman from water guns shot through her open car window. The boys ride away laughing over the incident until Johnny discovers that the woman had a heart attack as a result of their prank. As strange things begin to happen in the dead of night, Johnny is overwhelmed by his feelings of guilt, and when the old woman dies he is haunted by the consequences of his actions. Even his new girlfriend, Summer, isn't enough to distract Johnny from his tortured thoughts, is he responsible for the murder of an old woman?

In modern society, where careless actions are too easily mitigated by pleas of "I didn't mean to do it", Drive By explores the theme of personal responsibility, asking where fault lies when a seemingly harmless prank goes wrong. When Johnny and his mates take their revenge on an elderly woman for puncturing their soccer ball, and she dies, are the boys murderers? His mates seem largely unconcerned upon hearing the old woman they nicknamed the 'Poisoned Dwarf' had a heart attack but Johnny's twinge of guilt grows exponentially when she dies shortly afterwards. It's interesting to witness Johnny wrestle with his emotions, he is haunted by the consequences of the incident and his guilty conscience is reinforced by seemingly ghostly occurrences. You never quite know if the night time incidents are simply manifestations of his guilt or if he is being haunted by the old woman or taunted by some unknown person that knows about his role in the death. It's difficult not to feel some pity for Johnny as he considers what may happen to him and how his family, mates and new girlfriend would feel if he confesses.
It is Johnny's relationship with Summer that pushes him to make a decision, their fledgling relationship comes under threat when he becomes aware that by horrible coincidence, Summer's grandmother was the 'Poisoned Dwarf'. Summer brings her own issues to the story, her father died in a car accident before she was born and while she has been led to believe it was simply a tragic accident, her grandmothers death throws the story into doubt and Summer is determined to discover who was responsible for his death.

I enjoyed Carrington's honest insight into such a complex question in Drive By and was satisfied with the conclusion. With a lesson to deliver in way that youth can relate to Drive By should probably be on every teenage boy's (and girl's) reading list, it might just be enough to make them think twice.
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Aug 06, 2012 Joe Humphreys rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another author with a glowing rep that has somehow slipped under my radar, Jim Carrington is the Carnegie Medal nominated author of Inside My Head and In the Bag. A glance at the blurb of these two novels suggest Carrington specialises in gritty tales involving difficult moral choices for his complex teenage protagonists. If this is true, then Drive By is no different.

Johnny is a typical sounding teenager: likes to have a laugh with his mates, saddled with an annoying younger sibling and at the...more Another author with a glowing rep that has somehow slipped under my radar, Jim Carrington is the Carnegie Medal nominated author of Inside My Head and In the Bag. A glance at the blurb of these two novels suggest Carrington specialises in gritty tales involving difficult moral choices for his complex teenage protagonists. If this is true, then Drive By is no different.

Johnny is a typical sounding teenager: likes to have a laugh with his mates, saddled with an annoying younger sibling and at the age where he wants to impress girls. But when he and his mates decide to get revenge on the 'poisoned dwarf', an old woman who seems to solely exist to scowl at the foursome and spoil their fun, there are fatal consequences. As if the guilty conscience fallout isn't enough, unbeknown to Johnny the girl he's recently falling for, Summer, happens to be the poisoned dwarf's granddaughter.

Unlike the blurb on the back cover may suggest, Drive By is Summer's story as much as it is Johnny's. She is scarred by the loss of her father, frustrated by the absence of her own friends and older sister, and Johnny appears to be just what she needs to brighten up her life. Her narrative is interspersed effectively with Johnny's throughout, and Carrington writes convincingly from both points of view, with both narrators feeling lost and vulnerable for reasons that are different yet ultimately, tragically related.

The strong leads are the main reason for Drive By's success, but Carrington's unfussy style propels the story along at an impressive pace. I'm not normally one for paranormal goings on in contemporary fiction, but the reader is convinced to suspend their disbelief sufficiently to buy in to the passages dealing with mediums and middle of the night bedroom hauntings (though I personally could have done with less of the latter).

There are some minor flaws, mostly an overreliance on coincidence to keep bringing Johnny and Summer together, but they can easily be forgiven. Drive By is a powerful, gripping read that tackles some important themes. In an age where teenagers are casually demonised, this is a tale that asks important questions of how ordinary teenagers react in extraordinary circumstances. Highly recommended.(less)

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Apr 24, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

The story of Drive By is like a moral complex tale about action and conscience that is relatable to a contemporary audience. Set in South London, an area I know really well and was sort of funny reading about places I've been to, the world of two teens collide when fate draws them together. Though they don't know how much connection they really have but as they get to know each other it slowly unravels how much they really are connected. Johnny and his mates pull a small prank against a neighbou...more The story of Drive By is like a moral complex tale about action and conscience that is relatable to a contemporary audience. Set in South London, an area I know really well and was sort of funny reading about places I've been to, the world of two teens collide when fate draws them together. Though they don't know how much connection they really have but as they get to know each other it slowly unravels how much they really are connected. Johnny and his mates pull a small prank against a neighbour they have a problem with and the fall out is far worse than they could have ever guessed. Summer is lonely with her sister at uni, her mum at work all the time and her father dying before she was even born she spends her time trying to know the father she never met. She visits her grandparents out of kindness and its during these visits she keeps bumping into Johnny.

I started out really liking this book and how it was the story of two parallel lives that overlap and how one moment can change the course of someones life. It was all about the guilt that one moment and then Johnny's life as it changes the more and more time rides on his back. What sort of bugged me the more and more I got into the book was it kept reminding me of another book with a similar plot that I adored. It isn't this book's fault that it had a similar plot (prank goes wrong and then guilt drives the character to possible madness or guilt ridden life choices) but it wasn't as good as the other book so I kept comparing it. Drive By was a good book but I just didn't love it as much as other books I've read with a similar storyline.

I loved the two main characters and especially Summer's search for the father she never knew. She's so desperate to connect with someone in her life that her top choice is someone she'll never meet. She idolises him and has taken on his interests and this has almost trapped Summer into a life that she is now trying to break out of. She loves her dad but she wants to just be "Summer" so her mum lets her be herself.

All in all I did like this book and how the story panned out but at the end I felt like something should have happened more or that there would be a bigger ending than there was but I wasn't disappointed. A believable story about simple mistakes and how they can change the course of your life before you know it. A dash of supernatural on the side and it's a great read to dip into. I'd be interested to see what Jim Carrington's other books are like now.(less)

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Mar 30, 2012 Elen Caldecott rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is my favourite so far of all Jim Carrington's books. The action takes place in London and it feels so authentic. There's a great moment where Johnny, the boy whose guilt forms the core of the story, meets up with Summer, a girl with her own secrets to uncover. The date has been anticipated for a while, but when it actually happens, there's that lovely teenager-in-the-suburbs moment when you realise the only place you can go is the food court in the mall. This novel captures the excitement...more

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May 25, 2012 Gary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Your conscience is a pretty scary thing sometimes, isn't it?

I guess all of us, at some point in their lives, have done something we shouldn't have done which led to some undesirable consequences, and that we felt guilty about it when we were afraid to take up the responsibility. Our conscience then nagged and nagged, until we probably couldn't take it anymore and just owned up to it.

The Story:

Johnny and his friends wanted to take a little revenge on an old irritating neighbour nicknamed the Pois...more

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Jun 12, 2012 Vaidehi rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Drive By is a book by Jim Carrington. It is written in two people’s point of view: Johnny, a 16 year old boy living in London, and Summer a girl of the same age who happens to live in the same area too. Johnny leads a normal life in the beginning of the story. But then he meets a girl on the bus and immediately falls for her. They catch on very fast and before they knew it they had a date planned.

One evening, Johnny and his friends were cycling down a busy road with water guns in their hands. J...more Drive By is a book by Jim Carrington. It is written in two people’s point of view: Johnny, a 16 year old boy living in London, and Summer a girl of the same age who happens to live in the same area too. Johnny leads a normal life in the beginning of the story. But then he meets a girl on the bus and immediately falls for her. They catch on very fast and before they knew it they had a date planned.

One evening, Johnny and his friends were cycling down a busy road with water guns in their hands. Johnny spotted an old lady sitting in her car outside a shop with the windows rolled down. That old lady was the same one who had deflated their football a week back. They absolutely hated her for that. So they knew exactly what to do. They immediately shot her with water and cycled away as fast as they could. They were completely satisfied with their revenge attack. But little did they know that the old lady had heart problems and got a heart attack because of the drive by soaking. When Johnny heard about the heart attack, he’s horrified. He couldn’t believe that he nearly killed somebody. But most of his friends told him to just relax. They thought that she wasn’t going to die, but unfortunately she did. Johnny could never forgive himself and he couldn’t get over the fact that he killed somebody, even though he didn’t intend for her to die.

Summer also had a few questions oh her mind. She wanted to find out about her dead dad, because she’d never met him. She visited medium along with Johnny and thought that she heard grandmother’s ghost (her grandma was dead). But she only got more curious. She listened to some tapes of her grandma talking to a medium, which filled her head with more and more questions about her dad’s death. She read an article about the car crash on the internet and got shocked when she found out that his death wasn’t exactly an accident, unlike what everyone had told her.

And everything got a lot more mixed up when Johnny found out that Summer was the old lady’s grand-daughter. Johnny started to have the feeling that he was being watched every night. When he woke up every night at the exact same time, he came to the conclusion that he was being haunted by the old lady’s ghost. He ran away from home after giving his brother a beating up because he suspected that it was brother who was playing tricks on him every night and not a ghost. In the end he decides it was too much to hide from Summer and he decided to tell her that it was him who sprayed her grandma and in a way resulted her death. He didn’t want to see her reaction and just left her a letter telling the whole story, and he went and turned himself in at the police station. But the police didn’t press charges and so he was free to go. When he got back home, his suspicion was confirmed. It was his brother, not a ghost, who kept scaring him every night.

The story is open-ended. The author doesn’t tell us what exactly Summer’s reaction was to Johnny’s confession and whether they get back together. And also Summer doesn’t find out everything about her dad like she wanted to. It was frustrating not to know what happens but I liked the book anyways. I liked the part when Johnny beat up his brother because I really thought he deserved it. I also kind of liked the part when Johnny left Summer the letter because I knew that even if they may never be together again, at least everything was clear between them. This book was pretty good and I really loved how the story was written in two points of views.(less)

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Apr 28, 2012 Beth Kemp rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: winnings-giveaways, ya-thriller-chiller-horror

This review originally appeared on my blog Thoughts from the Hearthfire.

This is a many-layered, thought-provoking thriller for teens and up.
I enjoyed this book so much. The blurb intrigued me and - although it is a great premise - the book delivers so much more than the premise offers. What you get is a novel with real depth meditating on themes of responsibility and guilt via a pacy and thoroughly enjoyable read.

The novel is told via two first person narrators: Johnny, our hero, and Summer, th...more

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May 13, 2013 Eileen rated it 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book and thought the plot was very interesting. A group of teenaged boys play a prank on a bad-tempered old lady and it goes terribly wrong. The boys react with varying degrees of guilt. The story gets more intriguing when one of them gets attracted to a girl who turns out to be the old lady's granddaughter. While reading the book, I kept wondering how the story would end! I was not disappointed, the story had a satisfying end.

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May 31, 2013 Dave Cousins rated it 4 of 5 stars

Brilliant premise. One of those "what would you do if this happened to you?" scenarios. Believable characters. Lots of layers and some unexpected twists. A well crafted thriller that I couldn't put down.

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