| Driving Big Davie | |
| Author: | Colin Bateman |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Series: | Dan Starkey novels |
| Genre: | Crime, Dark comedy |
| Publisher: | Headline |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages: | 312 |
| Isbn: | 978-0-7553-0919-1 |
| Dewey: | 823.914 |
| Oclc: | 55624240 |
| Preceded By: | The Horse With My Name |
| Followed By: | Belfast Confidential |
Driving Big Davie is the sixth novel of the Dan Starkey series by Northern Irish author, Colin Bateman, released on 5 April 2004 through Headline Publishing Group.[1] Bateman started the novel in response to the death of Joe Strummer, lead singer of The Clash, who he stated was a "huge inspiration on [his] teenage years".[2]
Dan Starkey is invited to Florida by his old friend, "Big Davie", who has a spare honeymoon ticket after being dumped by his erstwhile fiancée. Starkey is back with his wife Patricia and feels he's gotten over the murder of his toddler son "Little Stevie" - however his wife disagrees and declares that an American road trip would do him good. When the opportunity to avenge Stevie's death presents itself, Starkey cannot refuse.
A movie adaptation of the novel was planned in 2001, with Steve Bendelack attached as director.[3] [4]
The novel received little but positive coverage in the media.
Reviewing for the Irish Post, Martin Doyle stated he found Bateman's novels to be "pitch-black comic thrillers" and called the novel "a helter-skelter of high jinks and low humour"; stating that while the novel is not "a demanding read" he found it to be "a rewarding one". Andrea Henry, in a review for the Daily Mirror stated that, at the prospect of Starkey's vengeance for his murdered son, "fast and furious murder and mayhem ensue", and called the novel "laugh-a-minute lad lit".[5]