In this installment of Page 69,
we put Dane Cobain's Driven to the test
Set up page 69 for
us (what are we about to read):
This is page 69 of my current work-in-progress, Driven. In this scene,
private detective James Leipfold and his assistant, Maile O’Hara, are
discussing the case that they’ve taken on. They’re just about to find out
something unusual about the accident that killed Donna Thompson – there was
no-one behind the wheel of the car!
What is Driven about?
It’s the
first book in a series of detective novels that I’m working on. It follows the
story of private detective James Leipfold and his assistant Maile O’Hara as
they investigate the bizarre circumstances around a young woman’s death after
she’s killed in a hit and run accident. The catch? There was no-one behind the
wheel. I haven’t proofread or edited this at all, and so it’s a pure first draft!
Do you think this
page gives our readers an accurate sense of what the book is about? Does it
align itself with the books overall theme?
I’m actually surprised by how much it
worked, so absolutely! There are lots of different aspects to the investigation
that it could have landed on, but it turned out that page 69 is all about the
thing that gives the novel its name – the car wasn’t being Driven!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAGE 69
DRIVEN
…loop of hair
absentmindedly and avoiding Leipfold’s piercing eyes. “It’s just that not all
cars need a driver.”
“Yeah,” Leipfold
said, “I know. I’ve watched the TV shows, you can put a weight on the
accelerator. But I hardly think that’s likely.”
“That’s not the
only way to do it, boss. Haven’t you heard of Google? Tesla?”
“I’ve heard of the
first,” Leipfold said. “But not the second. So what?”
“What do the two of
them have in common?”
“I have no idea,”
Leipfold admitted, “but I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”
“Both of them are
working on autonomous cars,” Maile explained. “And so are some of the bigger
manufacturers, the ones who’ve got a good hold on the market and can afford to
invest in research and development.”
“So?”
“So maybe we’re
looking at this the wrong way,” Maile said. “I don’t know about you, but I was
working on the basis that there was someone in the car, and that they were
crouched behind the wheel. That’s why you can’t see a driver in the CCTV
footage.”
“That’s one
theory,” Leipfold admitted.
“But what if
there’s another explanation?” Maile continued. “What if there was no-one in the
car at all? What if it was just following orders? Orders contained within its
programming? Orders that told it to kill Donna Thompson?”
Leipfold considered
this for a moment and then shook his head. “It seems a little far-fetched,” he
said. “Too far-fetched. There must be a simpler explanation.”
“It would explain why no-one’s been able to
find the driver,” Maile pointed out. “And that’s not all. I checked a couple of
social networks and it turns out that these cars are more common than you might
think, especially around here.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dane Cobain (High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, UK) is an independent poet, musician and storyteller with a passion for language and learning. When he’s not in front of a screen writing stories and poetry, he can be found working on his book review blog or developing his website, www.danecobain.com. His debut novella, No Rest for the Wicked, was released in the summer of 2015.
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