''Big Driver'' is a

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

by American writer

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, published in his collection ''

Full Dark, No Stars ''Full Dark, No Stars'', published in November 2010, is a collection of four novellas by American author Stephen King, all dealing with the theme of retribution. One of the novellas, ''1922'', is set in Hemingford Home, Nebraska, which is the ...

'' (2010). An excerpt was published in the November 12, 2010 issue of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

''.Entertainment Weekly
November 12, 2010

Synopsis

Tess is a

cozy mystery Cozy mysteries, also referred to as "cozies", are a subgenre of crime fiction in which sex and violence occur off stage, the detective is an amateur sleuth, and the crime and detection take place in a small, socially intimate community. Cozies thu ...

writer who has a speaking engagement at a library in

Chicopee, Massachusetts Chicopee ( ) is a city located on the Connecticut River in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 55,560, making it the second-largest city in Western Massachusetts after Springfield. C ...

. After the event, the librarian who had invited her, Ramona Norville, tells Tess to avoid Interstate 84. She gives Tess the directions to Stagg Road, a presumably safer shortcut to Tess' home in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. However, on the shortcut, Tess'

Ford Expedition The Ford Expedition is a full-size three-row SUV, manufactured by Ford. Introduced for the 1997 model year as the successor of the Ford Bronco, the Expedition was the first full-size Ford SUV sold with a four-door body. For its entire producti ...

rolls over nail-studded pieces of wood which lie across the road, giving her a flat tire. The incident happens near an abandoned

Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (the phonetic p ...

gas station. Shortly afterwards, a tall man in a pickup truck offers to assist Tess and change her tire. At first he seems to be eager to help, but Tess soon realizes that he had set out the road hazard as a trap. The trucker knocks Tess out and proceeds to beat her and

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

her several times, before finally choking her to unconsciousness. Tess later wakes up but feigns death as he stashes her body in a

culvert A culvert is a structure that channels water past an obstacle or to a subterranean waterway. Typically embedded so as to be surrounded by soil, a culvert may be made from a pipe, reinforced concrete or other material. In the United Kingdom ...

and drives away. She escapes, but not before discovering three other murdered women, all victims of the same culprit, dead and in various states of decomposition in the culvert. Tess attempts to find some help but worries that the attack will create a scandal that will negatively affect her career. She resolved to not tell anyone about the assault. The next day, while recovering her Expedition at a bar called the Stagger Inn, Tess speaks with an employee named Betsy. Tess fabricates a story about her injuries and tells Betsy a man helped her, taking the opportunity to fish for details about her rapist. Betsy identifies the man as "Big Driver". Tess decides to use the detective skills she acquired while writing her novels to find him. Tess discovers that Big Driver's mother is Ramona, deducing that she intentionally directed her into the trap. Tess goes to Ramona's home and, after confirming that she was indeed guilty of intentionally directing Tess into the trap, kills her. Tess then finds Big Driver's address and goes to his house. She lies in wait and shoots him after he arrives home. It is only after he is dead that Tess determines that the man she just killed, Big Driver, was not the man who raped her; he was the older brother of the man who raped her, "Little Driver". Stunned, Tess nevertheless drives to Little Driver's house and kills him too. Unsure of Big Driver's involvement in her rape, and overcome with guilt over possibly having murdered an innocent man, she writes out a confession and prepares to kill herself. At the last moment, however, she decides to go back to Big Driver's house to look for evidence. There she finds the purse taken from her the night of the rape, confirming Big Driver's complicity in the crime. Tess comes to terms with her sins and goes home, finally beginning to feel peace.

Adaptation

''Big Driver'' was made into a Lifetime TV movie that was aired on Lifetime on October 18, 2014.

References

{{Stephen King 2010s novellas Novellas by Stephen King American novels adapted into films American novels adapted into television shows Novels about rape

Synopsis

Adaptation

See also

References