"Marvellous," he says, his confidence plainly diminishing in confrontation with this foreign distressed gentlewoman of intellectual family and conflicting appearance.

- The Driver's Seat, Muriel Spark

I'm really not sure what I think of this book. On the one hand, it's very well written, and very easy to read, and there are some well turned phrases. But on the other, it's kind of annoying.

There are so many bad movies which depend on the main antagonist being a bit of a nutter (and often murderous too). There are fewer books like that, I think. And there aren't so many books or movies where the protagonist is like that. In any case, I don't really like stories which rely on that. I dislike Highsmith's Ripley books for that very reason.

Spark said that The Driver's Seat was a "whydunnit", but I finished it feeling that it had failed to explain very much.

You should probably read it anyway, seeing as it's Muriel Spark, but don't expect to enjoy it.