The Driver’s Seat was released in 1970 and was considered a real shock. A successful detective story needs a cleverly woven story that can wrap any reader’s finger, and Muriel Spark captures that perfectly. The reader accompanies Lise, the novel’s protagonist, on her journey through Southern Europe. The reader will quickly discover that she is a modest, eccentric, unmarried office clerk. However, the author creates a mystery around her image and leaves it undiscovered until the end of the book.
From the beginning, it becomes obvious that something is wrong with Lise. At the beginning of the book, the heroine is inspired by the bright dress she chose and was going to buy. However, she quickly loses her temper after the saleswoman remarks that the dress is made of a special fabric that does not leave stains. As a result, she becomes furious at a possible hint of her clumsiness and leaves the store without buying anything. The thought alone of losing control causes her to lose her temper. That is also shown at the end of the book, where the heroine is in complete control of the situation.
The difference between Lise and the usual balanced person is manifested even in her choice of clothes. The heroine, throughout the story, chooses the most contrasting colors. Without realising it, they attract surprised or contemptuous attention from those around her. Together with her determination to find the right man, it seemed that she wants to be noticed. She spends time with each of the potential ‘right’ ones, but none of them fit.
The heroine shares a taxi with an elderly woman named Mrs. Fiedke, who finds it strange when Lise hides her passport behind the seat. Lise informs Mrs. Fiedke that she is dating her partner, although she cannot even accurately describe his appearance. She again causes mixed feelings among those around her and the readers who follow her incomprehensible searches. Later, Lise leaves for shopping and meets Mrs. Fiedke again, who tells her about her nephew Richard. Later it will become known that they have already crossed paths before, and he will most likely be the one whom the heroine was so actively looking for.
While shopping with Mrs. Fiedke, Lise chooses two ties that the reader will meet again at the end of the story. Her companion at this time is considering to buy a paper-knife. Lise, noticing this, says she almost bought the exact same one at the airport store for ‘her boyfriend’. The author still gives hints through various parallels, which cannot be determined until the end of the work.
Throughout the novel, the heroine constantly says that she cannot find the man she wants to meet. The main character keeps on looking for the ‘right’ man. Thus, the author plays with the reader, who naively believes that Lise is looking for a man in a romantic way, but it turns out that the heroine was looking for a suitable man to kill her.
Lise eventually finds the man she needs, a troubled young man who was released from a psychiatric hospital for a sex crime. They meet for the first time at the airport and it also turns out that they are on the same flight. Lise immediately decides that this is the ‘right’ man, but when she sits next to him, he is frightened of her and almost runs to the back of the plane. As one can see, Spark seems to show that Lise feels like a mentally ill person. In addition, it turns out that they are both equally a killer and a victim. When they meet again in the nameless city they fly to, neither can escape the other. Lise describes in detail to Richard how she wants to die, demonstrating to him the knife’s movements. The heroine will force him to kill her, becoming both a victim and a killer; the man, having killed Lise on her orders, becomes the same.
In addition to the fact that in the third chapter, the ending is partially revealed, throughout the book, the author hints that the main character knows that she will die. As if along with the reader, Lise also recognized her death; this can be traced from different episodes. She offers the porter her book, with the words that she will not need it anymore, looking for a suitable sharp knife; to the statement that a lot of women, she says that they are looking for it. The author indirectly shows that she committed the murder herself.
The Driver’s Seat is a strange story with an even weirder protagonist and a shocking ending. Lise’s bizarre plots and provocative demeanor permeate the entire story and are just a big mystery that is only fully revealed at the end. In the third chapter, the reader already learns that Lisa is being killed, so the main focus is on the question of how this will happen. The result is a gripping blend of thriller and crime thriller.