What's your favorite chase scene in a novel?

[John Dishon]

I'm looking for good examples of chase scenes in a novel. Doesn't matter what kind of chase scene -- car chase, boat chases, on-foot chase, whatever. I want to see how they are written. It's quite difficult to take something so inherently visual like a car chase and describe it in words so that the reader sees it as you do. So I'd like to see some good examples of a written chase scene. 

[Eric Christopherson]

I'm going to think about this for a bit, but the very first thing that popped to my mind were early Dean Koontz novels. His chase scenes would go on and on for a hundred pages at a pop, and yet often be gripping.

[Eric Christopherson]

David Morrell's "The Protector" is practically one big chase scene. (I didn't enjoy the novel, but it contained lots of interesting info.) Dan Brown's books (I've read all but The Lost Symbol) have lots of chase scenes. Crichton's Jurassic Park has many chases.

[Mary Dee]

Not a mystery but one wonderful horse race takes place near the end of Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey when one man rides down another.

[Jon Loomis]

I wrote one I really like--it's near the end of MATING SEASON. It's a three-person bicycle chase, wrong way into single-lane traffic with crowds of tourists as an added complication. It changes point-of-view something like nine times in three pages, and ends up in the back room of a sex-toy shop. It's an intentional and obvious spoof on the conventional chase scene, using pov cinematically. Some online reviewers have, in all seriousness, declared it "ridiculous." There's another one in the same book--also a bit of a spoof--in which my detective and his partner chase a blackmailer down the beach in a motorhome.

[Naomi Bell]

Dick Francis has lots of great action scenes. A good chase that springs to mind is in Proof - it's a foot chase through a warehouse at a racecourse. Lots of action, but also lots of introspective in the narrator's state of mind. And the action scene at the end of the novel is a masterpiece of precision.

[I. J. Parker]

Yup, I should have thought of Francis.

[Hallie Ephron]

Have a look at the opening scene of Anne Perry's EXECUTION DOCK. Atmospherics and adrenaline.

[John Dishon]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I will check them out.

[Melissa Sugar]

Great footchase scene through library in KOKO by Peter Straub. FYI, Straub's latest "A Dark Matter" hit shelves 2/8/10.

[Johnny Russell]

I'm not sure that I 've read chase scenes that I can quote. I usually Google something like "Best Chase Scenes -images - movies" and see what comes back. The internet is a big help. I can check out visuals of places where I've never been. For example my current screenplay calls for a scene inside a T.V. control room. I've never been there but It's all laid out in my script like I was directing a show from there.

The absolute best chase scene I ever saw was in a film starring Bill Petersen, the star of CSI. It was a 1985 movie called “TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.” The chase was on L.A. freeways and mostly filmed against the normal flow of traffic. A nail biting edge of your seater.

But if you’re looking for fast action driving on city streets and highways, I recommend the 1994 movie starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock called SPEED. A transit bus has a bomb that will detonate if the vehicle loses speed. This one will have you glued to your seat.

[Johnny Russell]

BTW
You can watch these chase scenes here:

To Live and Die in L.A.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n40H9qcNTc

Speed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk4A1AY10U0

Hope this helps