Blacktop Wasteland

What a phenomenal crime writer. With his own, fast-paced style, African American main characters, a Cosby thriller reads like a Coen brothers crime movie with the same type of quirky, flawed characters.

Central in this case is Bug, a capable car mechanic and speed-racer. The story opens with Bug and his best friend and workmate joining a street race to earn some money. They win the race but then two (fake) policemen pluck them, leaving them with no money at all. Bug, however, sees through the ploy and beats up the white guy who tempted them for a race, tracks him down, beats him up and recoups some of his money. This sets the tone – duplicitous characters, blatant southern racism (story is set in Virginia), and fast action combined show more with sudden bursts of extreme violence. In the end Bug is tempted to go for one final big hit (robbing some diamonds from a jewellery shop), but ends up sticking his nose in a high level crime network (the diamonds are part of the illegal stash of a network of pimps and drug traffickers). Nice twists and turns in the plot, plus a couple of white brothers, who are deeply flawed (duplicitous and dumb-fuck). Betrayal, loss of friends, neglect of family, it is all there. By the way ‘blacktop’ is an American word, meaning tarmac. show less

I often come on here and rant about how crappy a book is. Hell, I think I did that less than three days ago.

So, it's really nice to dive into a book that I expect to be good, and instead, I get something that's damn near perfect. One that ticks all the boxes. One that I actually look forward to picking up again once I've put it down. And one that I put down only because real life intrudes.

Others have talked very well about all the good points of this novel. Go read the other four and five-star reviews. They ain't lying.

As for the book's effect on me, well...I'm going to state right up front that a lot of the stuff Bug is dealing with—a mean, spiteful mother, a long-standing marriage, kids that I love and want to grow up better than show more me, a father that wasn't a good man, and also left his family because other things were more important, and knowing that there's one kind of calling inside me, but the right thing to do is to try and push that down and smother it to be a better man... yeah, I understand every single aspect of that. And it's captured incredibly well here.

But the author is careful and talented enough to ensure it never gets preachy and it never gets dull. The driving scenes are uniformly perfect, and adrenaline-soaked. The family scenes are heartwarming and heartbreaking. The scenes of Beauregard doing everything he can to be a good husband, a good father, and a good man are real and visceral.

And then the author just keeps throwing obstacles up in front of him. He piles them on with glee and when he's done, he finds some more and piles them on top. It never gets stupid, it never gets ridiculous, but it's awful to read, in the best way.

I came in expecting a crime thriller. But this book left a mark on me. Cosby is an author to watch, because he does this stuff well, and he makes it look easy. It ain't easy.

I just noticed that in the book's description, it's described as "operatic". Well, I don't know about that, having never experienced an opera, but I can tell you it's damn near Shakespeare with guns and muscle cars.

Probably one of the best books I've read this year, if not the best. show less

Wow, just wow. My review isn't going to do justice to S.A. Cosby's recently released Blacktop Wasteland - but just know it's an absolutely fantastic read.

Cosby opens Blacktop Wasteland with a night race on a road in rural Virginia. Bug's driving a Duster that his father left behind when he walked away. The description of time and place is so vivid - I could smell the gas, the rubber, hear the revving of engines, the squeal of tires and the buzz of the night. The settings are also characters in this book.

"Progress had left this part of town behind. A blacktop wasteland haunted by the phantoms of the past."

Beauregard "Bug" Montage is known as the best wheelman on the East Coast. Was. Bug's left the Life - he's gone straight - owns a show more garage, has a wife and a family. But his debts are mounting, despite his best efforts. He needs money.....and he knows one way to get it. He goes looking for a job - one that needs a wheelman - and he finds one.

There are so many layers to Cosby's story. First off the characters are wonderfully drawn. Bug is an intricate character, one the reader can't help be onside with. The supporting cast - good and bad - are just as well drawn. (I had a soft spot for cousin Kelvin) All of them jump off the page, with detailed lives.

And then there's' the heist. I must say, I can't get enough heist stories. This one is brilliantly imagined and planned. But there's always a snag somewhere. And again, Cosby's plotting is a standout. The danger, action and yes, unforseen twists and turns had me committing a crime. I couldn't help myself....I peeked ahead a few chapters. I know, I know, but the tension was unbearable! I truly couldn't put the book down.

But there's more to this story than just the heist. It's a study of a man whose life has been a struggle and his desire to have a better life for his family. Memories provide a look at Bug's early and formative years.

And that ending? Not what I wanted, but instead what is real. If I had to put a genre label on Blacktop Wasteland, it would be grit lit.

Blacktop Wasteland is one of my favorite reads for 2020. A pedal to the metal, non stop read. show less

The sort of book that the adjectives "bleak" and "gritty" were made for. Living in a rural part of Virginia where antebellum attitudes hang on, Bug Montage has a checkered past as the getaway driver for some very unsavory people, but he's working hard to go straight, owning a mechanic shop and trying to be a good provider and set a good example for his wife and two young sons. When his business falters, he lets himself be drawn back into "one last heist" even though he knows that a black man such as himself has no business trusting a couple of white grifters who have a reverse-Midas effect: Everything they touch turns to dirt.

Cosby could have delivered a standard narrative, in which a fundamentally good man is drawn back into bad show more behavior by economic circumstances beyond his control. Instead, he gives us a much more nuanced character who, yes, needs the financial security that will come from a successful job, but who also misses the exhilarating highs that came from eluding the police in his illicit past. He's also struggling to come to terms with the disappearance of his father, who first introduced him to a life of crime before running afoul of his fellow criminals.

The opening scene alerted me that I would have to throw out my casual assumptions, when an illegal drag race goes awry and Bug doesn't settle for being grateful not to be arrested or killed but instead sets out to claim what is rightfully his. The climax of the book, when Bug has to confront the damage he's done to his family in his quest to provide for them, is heart-wrenching in its raw emotions from all of the key players, from Bug to his wife to his sons and daughter.

There's plenty of brutality in the story, and it's not for the squeamish. But all in all, this is an extraordinary book from a first-rate storyteller. I look forward to reading more from Cosby soonish. show less

S.A. Cosby’s 2020 debut novel, Blacktop Wasteland, most certainly did not go unnoticed. The book garnered praise from the likes of Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ace Atkins, and Craig Johnson even before it was published. It went on to become a Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner, a New York Times Notable Book, one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020, BookPage’s #1 Mystery and Suspense novel of 2020, and Sun Sentinel’s #1 Best Mystery of 2020.

But, as Cosby points out in issue Number 169 of Mystery Scene magazine, he is not exactly an overnight success:

I’ve been writing seriously since I was 20, and I’m 47 now. So, you know, people think like Blacktop Wasteland “Oh it’s got a movie deal,” and show more Razorblade Tears has a movie deal, “Oh you’re just this overnight success.” But man, it’s a lot of noes to get to that one yes. It hurts, it sucks, it’s awful.

I was blown away by Cosby’s Razorblade Tears when I read it, despite it being one of the most overtly violent novels I’ve read in a long time. Cosby is first and foremost a first-rate storyteller, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. So I already kind of knew what to expect when I picked up Blacktop Wasteland. What I didn’t expect, however, was a crime novel even better than the page-turner that Razorblade Tears is, but that is exactly what I got.

The story is about Beauregard “Bug” Montage, a small town Virginia auto mechanic who dearly loves his wife, their two young sons, and his teenaged daughter from a previous relationship. Bug has a nice little business going, and with the help of a cousin, the little repair shop is doing a steady business — right up until a bigger, more modern repair shop swoops into town and undercuts all of Bug’s prices. Now the rent is due, suppliers are screaming for their money, and Bugs can barely put groceries on the table.

So what’s the fallback plan? Well, as it turns out, Bug has a past, a past in which he earned the reputation as being the best “wheelman” in the business. Bugs, in other words, was one heck of a getaway car driver, and he knows he still has it. And now he needs it. That’s why when a shady smooth-talker from his past stops by with an opportunity to make some quick money, Bug reluctantly decides to take a chance on the man despite how badly he was misused on the other heist they pulled together. This one sounds almost like it’s just too good to be true - and as Bug is about to find out, it is.

Bottom Line: Blacktop Wasteland is an enthralling crime novel, and S.A. Cosby is a master storyteller. Readers will find this one hard to put down after they have immersed themselves into Bug Montage’s world because, ready or not, they are going to care what happens to Bug and his family even though Bug is far from a nice man. He can be, and is, a ruthless coldblooded killer, a man capable of just about anything required to protect his family. But it’s complicated; Bug Montage is more than that, much more. And S.A. Cosby, despite being a bit over-the-top on occasion, makes you believe it. The man writes some of the best dialogue I’ve read since Elmore Leonard. show less

Damn.

First of all I can def see this as a movie.

Beauregard aka Bug is trying to do the right thing after living life of a gangster and wheelman. He has a family and a mechanic garage but all his bills and financial demands makes him get back into the life.

I wanted to be mad at him but damn it was one thing after another. Plus living in his daddy’s shadow.

His son Jovan had burned down a building and killed man I don’t know if he’s fully coming back from that. 😩

Him leaving tho not sure if it would help or make things worse.

I wasn’t mad when he killed Ronnie’s ass!!! 😠

It’s crazy that this really some peoples life…that desperation was palpable.

And that ending. Damn. I’d read a follow up of this story. Did Bug show more stay? Was Jovan able to overcome? Did Ariel go yo college? So many unanswered questions!!! show less

“Listen, when you’re a black man in America you live with the weight of people’s low expectations on your back every day. They can crush you right down to the goddamn ground. Think about it like it’s a race. Everybody else has a head start and you dragging those low expectations behind you. Choices give you freedom from those expectations. Allows you to cut ’em loose. Because that’s what freedom is. Being able to let things go. And nothing is more important than freedom. Nothing. You hear me, boy?” Beauregard said. Javon nodded his head. “Alright”.

Blacktop Wasteland is a scorching fast read from the get-go. It's a thriller, it's a crime novel, but what makes it stand out is its vignettes showing the effects of racism. show more Beauregard ("Bug") Montague is a black man who runs an auto repair garage and is trying to raise his family in Appalachia. A new competitor cuts into his business, and as the bills pile up and he needs to find money for his mother in a nursing home and for his daughter to go to college, he has a chance to change his fortune by using his extreme driving skills in a jewelry store heist.

It's about family, about being a better father than yours was, about pride and the fierce thrill of being an expert driver, and about a lot of Black Lives Matter issues being played out right now. Fasten your seatbelt and ride with Bug. This one delivers. show less