Reviews with content warning for Drug abuse - Blacktop Wasteland

A gritty authentically southern crime novel.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage is a family man that is living on the straight and narrow after extricating himself from a life of crime. When bad luck starts piling against him Bug gambles with his future and takes on one last heist in order to save his business and secure his family’s future.

What I love about S.A. Cosby:
-His protagonists are always smooth and deliberate. He features male protagonists that are underestimated but end up proving they have brains and brawn.
-In an interview Cosby stated that he writes thrillers as a way to tackle heavy themes of poverty and racism in a more palatable manor which reaches a wider range of audience compared to if he were to right straight literary fiction.
-He blocks out each scene, so the reader is able to visualize the action; car chases, bank robberies, shoot outs, fight scenes

If you are a fan of Hell or High Water or Sons of Anarchy Blacktop Wasteland book is a good segue into literary hardboiled crime fiction

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jhbandcats's review

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adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

SA Cosby is an extraordinary writer. I can be sitting in my living room reading a book with my body but my mind is completely in the story with the characters, feeling the adrenaline and the tension and the terror. Nothing in my life is remotely like the plots of his books but he makes me feel like I’m there.

The first couple of chapters ease the reader in slowly. You learn about the main character, his problems, his love for family, his violent history. By a third of the way in, you’re trapped - there’s no way you’re getting out of this book without reading it to the end. The first action sequence is mind-bogglingly good and it just gets better and better.

Cosby writes action that doesn’t let up. Everything is clear not just in terms of plot but in logistics. I fear I’m not articulating how bowled over I was by this book.

If you strip away the action and mystery, what’s left is an aching diatribe on the state of the Black man in white America. It’s a scathing rebuke.

Truly fabulous book. I hope Cosby keeps writing and writing and writing. He’s a literary treasure.

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narbine's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.25

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healingtothemax's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Not for the faint of heart

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graff_fuller's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

This is the second book that I've read of S.A. Cosby (Razorblade Tears, though published later...was the book that brought this author into my view). I actually loved this book, better.

I love reading Thrillers...and this was outside my usual. This protagonist has done a LOT of shady sh*t, but deep down he's a man that just wants to do right for his family.

Beauregard "Bug" Montage is a hard working man that has been dealt a bad hand in life, but he doesn't make excuses. He just keeps doing his best. He also has a talent...he can build/race cars. This is both a blessing and a curse. The curse part, comes in the way of ... being "the driver" for any type of heist.

When we first meet him, he is presented with a stretch of bad luck in his business, but also his mother's being evicted from her Nursing Home...because of hidden income...which presents itself as a bill of a LOT of money...that Beauregard has to come up with...to keep his mother safe.

Then the bottom drops out. One mistake leads to another, and another, and another. Blood leaking through enemies, acquaintences, friends and even family. When will it stop?

Even his long lost/dead father is hanging around as a spector in his mind...taunting him down a specific path in life, while his wife is trying her hardest to keep her husband near...so that he can be BETTER than the representation of what fatherhood was for him...so their children will know better.

Loved this book. I look forward to reading whatever he comes up with next.

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d0505's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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aharper's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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starrysteph's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This was an exhilarating read. Intense stakes, a sharp written voice, and excellent pacing that goes from lingering moments of deep characterization to heart-pounding action scenes. I was shocked and horrified and triumphant.

This is a story about inescapable poverty & racism. It's a story about family - about generational violence and struggling with identity and our MC's deep desire to be a good father. At its core, it's a story about one man yearning for freedom. Throw in a heist (where things rapidly funnel out of control) and a lot of action-packed getaway drives, and you've got me hooked.

We follow Beauregard ("Bug") as he attempts to create an honest life for himself and his family, leaving his exploits as a getaway driver in the past. But a lot of things go wrong all at once, and Bug is tempted by an old acquaintance to lean back into the Life he so desperately wanted to bury for one final heist. (Though is it ever one final heist?)

Bug is a deeply compelling protagonist - he makes some pretty nasty choices, but you still find yourself rooting for him. That's not easy to pull off.

The prose is overall strong, but at moments Cosby leans into the similes so much that it got a little distracting. There's also a lot of detailed car talk, but even as a reader with 0 expertise in this area I felt like I was able to follow along (it just took a little extra effort at times, and led to some descriptions that felt quite dry).

It's a gritty read with a lot of depth. It's intense. It's violent. It's heavy on the heart. But in my opinion? It's worth it.

CW: murder, violence, gore, body horror, gun violence, drug use, racial slurs, torture, fatphobia, cancer, sexual content, car accident, animal death, fire, vomit

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