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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
This was a quick, fun read but not as good as Razerblade Tears. Cosby is an excellent writer and he grabs you from the start and keeps the foot on the gas. I’m a fan.
Haiku
....
Racing and running
Two separate beasts within
Skid marks in one's soul
.
.
.
Bills, bad business deals
Deciding risks worth taking
Chasing ghosts, crashing
.
.
.
Not truly seeing
How the pattern leaves traces
We are violence
....
Racing and running
Two separate beasts within
Skid marks in one's soul
.
.
.
Bills, bad business deals
Deciding risks worth taking
Chasing ghosts, crashing
.
.
.
Not truly seeing
How the pattern leaves traces
We are violence
This was a fun crime story. The pacing and plot lend it to a very cinematic feel, which I like a lot. I tend to think in those terms often enough. It’s a fun heist flick that becomes complex and Bug, the main character and wheel man, has to deal with both the fallout from his individual circumstances—his own and southern poverty, in general being a major theme here—as well as powder keg situation that erupts from the heist itself.
This book has good character work. I really liked Bug’s character arc and his reactions to the world around him feel very authentic. His actions really telegraph his inner life, in a way that I think a lot of authors would aspire to. I love the details with the cars as well. I’m just interested in cars enough to find that fun and cool. It strikes a good balance. I don’t think people not into cars will get bored. It’s interspersed enough, and the plot is fast paced enough, that nothing overstays it’s welcome.
So why only 3 stars, right?
This would have easily been 4 stars for me, except I didn’t get on with the writing despite liking the form. The actual prose are serviceable in terms of diction and imagery (when not using similes), but there are some wonky things at the paragraph to paragraph and sentence to sentence level that repeatedly pulled me out of what was happening.
Sentence to sentence the cadence is really repetitive because of the writing style. Short clipped sentences and no meaty long ones create a stilted cadence.
Paragraph to paragraph there’s an issue with stuff editors usually catch. There’s a lot of similes that go against what the paragraph is about. When we first get to see the main characters wheel man skills in action the simile is him gripping the steering wheel like a life preserver. Then it goes on to describe the car as his instrument, and driving is his symphony. Why not… just lean into the vehicle as a musical instrument and then make the shifting happening while driving from the police “notes” being played. It would have been really cool, but instead there’s a dissonance that occurs—and reoccurs often in this fiction—where imagery is summoned with a simile that doesn’t help at all, pulls you out of the fiction, and then the rest of the paragraph continues with something different.
The character pulls a man off of his bed he’s sharing with a woman, who has breasts spilling over her front like an avalanche. For one, it’s a crime story so summoning that image is weird, and it also doesn’t work? She’s stationary and breasts wouldn’t be like that. On the other hand, if her entire body and posture was shaped like an avalanche going down a hill or something, I’d at least kind of understand the figure of the person on the bed and it might be communicating character info that becomes pertinent. But if there is a simile in the book, it’s probably not there for that kind of craft work.
To end on a positive note though, one thing this book absolutely excels at though: action. The sentence to sentence structure, while a clipped cadence in scenes that need to breath, absolutely belong in the action. I’m betting the authors style comes from crafting these kinds of scenes. It imparts just the right amount of information and creates a sort of suspense like feeling when each short sentence comes to an end. It’s like a repeated hook, love that about it.
I think if you come to this expecting commercial fiction you’re gonna love it. It’s more intelligent than something you’d pick up in that setting. It’s got a good marriage of crime/heist that doesn’t lose sight of it just being about action. Clearly it wants you to think about the variables that force these people to live like this and situate them in time and place, in the south. I was expecting more of a literary novel, especially with a cover like that. Had my expectations been more in line and the craft stuff not bothered me, It would be higher rated.
This book has good character work. I really liked Bug’s character arc and his reactions to the world around him feel very authentic. His actions really telegraph his inner life, in a way that I think a lot of authors would aspire to. I love the details with the cars as well. I’m just interested in cars enough to find that fun and cool. It strikes a good balance. I don’t think people not into cars will get bored. It’s interspersed enough, and the plot is fast paced enough, that nothing overstays it’s welcome.
So why only 3 stars, right?
This would have easily been 4 stars for me, except I didn’t get on with the writing despite liking the form. The actual prose are serviceable in terms of diction and imagery (when not using similes), but there are some wonky things at the paragraph to paragraph and sentence to sentence level that repeatedly pulled me out of what was happening.
Sentence to sentence the cadence is really repetitive because of the writing style. Short clipped sentences and no meaty long ones create a stilted cadence.
Paragraph to paragraph there’s an issue with stuff editors usually catch. There’s a lot of similes that go against what the paragraph is about. When we first get to see the main characters wheel man skills in action the simile is him gripping the steering wheel like a life preserver. Then it goes on to describe the car as his instrument, and driving is his symphony. Why not… just lean into the vehicle as a musical instrument and then make the shifting happening while driving from the police “notes” being played. It would have been really cool, but instead there’s a dissonance that occurs—and reoccurs often in this fiction—where imagery is summoned with a simile that doesn’t help at all, pulls you out of the fiction, and then the rest of the paragraph continues with something different.
The character pulls a man off of his bed he’s sharing with a woman, who has breasts spilling over her front like an avalanche. For one, it’s a crime story so summoning that image is weird, and it also doesn’t work? She’s stationary and breasts wouldn’t be like that. On the other hand, if her entire body and posture was shaped like an avalanche going down a hill or something, I’d at least kind of understand the figure of the person on the bed and it might be communicating character info that becomes pertinent. But if there is a simile in the book, it’s probably not there for that kind of craft work.
To end on a positive note though, one thing this book absolutely excels at though: action. The sentence to sentence structure, while a clipped cadence in scenes that need to breath, absolutely belong in the action. I’m betting the authors style comes from crafting these kinds of scenes. It imparts just the right amount of information and creates a sort of suspense like feeling when each short sentence comes to an end. It’s like a repeated hook, love that about it.
I think if you come to this expecting commercial fiction you’re gonna love it. It’s more intelligent than something you’d pick up in that setting. It’s got a good marriage of crime/heist that doesn’t lose sight of it just being about action. Clearly it wants you to think about the variables that force these people to live like this and situate them in time and place, in the south. I was expecting more of a literary novel, especially with a cover like that. Had my expectations been more in line and the craft stuff not bothered me, It would be higher rated.
had no idea what i was listening to at a certain point because i kept zooming out after awhile 🤷🏽♀️
My review of BLACKTOP WASTELAND can be found at High Fever Books.
Blacktop Wasteland is a terrific bit of OwnVoices crime fiction from African-American author S.A. Cosby, featuring African-American lead Beauregard Montage, one of the best -- if not the best -- wheelman in Virginia. To say this book is a ride is a helluva an understatement.
Montage has been trying to go straight and do right by his family, but living in poverty doesn't make life easy. The mortgage on his auto body repair shop is past due, Medicaid stopped paying the nursing home caring for his ill mother, his daughter's future is college is in jeopardy, and medical bills for his sons are piling up. When it rains, it pours, and Beauregard is absolutely drenched. He's feeling the pinch hard when Ronnie Sessions, a con decked out in a litany of Elvis tattoos and fresh out of prison, comes with the promise of a lucrative heist and in need of a pro get-away driver. The money's too good to ignore, and Beauregard promises both himself and his wife that after this one last job, he's done for good.
Blacktop Wasteland is built off a number of tropes and cliches seasoned crime readers know by heart, but Cosby gets some really good mileage out of these well-worn treads, and even puts a fresh coat of paint on a few thanks to his focus on generational legacies and rural poverty, writing with a voice of authenticity. It's a book that's got character where it counts, and it's the characters peopling this book that really make Blacktop Wasteland shine.
Beauregard is the kind of guy I'd like to have some beers with and listen to his stories, if he'd be willing to share them. Cosby builds a wonderfully tragic character with this dude, and we come to know him intimately by book's end. There's a constant pull of tension throughout, as we want to see him succeed and gets him what's owed, but we also want him to breakaway from this life of crime and not have to repeat his father's mistakes. Generations of poverty, racism, and crime have worked to severely limit his options, and making an honest living with his hands has only left him boxed in, with his back tight against a corner. Cosby does a great job illustrating how a man can be lured back into a life of crime, particularly after life keeps landing one blow after another. Beauregard is an utterly sympathetic figure, and smart as hell, to boot.
In Blacktop Wasteland's opening chapter, we become immediately familiar with Beauregard and the type of man he is when he takes revenge on a con artist who robbed him of his drag street race winnings. It's a terrific opening, and shines a light on his quick wits and sharp as a tack mind. Beauregard's intelligence is on full display in the heists that follow, as he plans his routes and makes his daring escapes. Cosby writes some marvelous chase scenes, which, while exciting to be sure, put Beauregard's brains front and center, and help illustrate why he's the best wheelman in the biz.
Blacktop Wasteland is an absorbing, and frequently adrenaline-fueled, read. Cosby has a natural and fluid writing style, occasionally accented with welcoming moments of humor, like when Beauregard is greeted by the summer heat at 10AM, "the sun beating down on him like he owed it money," or in highlighting Ronnie's supposed charms, who "would sweet talk her until she had Type 2 diabetes...." Gritty, authentic, and featuring a fantastic protagonist, Blacktop Wasteland is a must-read crime novel, and instantly cements Cosby as an author I'll be following from here on out.
Blacktop Wasteland is a terrific bit of OwnVoices crime fiction from African-American author S.A. Cosby, featuring African-American lead Beauregard Montage, one of the best -- if not the best -- wheelman in Virginia. To say this book is a ride is a helluva an understatement.
Montage has been trying to go straight and do right by his family, but living in poverty doesn't make life easy. The mortgage on his auto body repair shop is past due, Medicaid stopped paying the nursing home caring for his ill mother, his daughter's future is college is in jeopardy, and medical bills for his sons are piling up. When it rains, it pours, and Beauregard is absolutely drenched. He's feeling the pinch hard when Ronnie Sessions, a con decked out in a litany of Elvis tattoos and fresh out of prison, comes with the promise of a lucrative heist and in need of a pro get-away driver. The money's too good to ignore, and Beauregard promises both himself and his wife that after this one last job, he's done for good.
Blacktop Wasteland is built off a number of tropes and cliches seasoned crime readers know by heart, but Cosby gets some really good mileage out of these well-worn treads, and even puts a fresh coat of paint on a few thanks to his focus on generational legacies and rural poverty, writing with a voice of authenticity. It's a book that's got character where it counts, and it's the characters peopling this book that really make Blacktop Wasteland shine.
Beauregard is the kind of guy I'd like to have some beers with and listen to his stories, if he'd be willing to share them. Cosby builds a wonderfully tragic character with this dude, and we come to know him intimately by book's end. There's a constant pull of tension throughout, as we want to see him succeed and gets him what's owed, but we also want him to breakaway from this life of crime and not have to repeat his father's mistakes. Generations of poverty, racism, and crime have worked to severely limit his options, and making an honest living with his hands has only left him boxed in, with his back tight against a corner. Cosby does a great job illustrating how a man can be lured back into a life of crime, particularly after life keeps landing one blow after another. Beauregard is an utterly sympathetic figure, and smart as hell, to boot.
In Blacktop Wasteland's opening chapter, we become immediately familiar with Beauregard and the type of man he is when he takes revenge on a con artist who robbed him of his drag street race winnings. It's a terrific opening, and shines a light on his quick wits and sharp as a tack mind. Beauregard's intelligence is on full display in the heists that follow, as he plans his routes and makes his daring escapes. Cosby writes some marvelous chase scenes, which, while exciting to be sure, put Beauregard's brains front and center, and help illustrate why he's the best wheelman in the biz.
Blacktop Wasteland is an absorbing, and frequently adrenaline-fueled, read. Cosby has a natural and fluid writing style, occasionally accented with welcoming moments of humor, like when Beauregard is greeted by the summer heat at 10AM, "the sun beating down on him like he owed it money," or in highlighting Ronnie's supposed charms, who "would sweet talk her until she had Type 2 diabetes...." Gritty, authentic, and featuring a fantastic protagonist, Blacktop Wasteland is a must-read crime novel, and instantly cements Cosby as an author I'll be following from here on out.
I keep trying to say something about the characterization (outstanding, complex) and the plot (clever, hair-raising), but every time I am distracted by what it is to see Tidewater, central, and Southside Virginia written with such care. Wow.
There's more detailed on-page violence than I necessarily expected and it was worth it for me despite being above my usual threshold, but want anyone picking this up on my rec to know that in advance.
There's more detailed on-page violence than I necessarily expected and it was worth it for me despite being above my usual threshold, but want anyone picking this up on my rec to know that in advance.
fast-paced
adventurous
dark
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
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
WOW. I really loved this, especially Beauregard - he is one of the most well crafted characters I've read. I'd love, LOVE to see more of his life - whether it be parts of his past, or future. I was expecting an incredibly bleak, brutal ending to this but was pleasantly surprised with the direction it went.
I'm eager to read more Cosby now, I'm thinking one or two other authors and then I'll jump back to him. Side note, this is an exceptional audiobook - Adam Lazarre-White is phenomenal at delivering distinct character voices and bringing to life every emotion
I'm eager to read more Cosby now, I'm thinking one or two other authors and then I'll jump back to him. Side note, this is an exceptional audiobook - Adam Lazarre-White is phenomenal at delivering distinct character voices and bringing to life every emotion