"The thing about loving someone was that they knew all your pressure points. They knew all the spots that were open and raw. You let them into your heart and they cased the place."

BLACKTOP WASTELAND has been praised to the firmament and promoted to the farthest reaches of the universe, and while that's a lot for a novel to live up to, S.A. Cosby's crime novel deserves all of it and more. It not only affords a new angle on America from the 10,000-foot view as well as the 1-inch level, it is pure high-octane pleasure on every page, delivering familiar pleasures in fresh packaging. No need to unpack its smart authenticity about how the deck is stacked against blacks in America in 2020; that's been done better by better people, and the white man that I am can't come close to replicating, let alone improving, on their insights.

Inside, I'll take a different tack. I usually despise tropes in crime fiction, as they're often used in the service of paint-by-numbers plotting and cardboard characterizations to create a sense of commercially palatable comfort that's calculated to move units. But BLACKTOP WASTELAND is a different beast — it leans into its tropes with such sincerity and weight that they become features, not bugs. To be more specific:

— The Heist. There's not a lot here you couldn't find in, say, CHARLEY VARRICK. There's a team, and the team has a leader, a weak soldier, a more-clever-than-smart lieutenant that's holding back something unsettling about their motive, the girlfriend who can't be completely trusted, etc. Something always goes wrong; somebody always gets killed.

— One Last Job. The hero knows it's stupid to get pulled back into the life he's been trying to leave behind. But he needs the money, he feels forced into it by scary people, and whether or not he can admit it, he's addicted to the thrill of the planning and execution.

— Daddy Issues. The hero feels he has to live up to what his daddy is, or what his daddy expects of him, or what his daddy has decided he isn't capable of. He knows it's emotional stupid, but he's in the grip of it nonetheless.

— The Yappy Wife/Girlfriend. The women in male-centric crime novels are always on the sidelines, always nagging their man to do the safe but boring thing, always pummeling them with rage and tears, always threatening to leave and take the kids. They're always right, too. Except for ....

— A Man's Gotta Do What A Man's Gotta Do. Yes, he should walk away. But he can't. Not when he's gotta provide. Not when his manhood is being challenged or taunted. Not when his Daddy Issues dominate him. Not when he has to do One Last Job because His Past WillNever Leave Him Be. But most of all, because he needs to feel like a Man.

Alone, these tropes are usually annoying. Together, they're all but unbearable, because usually the author doesn't unpack them — they just drop them flat on the page with little explanation in the expectation that the reader will find them instantly sympathetic and thus sublime company from page to page. These are almost everywhere in the contemporary suspense/thriller moment: My Sister Was Murdered Twenty Years Ago; My High School Secret Won't Stay Buried; My New Husband and Wife Is Keeping Something From Me; I've Been Cheated Upon and Need to Start Over in My Small Hometown; Why Is the Sexy New Au Pair Looking at Me With That Sly Insinuating Smile, etc.

But S.A. Cosby doubles down them these tropes with such utter pain and sincerity that they become utterly necessary and plausible. The circumstances that lead Beauregard "Bug" Montage to decide the financial gain from a jewelry-store holdup are laid out in patient detail that should resonate with anyone struggling to keep a family maintained or a business afloat. The circumstances are so pressing and the payoff so enticing that they not only lead Beauregard to look past the loose ends of the One Last Job that threaten to pull apart the fabric of the heist plan, but the loose characters on which he has to depend. We don't learn about these unreliables in passing; we get to see the irratuonal justifications of the unreliables in their own voices.

The Daddy Issues seem decorative until they are unpacked in a flashback scene that shows, completely convincingly, how Beauregard's formative years were torn apart by the need to live up to his Daddy's reputation and the knowledge that any credible future he has depends on shedding his patriarchal skin and going straight. You can't read that scene and not understand the good and bad angels sitting on Beauregard's shoulders and shouting into his ears every waking second of every day.

And The Yappy Wife/Girlfriend trope is redeemed in the final pages: when he most needs to firmly grasp the wheel of his future and decide whether to turn one direction or the other, Beauregard stops shining on his wife and pretending to pay attention to her, and for once actually listens, and finds defining wisdom in her words. It was a brave choice that redeemed the Man's Gotta Do trope.

Much of what is being said about BLACKTOP WASTELAND will, justifiably, focus on its window into Black America, its canny empathy with economic inequality, its spotlight on systemic unfairness. But I hope some see the novel for the superiority of its craft and the sincerity with which it's practiced. These things are what gives this wonderful novel the emotional burst that engages with the story like a supercharger engages with a car at high speed. BLACKTOP WASTELAND not only fires cleanly on all cylinders, it boils the road of its genre and leaves most other crime novels still trying to get off the starting line.

This was a really interesting read! I loved the characters and the storyline as fast paced and entertaining. There a few twists I didn’t see coming and they were heartbreaking... but it was a really good read! Thank you netgalley for sending me a copy in exchange for a review.

So many of my book loving friends loved Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby that I just knew I would, too. I didn’t. At all. For me, this story of a “nice guy,” who just can’t catch a break, so turns to crime to solve his money flow problems just didn’t work. It was like when it’s your husband’s turn to pick the movie and you end up spending two hours watching a bunch of guys making bad, unreasonable decisions, and then chasing each other around in cars the rest of time. You know how that is? You just want to take a little nap and hope the movie is over when you wake up. That was Blacktop Wasteland for me. Enough said!

Note: I received a copy of this book from Flatiron Books (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Why Did I Read Blacktop Wasteland?

The early reviews have been amazing for Blacktop Wasteland! How could I not get pulled into wanting to read it? The majority of my friends have given it 5 stars and the rest a solid 4 stars.

The Strengths

I went into Blacktop Wasteland pretty blind outside of just knowing how well it was being received. Blacktop Wasteland turned out to be a really great crime novel. It was full of action and full of consequence, and I loved S.A. Cosby's voice.

Blacktop Wasteland had a lot of surprises, too. I'm certain I said "noooo" out loud more than once!

There was a lot of heart in Blacktop Wasteland. It makes me excited to see what Cosby does next.

The Weaknesses

Here is the part where I get purely subjective. Pretty early on I had Blacktop Wasteland pegged as a heist book. I am such a huge fan of heist stories, and I've been really craving them lately. I see now that Blacktop Wasteland is being billed as part Ocean's Eleven which is fair since my own mind went there (more specifically Ocean's Eight). I'm glad I didn't see the comparisons ahead of time, though, because my heist expectation would have been even higher. My mind kept expecting the plotting and the pacing of a heist novel but was being given a great crime novel that was something else altogether.

Final Thoughts

If you love a good crime story, I wholeheartedly recommend you pick up Blacktop Wasteland. I will not be surprised to see it on a lot of favorites and awards lists for this year.

Wow. This book took me on a ride. I literally had a hand on my chest at one point, trying to clutch something while I feverishly read to see what was going to happen. Powerful and poignant as well as engaging and entertaining.

You know when a book isn’t bad but it’s just not your type? Blacktop Wasteland is exactly that. I had my hopes up high for this one, especially since it’s been nominated for a Goodreads choice award. Even though it was only 285 pages - it seemed dreadfully long because of the descriptive prose. Any action that took place was kind of undermined because of this, in my opinion. I would classify this more of literary fiction mixed with crime.

Thanks to Netgalley and Flatiron books for the advanced copy!

"It's a crime that history repeats itself"

In my full blog post, I have only featured a small fraction of the many excellent and compellingly observational, quotable and meaningful lines, with which this book is satisfyingly replete, although none of which are included without great thought and placement, in direct correlation with the story.

This book pushed all the buttons and hit all the hot spots for so many reasons, although after reading a couple of the earlier reviews, I feel that the storyline took me on a completely unique and individual journey, which may not have been the same as so many others, or indeed that which the author had in mind for me to take.

There are, under varying circumstances, three or four defining markers, which for me make a complete and satisfying read - A decisive and scene setting opening, which this high octane beginning definitely was - A well constructed strong storyline, which this unequivocally had without any argument - A definitive and conclusive ending, which was much more difficult to achieve with this particular storyline, but which was dealt with in the best possible way given the circumstances and offered quite a satisfying outcome, but no 'happy ever afters', if that's what you are looking for! -  Oh! and you can't be dead! which Beau manages, but only by the skin of his teeth, and leaving a trail of bodies and destruction in his wake!

This is a multi-layered, multi-genre, multi-generational story, which encompasses so many historical, cultural, economic and societal issues, that it is difficult to define them individually. Better perhaps to treat them as an overall study in human behaviour, cultural mores, and social history and commentary. It is masterfully written from the heart, with total authority, compelling confidence and raw passion, which sets the author up as a consummate exponent in the art of storytelling and skilled in the imagery of words, affording an added dimension to the depth and range of the reading experience for me.

This story was an intensely intuitive, atmospheric mix of plot and character driven elements, each fluidly fuelled by the other. As a hard-hitting, action packed, gritty thriller, with a strong narrative and dialogue, this one effortlessly hit the spot full throttle, grabbed me by the throat and never let go until the last baddie was scuppered and wasn't going to be coming back for more any time soon. A gripping story, rich in detail, of cross and double-cross, non violent crime turned into a blood bath, taking Beau along with events, as he would have me believe, against his will, but with him all too easily reverting to flashbacks of his former lifestyle, with some of the breath-taking, 'need for speed' car chases he took me on. This motley team of would be thieves, have convinced themselves that money will solve all their ills, magically change their lifestyles, better their life chances and buy them out of the dire situations in which they find themselves. However none of them are able to function at a basic level and realise all too late and at a terrible personal cost, that money alone can't work miracles.

I became completely invested in the sprawling cast of multi-faceted, diverse and complex characters, who were easy, yet not always comfortable to connect with. Even though they were well drawn and defined, none of them were particularly engaging, as the school of life had taught them all the hard lesson of self protectionism, whilst cruel and often brutal family histories, together with harsh and destructive upbringings, had left them feeling worthless, forgotten and searching for a sense of belonging, although most would probably never have admitted it.

Beau isn't a stupid person by any means, although he has convinced himself that he is a direct reflection of his fathers influence and legacy, despite his best efforts to change his ways. Even with the demon on his shoulder egging him on, I was quite surprised by the level of violence which Beau was prepared to adopt in order to protect his family, although to witness his inner turmoil, was quite heart-wrenching at times, as he was almost having to try and deny the true bond of love he felt for his father, despite knowing that he would never have been a good or stable role model and that he had been quite prepared to run out on his family and abandon them to their fate, whilst accepting that he is a product of that man and the sins of the father are often visited on the children. In Beau's own children, without imminent intervention, it is so easy to see the next generation forming in exactly the same way, so it is now up to him to turn things around, set the ground rules and sow the seeds of a better future for them as a family. He should never forget his father and the undoubted good times they shared, but he needs to shake that demon off and carve a new and different path for the Montage family.

For me personally, although race and ethnicity were an obvious focus of the entire piece, they weren't the most outstanding features of the work. It was more a nuanced examination of the effects of poverty and deprivation, on a small rural community of various ethnicities and cultural backgrounds, in a landscape which time forgot, or even worse, simply chose not to remember!

As well as being a first rate crime thriller of course!

This is a book not to be missed and a storyline which begs being adapted as a screenplay and optioned for film.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Loved this gritty crime drama! Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Fantastic story! You really root for Bug to come out on top, even though he's involved in some shady business dealings. I would love for this to continue in a series.

A gritty crime novel in a country noir setting, this piece of literature is fast-paced, action-packed, and adrenaline pumping, and has easily earned a spot in my top five thrillers of 2020.⁣
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I listened to BLACKTOP WASTELAND as an audiobook and I read it in a physical book, and I enjoyed both a lot. The narrator did an excellent job acting out all of the different characters’ voices so it was very easy for me to follow along. Author 𝗦. 𝗔. 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝗯𝘆 peppered this book with metaphors and I loved every single one of them – some even made me laugh out loud. When it comes to character development and action, he found the perfect balance. This atmospheric read also found a way to put race and poverty under a microscope.⁣
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I absolutely loved this read because I enjoy heists, getaway drivers who can actually drive, and edge-of-your-seat crime thrillers. I NEED this book to be a movie with Jamie Foxx playing Beauregard.⁣

Thank you to the publisher for an ARC.

Blacktop Wasteland feels like the perfect setup for an action film. Each getaway car scene is written in explicit detail and I can imagine the speed, the flames, the adrenaline rush as Beauregard, a.k.a. Bug, does the unimaginable with souped-up muscle cars.

While the cars are a central part of Bug's persona, they are not the point of Blacktop Wasteland. Bug is struggling in the broiling hot southern summer. His mechanic shop is failing now that a big-box store opened up nearby, offering prices he can't possibly compete with. Bug's adolescent son is getting into mischief. His ornery mother's health insurance lapsed and now he owes her nursing home $40,000. And Bug's oldest daughter wants to go to college. Bug needs money, a lot of it, and fast.

He used to be part of "that life." When he married Kia and had their two sons, he promised to leave his getaway car driving in the past. Faced with rising debt and consequence, he is desperate enough to consider one last job to pay his bills.

Things get dicey. The stakes get higher. The action increases and Bug, mostly, keeps his cool. He is a cool character. He also has a sense of humor (or S.A. Cosby does). I loved the witticisms and cracks of sarcastic humor throughout the novel. It has bite, it's a little bit vulgar, and it is utterly readable. If you're looking for a shoot-em-up, action-packed read, I recommend Blacktop Wasteland.

Trigger warning: guns, explicit violence

Wow.. Just wow!! The best crime/mystery fiction I’ve read in sometime. Blacktop Wasteland is a story of a man trying to achieve The Great American Dream. He tries his best, but sometimes he gets pulled down, because the paths he takes to achieve that dream, aren’t commonly approached; some might even say he is out of bounds. Cosby has done a marvellous job in framing each and every part of the story! An author to watch.

5/5 ⭐️

Thank you Flatiron books, Netgalley for the ARC. This is my own honest opinion.

Thank you for the ARC!
I saw this book all over Bookstagram and was very excited for it!
It was out of my normal reading zone, so I felt weird reading it.
I think the story was well told and the author did a great job conveying certain feelings.
I enjoyed the book and look forward to other novels by SA Crosby!

This was such a great book that deals with being a good citizen or doing something illegal to support his family. This book is action packed and I love the conflict that Bug goes through. I want to see this into an movie.

Thank you to @netgalley for a copy of this book.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage is known in his community as a husband, a father, and the owner of a local car mechanic shop. He used to have a much different reputation. He was the best getaway driver on the East Coast, with tales of his work stretching from North Carolina to Florida. Bug is faced with the reality of possibly having to take back up the life he worked so hard to leave behind as a series of financial burdens start to pile up around him. A daring diamond heist could be the answer to his problems. His chance to truly go straight once and for all. Bug knows nothing is that easy in the criminal underworld, but what choice does he have?

BLACKTOP WASTELAND is a timely crime fiction novel that examines what life is like for a Black man trying to achieve the American dream in a small town steeped in racism. The story is perfect for fans of dark, gritty reads with a nod to noir.

Our main character, Bug, is someone who is not afraid to do whatever is needed to protect those important to him. Cosby has intricately crafted Bug to the point where while reading this story I felt like I was sitting beside Bug listening to him tell me about his life. You learn his biggest mistakes, his biggest fears, and his biggest achievements. Nothing is left in question about who Bug is as a person and at the end of the day it’s his genuineness that makes this book unforgettable. You truly feel exactly how Bug feels throughout the entire book.

BLACKTOP WASTELAND is written with a pacing to match Bug’s getaway driving! This is one action packed story that continually delivers in heart pounding moments the more you read. I never once wanted to put this book down. BLACKTOP WASTELAND feels as if a screenplay has come to life in your hands the way the action unfolds. It grips you from the first moment until the very last.

Cosby has truly accomplished what I would consider to be a perfect book with BLACKTOP WASTELAND. There was action, depth, and darkness, but what makes it standout is the emotional depths that Cosby explores. This book brought me to tears multiple times, but it was the ending that left me sobbing with a heavy heart and yet extremely hopeful. I blinked and Bug had stolen my heart. Cosby made me care about him on another level than I usually connect with characters. Perhaps it’s how genuine Bug is or how Cosby doesn’t shy away from digging into the realities of life in America. Perhaps it’s simply the humanity that pours from these pages and transcends the book past crime fiction and into a work of fiction based in reality.

At the end of the day...just read it. Read this book. Then tell your friends and family to read it. Tell a stranger on the internet to read it. Tell everyone one to read it.

Lord, if you can hear me, please bless S. A. Cosby with the will and the creativity to GIVE ME A SEQUEL.

WHAT A RIDE!

I don’t know what I was expecting when I picked up this book, but I was NOT PREPARED. Thank you Flatiron for my eGalley. I love action movies and suspense and thrillers and this book is basically that, but better because IT’S A BOOK. Blacktop Wasteland feels like if someone combined Fast and the Furious with... well like with more Black people and some backward ass towns.

Beauregard is a struggling auto-shop owner trying to do right by his family, doing honest and hard work to keep the lights on and the creditors at bay. When an opportunity for quick cash falls into his lap, he ignores his better judgment and partners up with some shady brothers, setting off a disastrous and literally explosive chain of events.

This is a Black action heist, plain and simple. Beauregard is the perfect anti-hero: he has a dark past, a deep sense of loyalty, and a reason to wake up every morning and stay out of the game. He loves his wife and his children, but he secretly longs for his old life committing crimes and burning rubber as he flees police. He’s a wheels man, and he’s torn between the life he knows and the life he wants to have. He’s deeply flawed and human, but he’s clever and quick with a moral compass pointing to his own North.

I enjoyed this almost cover to cover. There are some predictable plot points and some “big reveals” I saw coming, but that would not stop me from reading an entire series about Beauregard and unc Boonie. Yes, these characters are suuuuuper messed up. They’re dropping bodies left and right; people die. Crimes are committed. Gangster gon’ gangster and drugs are haaaaad. But I didn’t find it stereotypical at all. In fact, I found the main character refreshingly originally. How often do you see the mastermind of a heist portrayed in a clever Black man? He’s not educated; he has a record. But he’s smart, and I appreciated that the book doesn’t give him any flack for having fallen from grace.

I don’t know what more I can say. This was damn good fun. Go read it. Go. Now. Shoo.

Beauregard 'Bug' Montage has worked hard to turn his life around. He has a family, a small repair shop, and a fine place to live. He's a happy and law-abiding citizen. It wasn't always like this though. He used to be in the life, working as the best getaway driver in the area. When a series of bad life situations occur that threaten to destroy the life that Beauregard has worked so hard to build, he has to take on one last job to get the money he needs.

Cosby is an incredible writer and Bug is an incredible character. I love how Cosby made Bug this complex man that is simultaneously hard and soft, tough and sensitive. This book blew me totally away. It's in competition for the best crime/heist novel that I've ever read. It's full of relatable and hateable characters with complex motivations and deep backstories. The action scenes are riveting, the plot is entrancing, and the characters are compelling. Simply put, I loved this book.

BLACKTOP WASTELAND is a unique, twisting, expertly crafted crime/mystery that shows S. A. Cosby’s mastery of language and novel while also keeping us on our seats. It follows Beauregard Montage (“Bug”) as he takes on one last job in his former career as a getaway driver. He’d gotten out of that life and is a father, husband, and business owner, but when the going gets tough, Bug decides to try one last thing to save his business and family.

Cosby takes us on a thrilling ride (no pun intended. Really!) as Bug tries to finish this job and finally walk away from the business he’d worked so hard to get out of. There are twists and gorgeous prose, and BLACKTOP WASTELAND is a thrilling noir novel. The fact that Cosby also has this really nuanced and implied way of tackling masculinity and the role and expectations of men in our society was genius, and it just put me over the edge with my admiration for this book. I won this as a giveaway and am so grateful! I can’t wait to add a physical copy to my bookshelves. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for this advance copy. I haven’t read Cosby’s debut novel and now I know that’s an enormous oversight that needs to get corrected ASAP!

Sometimes a book finds YOU.

Blacktop Wasteland is such a book for me. The cover and title made me think that this would be something about old cars, just not my thing, no intention of picking it up. Then, my local indie bookstore (Fiction Addiction, Greenville SC) offered a free virtual event with the author. It piqued my interest enough to get a copy and start reading before the event. Sure enough, I get through the first chapter and it IS about old cars and racing them. Nearly stopped there. THEN I heard S.A. Cosby’s interview and I was blown away. His description of what he hoped to achieve with Bug/Beuaregard’s story and the passage he read changed my entire perspective. I now HAD to read this book. I am glad I did. I encourage others to keep on if they feel the same way.

The writing is amazing in the amount of detail it provides to set the scenes, describe the characters and drive (pun intended) the action forward. There are a few too many similes in some parts of the story, to the extent that I felt as though I was drowning in them, but some made me smile or sigh, and at least one (“he retreated like Lee at Gettysburg”) made me laugh with delight. There’s some harsh language, violence (but not egregious nor graphically overwhelming) and hints of sex, but all are in keeping with great story development. And the ending was perfect.

Oh, and fascination with cars that flows through this book? You don’t need to share it but it is so integral to the story, you can’t do without it.

I’ve not read any other of this author’s books, but have put them on my TBR.

Thanks to NetGallery, the publisher and the author for a complimentary copy to review. All opinions here are my own.

Beauregard “Bug” owns a mechanic shop and is just trying to make ends meet and take care of his family. He has a crime ridden past that he has to dabble back into when times get tough.

I really enjoyed this fast-paced crime novel. It was unpredictable, raw and intriguing as I rooted for the Bug - the good/bad guy.