Blacktop Wasteland is a crime thriller about Bug, a former criminal turned mechanic, and his family. Bug decides to take on one more heist, but the world of crime doesn't want to let him go. S. A. Cosby does an amazing job of bringing the reader into Bug's life so one can see how poverty and race can affect a person's family and the choices they make. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a thrilling heist as well as a thoroughly done character study. Thanks to NetGalley for the digital reading copy. All opinions are my own.

An interesting book when pitched to me, I was intrigued to read something out of my wheelhouse. A heist book with a black man as the central character and it took place in my old stomping grounds. Beauregard "Bug" Montage owns a car shop and is barely making ends meet. With three kids in his home and a biological daughter about to head to college, Bug wants to provide for his entire family. He sees no other way than to dip into his old ways and be a driver for a heist or two, but will they go his way . . .

This book was good. When I was pitched this book it was in the middle of the black lives matter movement and I wanted to challenge myself to read more books with either black people as main characters and/or written by black people. I am glad this was the first one that came my way. It really challenged my perspective both with a man as the main character (don't read too many!) and a black man at that. I loved that the style of the story wasn't completely out of my wheelhouse, I love a heist.

This book had great pacing. From start to finish I was on the edge of my seat wondering where this book was going to go and who was going to get what they want. I loved the ins and outs and ups and downs - it was good.

For me, the thing that I didn't completely love was the gory killing. I don't tend to love the in your face killing in any book. It wouldn't stop me from reading another one by this author, but would need a break in between books.

Beauregard 'Bug' Montage is not doing very well. He is in debt up to his eyeballs, his auto repair shop can't keep pace with the competition, and he has a mother from hell who is about to be kicked out of her assisted living facility on a Medicaid 'technicality'. His son needs braces, his business rent is overdue and he finds himself thinking about The Life more and more. Since his stint in juvenile detention, Bug has been determined to stay out of the slammer. Up until now, he's led an honest life and has been a good father and husband.

Bug loves to drive the souped up car left to him by the father who abandoned him, the very same car than landed him in jail. He can drive like heck and goes all over Virginia to participate in races. His last race was supposed to net him $1,000 but he got scammed and is not happy about that. He sees no choice but to look for something a little to the left of legal. In his heyday, Bug was the best getaway driver around. He's given that life up to be a stand-up guy but time is running out and he's looking to get some money, quick.

When Ronnie, a dimwitted white cracker, seeks him out with a plan to make a lot of money from a heist, Bug rolls his eyes and says he's not interested. However, after weighing his options, he decides to go with the
plan to rob a jewelry store that supposedly is holding thousands of dollars in diamonds. Bug agrees to be the driver for the robbery and his share of the take would be close to $84,000. He knows that the plan sounds too good to be true, and the others are not too bright, but he feels up against the wall with no other options. What Bug and his partners don't realize is that they have picked the wrong diamonds to steal. They are messing with big league stuff and their lives are on the line.

As the heist unfolds, it is interesting to watch Bug's inner conflicts - his life with his beloved wife and children vs. The Life which draws him in like a drug. There is no high for Bug like driving, and as he evades the police, making his car sail like an eagle, he is in another world.

I enjoyed the narrative but some of the writing style annoyed me. Dialogues felt stilted at times, ending with the phrase "he said" too often. I thought it was obvious who was doing the talking and it wasn't necessary to explain who said what to whom. I empathized with Bug's fantasizing about his absentee father and wondering if he's been cut from the same cloth. As he says in the book, "We are who we were meant to be". Growing up poor and black, he had no options. He wants more for his children but what example will he set?

I just finished Blacktop Wasteland and wow it's fantastic! A man is face with keeping his business afloat, keep his mother in a retirement home, sending his estranged daughter to college and supporting his family. Everything goes wrong when he agrees to take a jewelry heist job. On top of that he's battling demons from his dad. Don't just think about reading Blacktop Wasteland, READ IT! I can't wait for his next book!

Thank you to the Netgalley gods and the publisher for giving me this eARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Following financial hardship worsened by the racism in his Virginia town, Beauregard "Bug" Montage goes back to the Life--being one of the best getaway drivers the state has ever seen. . .

Good fucking golly was this an amazing ass book. Phenomenal writing, punchy dialogue, well-rounded characters, and some of pretty fucking wicked car chase scenes. Cosby has now become an insta-buy author, meaning I'd buy anything this author writes until the end of the fucking universe.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a thriller/crime novel with brains and a large pair of balls below the belt.

This book was fantastic. 👏🏻 I loved it and could not read it fast enough. A pure adrenaline rush. There is a blurb that compares it to a mash up of the movies “Ocean’s Eleven” and “Drive” with a southern twist and I totally got that vibe. It had that grit, well written characters, and the perfect amount of suspense that made it a dynamic read. Add this to your must read list for this summer. Trust me. Posted on Instagram @carolinehoppereads and goodreads.

Money can’t fix it and love can’t tame it. Push it down deep and it rots you from the inside out.
Blacktop Wasteland features a familiar crime noir trope: A man formally connected to a life of crime is trying to live an honest life and raise a family. When times get tough, he returns to what he knows he’s good at to turn a sizable profit, hoping this will be a one-and-done job. He might think he can leave the life but the life doesn’t want to let go.

We know this story, right?

But you don’t know this story.

Immediately upon starting this book, I recognized the telltale signs of a character-driven story for the sake of emotional investment.

I’m an emotional reader.

I approach my reads with my heart on my sleeve and a willingness to surrender it easily. This book made it clear, right away, I was signing up to have my feelings wrecked and I wasn’t angry about it. I was ready, eagerly anticipating the journey to destruction.

The first neon sign was the main protagonist, Beauregard “Bug” Montage. I like Bug. He’s street smart and savvy. He’s been with his wife since they were kids and now they have kids of their own; a dedicated family man with a solid work ethic but with this wise-ass, “take-no-shit” persona as a remnant from his previous lifestyle.

S.A. Cosby does an excellent job bringing the reader into Bug’s day-to-day schedule and pulling back the curtain on his personal life so that we can share in his intimate relationships with his mama, his wife, and kids and his extended family and friends.

There’s also some seriously developed backstory as Cosby deals with themes of generational addictions: fathers passing on their self-destructive behaviors to their sons and so on and so on.

Like all good crime noir dramas, the stage is set for conflict.

There’s no right or wrong here. There is only gray area as readers are forced to ask themselves, what would you do if you were forced to choose between a rock and a hard place? Thankfully, Bug is a complex, fully-fleshed out individual who makes some decisions that readers will choose to agree or disagree with; either way, you want Bug to be successful, which is a true sign of the author’s authenticity to the human condition.

The narrative goes from zero to sixty. It is exhilarating and nerve wracking.

Did the author deliver on the emotional wreckage I assumed was coming for me? Yes. Was it what I expected? No. This story is full of ups and downs, highs and lows, victories, and losses. It’s one of those crime dramas that leaves a lasting impact on your mood much like a Dennis Lehane or James Ellroy novel. I carried around a heaviness in my heart for quite some time after I turned the last page.

I recommend this book for those who are looking to read adrenaline-pumping heist stories, intense car chases (some of the best driving scenes since I watched the movie Drive), good guys that act like bad guys and bad guys with heart, Black authors telling their own stories and just a damn good story told by a damn good writer.

A high-octane thrill ride, as a man goes to extreme lengths to save the life he built for himself.

Beauregard "Bug" Montage knows cars.
How to build them.
Fix them.
And especially, drive them.
When strapped for cash, he uses that last skill in some illegal ventures. His skills as a driver, being widely known, are how a new "opportunity" crosses his path.

I thought this story would center on one crime, as Bug and two low-lifes, Ronnie and Quan, plan to rob a jewelry store. But this is no Ocean's Eleven. It seems everything that could go wrong, does, and the bulk of the story is on everything that followed that crime.

While Bug makes a lot of bad decisions, he is clearly the only one with brains in the trio, and it is also clear, the other two men are the reason why everything continues to go south.

"The world's fine, Ronnie. It's us that's fucked up."

Bug was a fascinating character, the perfect protagonist for this story. He's got so much potential but uses that potential in all the wrong ways. He recognizes his own flaws, something he attributes to his upbringing, and it was fascinating to read how he evaluated his own behavior and decisions as everything falls apart.

"But my Daddy was right. You can't be two types of beasts. Eventually one of the beasts gets loose and wrecks shop. Rips shit to Hell."

I stumbled upon this book after seeing it highly rated by someone on my Goodreads TL. It isn't a genre I normally read, but I enjoyed it immensely. If you are a fan of crime novels or just looking for something different, this fast paced adrenaline ride is worth checking out!

Sensational, gritty, and fast-paced crime thriller that begs to be made into a movie.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage is trying to go straight. He is a loving husband and father and just opened his own garage. But he's also the best wheelman in the South - if not the world - and the thrill of driving the getaway car is never far away. As his bills pile up and his world begins to crumble, can Bug resist the fatal lure of one last big job?

This is a fantastic book - harsh, cinematic, and suspenseful. Bug's duality is well-developed, and the struggle between his warring sides is raw and compelling. The chase scenes are very exciting, and the dialogue and descriptions are fresh and immediate:

"You gotta drive like don't nothing else matter except getting to that line. Drive like you __ing stole it."

One of the best books I've read all year. Highly recommended.

CW: R-rated profanity, racial slurs, violence, and sexual activity.

Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

“They all underestimated him.”

Blacktop Wasteland is an emotionally charged thriller/character study about a man willing to commit one last crime to save his family and livelihood. His decision might cost all he has worked so hard to achieve: his family, his business, and his identity.

Beauregard “Bug” Montage, mechanic and former criminal, went straight 15 years ago. Bug possesses exceptional driving skills that made him the perfect getaway driver who could not be caught. Having put his last “job” behind him, Bug is struggling to keep his family and business afloat. When the opportunity arises for him to take on one final job, he accepts to help his family. His decision causes him to visit the past and grapple with his identity, ultimately putting him at risk to lose what matters most.

Blacktop Wasteland is a fast-paced, action-packed, superbly written novel. This book is so much more than a thriller. It’s about father-son relationships, family, race, class, and identity. In Bug, S.A. Cosby has created a dynamic and complex character who is not to be underestimated. I felt every one of Bug’s emotions, his conflict, his identity crisis, and his pain over his father’s abandonment. This book gutted me emotionally and put me through the wringer. I don’t think my heart could have taken much more. The final page left me feeling destroyed.

This is a book that goes outside the box. I highly recommend!

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Blacktop Wasteland's description of "A husband, a father, a son, a business owner...And the best getaway driver east of the Mississippi" really nails what this book is about. This is not a story, or genre, I would have normally picked up, but I really enjoyed this book. It was action packed, like a Fast & the Furious movie, and you don't see a book like that very often. I rooted for Beauregard, "Bug", the whole time. The characters were well developed and the story line is very authentic. At moments I could not put the book down, and I was on the edge of my seat. I would recommend this book.

I received this e-book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

Blacktop Wasteland is THE novel of the year! Readers ride shotgun with Beauregard Montage through a tumultuous time in his life, when he’s about to lose his livelihood, his family, and his pride and joy, a cherry red ’71 Plymouth Duster that he inherited from his father. The one link he still has to a man who left when Bug needed him most. Beau is on the precipice between sliding back into the Life or moving forward as the man he wants to become, the man his father never could be.

Cosby takes the reader on a high speed chase through the back roads of Virginia, effortlessly drifting through the turns of this impeccably crafted novel at a heart-racing pace. But you’re not just jumping into the passenger seat for a wild ride because Cosby’s portrayal of Beau as an intense, gritty, flawed, and caring human will grab your heart in a vice and refuse to let go until the last second. I’m jealous of every reader who gets to crack this beauty for the first time. Again, Blacktop Wasteland is THE novel of 2020. Poignant, fast-paced, and timely. Do not miss it!

Huge thanks to Flatiron Books and #NetGalley for providing this ARC of #BlacktopWasteland

#NetGalley #S.A.Cosby

While I really liked this book, I am .kind of at a loss for words to explain what it's about.

What i will say is this:

This is a crime drama.

It is filled with heart racing suspense; and will have your emotions all over the place, I even found myself with tears in my eyes more than once.

As one critic said "You will find yourself rooting for Beauregard Montage."

I'm pretty sure most readers will enjoy this well written, high octane novel! This author is definitely on my radar now!

Thanks so much to the publishers at Flatiron books for an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest rev

3.5 ⭐️ The overall story is well-done and the characters are rich and interesting. However, too many overwritten metaphors kept pulling me from the story and interrupted the reading experience.

This novel follows Beauregard 'Bug" Montage, a husband, father and hard working car mechanic. He was once known as the best getaway driver East of the Mississippi, but left that life behind to be a good husband and loving father. When his life begins to crumble financially he decides to take on one last job to provide for his family. This job doesn't go exactly as planned, and now Beauregard needs to decide between what is best for his family and what is best for his business.

This fast paced, crime novel by SA Cosby draws you in from the very first sentence. Strong character and relationship development instantaneously transports you to the backroads of Virginia. I could not put this book down. Beauregard made a lot of poor decisions, but I was rooting for him every step of the way.

Thank You to Flatiron Books and NetGalley for this advanced digital galley.

I grew up in car culture. My brother was a gear head. My old man liked Chevys - pearl white, chrome, and fast as hell. I thought every girl spent her birthday at the Autorama Car Show checking out splashy wheels like the George Barris "Snakepit" sporting 6 Cobra V-8s. I was raised by a single father so going to the drag races on Saturday night didn't seem strange. Yeah, I didn't get invited to a lot of slumber parties. But I know that feeling of plugging in my fuzz buster on a long stretch of midwestern highway and working the gears. First, the push back acceleration, then the wind-up scream of the engine, feeling the resonance frequency ripple through the frame, and then burying the needle.


So, I picked up my ARC of BLACKTOP WASTELAND by Shawn Cosby with a lot of curiosity. He's an internet friend and I sat with him in the back of the room at the Anthony Awards at Bouchercon, St. Petersburg.

After reading this amazing book, I have a feeling that next year I'll have to find somebody else to sit with because he'll be up front collecting some award bling.

The story has two tracks. The most obvious, the one that slaps you like an insect on the windshield is the high-speed chase/romp/heist storyline. Shawn commits random acts of vehicular mayhem, including a near unforgivable crime against a Charger with the police package.

That particular scene rivals any car chase movie from the golden age of muscle cars in the 70s. And this is coming from someone who won a bet by identifying "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry" from the font in one of the opening credit frames. (Bit of trivia, the supermarket Peter Fonda robs in the opening scene was in my hometown of Sonora, California. It's where we shopped.)

Cosby nails the car scenes, even the ones that hurt my nerdy little heart. The book opens with the main character, Beauregard "Bug" Montage, on the hunt for a drag race. He's short on the mortgage and the bank is getting ugly. He's ready to double the grand he's got in his pocket, and he doesn't mean fold it over. He was sure he's found the right asshole in Warren Crocker. You see, Warren has a lot of flash but he also has a bad valve.

And here is where we are introduced to one of the beautiful passages in the book:

"Bug turned and got in the Duster. When he started the car, the engine sounded like a pride of angry lions. Vibrations traveled up from the motor through the steering wheel. He tapped the gas a few times. The lions became dragons."

Oh yeah, that's the stuff right there. It turns out that Bug Montage is a wheelman. You grab it, he'll rabbit. Face it, a heist is nothing but glorified shoplifting until you are safely away leaving the cops nothing but empty plates because you ate their lunch.

But, on the other hand, Beauregard Montage is a businessman and a family man. He's a father of three, two sons with his teen years' sweetheart and a bonus baby you'll learn about as the story unfolds.

If the car work is the flash that'll keep you digging into your popcorn when this becomes a movie (and, oh my, it should,) the inner conflict between the essential natures of Beauregard and Bug is the depth of the story.

I love hometown stories and there is always one fundamental question:

"Is your childhood made of roots or chains?"

Beau thought he knew the answer to that. Bug had different ideas.

Without giving any spoilers, Beau is against the wall with money problems. His carefully crafted fine-young-man-who-loves-his-mama life (they had a double-wide FFS, a sign of respectability in a small poor town) is teetering. His mechanic skills aren't paying the bills. And then Bug gets an offer he wants to refuse, but can't.

A job.

Just a quick one-off. The Sessions boys have it all figured out. They've got access. They need egress. They need Bug. Against all his better judgment but with zero options, Bug says he's in.

Famous last words. When something seems too easy . . . well. But just enjoy this part. The amazing wheel work, the crimes against government vehicles, the value of having a rigid plate welded to your undercarriage. Also, always carry a neck pillow. #protip

Suffice it to say, mayhem ensues.

But buried in all the automotive theatrics, is Beau's decision to let Bug take the wheel, literally and figuratively. He has to go places in himself and cross lines that he thought he'd left behind. He has to channel his father, Ant Montage. He has to go back to being the kid who slipped behind the wheel and hit the gas to save his father's life. The guy who can swing a wrench and feed you your own teeth as easily as opening a beer.

Your hometown never lets you forget who you are. Beau is reminded of it every time he drives by the abandoned Tastee Freeze. Local legend says the bloodstains are still there, soaked into the cracked sun-baked pavement. This is a feeling unique to small towns. It reminds you, for better or worse, every time you drive by it because nothing around there ever changes. But, it also bothers the fuck out of you if it's torn down because, man, that's your history.

Roots and chains. Because sometimes the thing that never changes is you.

The central talisman to the past is the candy apple red Duster we met in the first scene. It belonged to Bug's dad and came to him in time. When he sat in it he remembered everything from the sound of the downshift to the smell of the chocolate milkshake. And the crunching sounds. It roots and chains Beau and Bug together.

To end this. To get as even as he can, Bug has to go to horrifying places both inside and outside himself. Places that terrify his wife. She wonders if she's lost Beau forever and she's just another Montage wife left to raise kids on her own and watch the family history start to curl around their ankles.

And the truth is that Beau doesn't have an answer for her.

The last line tore at my heart. To quote the writer, "It was like getting hit in the face with a pie that had a padlock in it."

I give BLACKTOP WASTELAND 5 wrenches up with a tank of nitrous. Be there.

So dang good!! Gritty, crime novel at its best. Real, raw characters and a setting you could reach out and touch. This story will stay with me. The ending stayed true to its core. Phenomenal writing and dialogue!!! One of the best books Ive read this year!!

All too rarely, you read a book that actually lives up its buzz.

This is one of those books.

Blacktop Wasteland is a crime novel with everything that entails. It’s gritty, violent, and action packed. However, it also features a main character you’ll adore, about a ton and a half of heartbreak, and just a bit of hope.

The book is extremely fast moving, well written, and engaging. If I didn’t have to work, it would have been a one-sitting read.

I was so sorry when the book was over and I just wanted more.

Eager to read the author again!

*ARC Provided via Net Galley

Beauregard, AKA Bug, is trying to do his best. He wants to be a good husband to Kia, a good dad to his two boys and an older daughter, and a dutiful son to a difficult mother. He’s trying to make a go of at an auto shop which is being edged out by a newer, bigger store. He is always short money for his family and business obligations. Debts keep growing and Bug can’t see the way out.

But Bug has skills, mad skills, as a wheelman/driver. He knows cars. Much of what he learned came from his Daddy, another driver who edged up against the wrong side of the law and frequently crossed it. When his Dad had to leave, Bug warred with anger, admiration, longing, and love. What happens when the one person you look up to, sets up a path to follow that replicates the dangerous and criminal life he meant to shield from you?

Strapped for cash, Bug takes his prized Duster muscle car to a back road drag race where he hopes to win some cash to tie him over. But things go wrong, then wrong again. Bug finds himself needing to stay several steps ahead of the bad guys with only time to plan those first few steps. He needs to keep his family safe while risking all he built up in his shop and life.

Shawn A. Cosby has crafted an action-packed Southern noir with a conflicted character in Bug. He wants to be the upright man, but circumstances and a taste for driving, lure him back into the life. His dilemma, which he does not even see at times, is reminiscent of Samuel L. Jackson’s speech from Pulp Fiction. Bug would like to be the Shepherd, but he is not sure if he can do that or even if he wants to. This book is an adrenalin rush that unfolds at almost the same speed that Bug drives. Highly recommended.

Thank you Flatiron through NetGalley for the ARC.
Captivating and riveting, the story unravels itself on a black man who finds himself entwined into a deadly situation on bank robbery occasion where he was the “transporter” of the crime. Nicknamed Bug and actual name Beauregard is a loving father two twins boys, a daughter, a faithful husband to Kia, and a good person in nature. He is a mechanic and is gifted with an exceptional talent for handling cars; fixing them up and driving them. Although superficially, Bug should be happy and content, he has a family and a decent job but there was always another side of him from his younger past that haunts and hold him back from many “normal” ways of living. Abandonment from his father, sickly-depressed mother, and a criminal record gripped ever after. His father’s voices and shadows of memories resonated in his mind on all his decisions which later leads him down a regrettable path of no return. Bug was determined to leave the “Life” but he was wrought into it again…. By his choice or by no choice?

There is a particular quote from the book that caught my eyes and I thought of putting it out here:
“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?”

One may read this novel like another thriller. Feels the ecstasy and the agony, a story that speaks from the perspective of a black man, underprivileged and looked down by society because of his ugly past, broken upbringing, and of his color? However, behind the action-packed and adrenaline-pumping plots, lies the elusive message that black lives matter. "Beauregard" opens my eyes to the black culture and the painful parts of their past. It also daunts on me, how much a person's history will affect the future if not completely cut -off. Yes, undeniably, history matters, but the present and the future matter most.

Though not a fan of this genre, the intensity, violence, and profanity (the only thing gave me second thoughts about this book) within, kept me on the edge of the seat; though uncomfortable with some of the scene and languages used, still I was reluctant to put down the book. It’s a new exposure to the literature, prose, plot-lines, and most of all the culture unaccustomed before. What about you? Would you give this book a chance
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5