A thrilling Southern crime noir about a talented getaway driver pulling off one last job to secure his family’s future.
In S.A. Cosby’s debut crime novel Blacktop Wasteland, a former getaway driver struggles to maintain his hard-earned new life as a legitimate business owner and family man, until financial pressures and a visitation from his past lure him back to the world that could be his undoing.
Beauregard “Bug” Montage loves his family but can’t let go of the specter of his missing father who embraced the fast, violent lifestyle that Bug refuses to pass down to his own kids. Along comes a former partner in crime, promising Bug a big payout if he’ll be the driver for a jewelry robbery. Bug knows better than to get pulled back into the life, but one final blow to his family’s potential future compels him to agree to one last job.
Cosby weaves a literary noir tale set among the working and criminal class in small town Virginia. Fueled by the desperation of poverty and bleak prospects, the plot is a stellar example of consequences leading to increasingly dire complications. I listened to the audiobook, often while taking my daily walk, and on more than one occasion was clutching my fists and chanting oh noo! during some tense and nerve-wracking scenes. At the emotional center of this story is Bug’s internal struggle between the need to protect his family vs the allure of a life of skill, speed, and danger. He tries to escape the life he still hungers for while building a safe place for his family as harsh realities make the latter seem impossible.
Shannon Yvonne Moreau 