Blacktop Wasteland - S.A. Cosby

S.A. Cosby’s 2020 debut novel, Blacktop Wasteland, most certainly did not go unnoticed. The book garnered praise from the likes of Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, Lee Child, Laura Lippman, Ace Atkins, and Craig Johnson even before it was published. It went on to become a Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner, a New York Times Notable Book, one of NPR’s Best Books of 2020, BookPage’s #1 Mystery and Suspense novel of 2020, and Sun Sentinel’s #1 Best Mystery of 2020. 

But, as Cosby points out in issue Number 169 of Mystery Scene magazine, he is not exactly an overnight success:

I’ve been writing seriously since I was 20, and I’m 47 now. So, you know, people think like Blacktop Wasteland “Oh it’s got a movie deal,” and Razorblade Tears has a movie deal, “Oh you’re just this overnight success.” But man, it’s a lot of noes to get to that one yes. It hurts, it sucks, it’s awful.

I was blown away by Cosby’s Razorblade Tears when I read it, despite it being one of the most overtly violent novels I’ve read in a long time. Cosby is first and foremost a first-rate storyteller, and I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. So I already kind of knew what to expect when I picked up Blacktop Wasteland. What I didn’t expect, however, was a crime novel even better than the page-turner that Razorblade Tears is, but that is exactly what I got.

The story is about Beauregard “Bug” Montage, a small town Virginia auto mechanic who dearly loves his wife, their two young sons, and his teenaged daughter from a previous relationship. Bug has a nice little business going, and with the help of a cousin, the little repair shop is doing a steady business — right up until a bigger, more modern repair shop swoops into town and undercuts all of Bug’s prices. Now the rent is due, suppliers are screaming for their money, and Bug can barely put groceries on the table. 

So what’s the fallback plan? Well, as it turns out, Bug has a past, a past in which he earned the reputation as being the best “wheelman” in the business. Bugs, in other words, was one heck of a getaway car driver, and he knows he still has it. And now he needs it. That’s why when a shady smooth-talker from his past stops by with an opportunity to make some quick money, Bug reluctantly decides to take a chance on the man despite how badly he was misused on the other heist they pulled together. This one sounds almost like it’s just too good to be true - and as Bug is about to find out, it is.

Bottom Line: Blacktop Wasteland is an enthralling crime novel, and S.A. Cosby is a master storyteller. Readers will find this one hard to put down after they have immersed themselves into Bug Montage’s world because, ready or not, they are going to care what happens to Bug and his family even though Bug is far from a nice man. He can be, and is, a ruthless coldblooded killer, a man capable of just about anything required to protect his family. But it’s complicated; Bug Montage is more than that, much more. And S.A. Cosby, despite being a bit over-the-top on occasion, makes you believe it. The man writes some of the best dialogue I’ve read since Elmore Leonard.

S.A. Cosby