Blacktop Wasteland

Books | Fiction / Thrillers / Crime

(279)

S. A. Cosby

Los Angeles Times Book Prize Winner • New York Times Notable Book • NPR’s Best Books of the Year • BookPage’s #1 Mystery and Suspense of the Year • Sun Sentinel’s #1 Best Mystery of the Year “I loved Blacktop Wasteland...[A] fast-paced, bareknuckle thriller.” -Stephen King“A roaring, full-throttle thriller, crackling with tension and charm.” -The New York Times Book Review"One of the year's strongest novels." -Sun SentinelA husband, a father, a son, a business owner...And the best getaway driver east of the Mississippi.Beauregard “Bug” Montage is an honest mechanic, a loving husband, and a hard-working dad. Bug knows there’s no future in the man he used to be: known from the hills of North Carolina to the beaches of Florida as the best wheelman on the East Coast.He thought he'd left all that behind him, but as his carefully built new life begins to crumble, he finds himself drawn inexorably back into a world of blood and bullets. When a smooth-talking former associate comes calling with a can't-miss jewelry store heist, Bug feels he has no choice but to get back in the driver's seat. And Bug is at his best where the scent of gasoline mixes with the smell of fear.Haunted by the ghost of who he used to be and the father who disappeared when he needed him most, Bug must find a way to navigate this blacktop wasteland...or die trying.Like Ocean’s Eleven meets Drive, with a Southern noir twist, S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland is a searing, operatic story of a man pushed to his limits by poverty, race, and his own former life of crime.

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More Details:

Author

S. A. Cosby

Pages

320

Publisher

Flatiron Books

Published Date

2020-07-14

ISBN

1250252679 9781250252678

Community ReviewsSee all

" ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2"

Sher Free✌️

"DNF 25%"

Diane Morello

"Written in the same vein as Razorblade Tears…a whole movie unfailingly in book form. I enjoyed the depth of the characters and their motivations. "

Dee Hunter

"It's probably really good to others and you'll probably like it. I thought I would like it too, but I guess I'm just really specific in taste lol."

Zaira Acosta

"An incredible read! If I could give this more than 5 stars, I would. Dennis Lehane called S.A. Cosby "a welcome, refreshing new voice in crime literature" and I whole heartedly agree with him. Beauregard (Bug) is a family man, business owner, and running out of money to keep his family afloat. He decides that one more crime to pay off his debt is worth it. It should have been easy, but we all know that crime is never easy. The story of what comes next is a brutal, fast-paced thriller. This was my first S.A. Cosby book and I can't wait to read more by him. A fantastic book for thriller fans and literature fans in general. I can see this becoming a recommended reading for schools someday - it is that poignant!"

A M

Angela McKinney

"Very descriptive and well-written book. S.A. Cosby brings rural Virginia to life."

R W

Raashid Williams

"Would have been five stars if it didn't get totally improbable in the end. The writing is top notch. Found myself near tears multiple times. Effective tension, compulsively readable."

tinyhouse bigreads

"This book kept me on the edge of my seat. Beauregard grew up "in the life" and his skills as a driver are known throughout the story. With any Thriller book, the only issue I had with this was the delicate balance of the Protaganist's luck to get out of "extreme" situations and actually believing it. By the end, I had a real hard time believing he was that lucky to get out alive. Also, the sub-plot of his son being a "trouble maker" seemed an add on and didn't add a ton to the story other then showing the tough world of mechanic's shops."

Wesley Spence

"There's not of stories like this with a black protagonist out these days. I realky enjoyed reading about the world of heists and getaway drivers through black eyes."