S&S Book Club: Blacktop Wasteland by S. A. Cosby
Tina, Lida and Jen chat about Tina’s pick: S. A. Cosby’s Blacktop Wasteland
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Why Tina Picked It
I have been meaning to read Blacktop Wasteland since 2020 when it garnered so many awards. This month it finally made it to the top of my never-ending TBR pile. I dug in with enthusiasm. I knew I was starting a book that would take me outside my usual reading. This is a story about fathers and sons, and I was looking forward to getting some insight into that head space. It’s also a book about class, poverty, choices and lack of choices.
Beauregard “Bug” Montage has walked away from the life of crime he inherited from his father. Bug is an honest man who owns his own mechanic’s garage. Above all, he’s a good husband and dad. But when life throws him some bad luck and he’s close to losing the garage, he decides to do one last job. He’s known, like his father before him, as the best getaway driver on the East Coast. Once the planning for the job starts, he remembers just how much he loved it. How he was made for the energy and excitement. This exhilarates and scares him. He worries if he is, in fact, just like his father.
I found the story immediately engaging with high stakes that never let up, but it is also generously laced with violence and vulgarity. Although I enjoy investigating books outside my comfort zone, this may have been too far outside that zone. Which doesn’t mean we all shouldn’t be willing to step into the shoes of another once in a while. It may be uncomfortable, but it is also enlightening.
What Lida Thought
Like Tina, this is a novel I’ve been wanting to read for a while due to its many accolades. It’s not the kind of book I usually gravitate toward, but it was an interesting read and a unique look into an unfamiliar world. Well written and with a main character who makes a monumental effort to be a better version of himself, there is truly never a dull moment. “Bug” shoulders the full responsibility for his own actions and for taking care of others. Not an easy task.
Reading a story where the hero and even secondary characters keep sinking deeper into potentially risky holes is unsettling for me, but for those who like plenty of complex issues and continuous action, this is a book for you.
What Jen Thought
I’m so glad Tina recommended this book. Like Tina and Lida, Blacktop Wasteland is outside my reading comfort zone, too, and I am grateful I was nudged in a new direction. The book topped the mystery world’s list of honors when it debuted for good reason: the voice is fresh, the characters are gritty and the story packed with action.
That doesn’t mean I found it an easy read. Gritty characters pushed to their limits by circumstances outside their control aren’t always easy for me to spend time with. And like Tina, I found the vulgarity sometimes jarring. But the magic of reading is getting to step into another life and view the world through those eyes, and Blacktop Wasteland delivered on that promise.
