Blacktop Wasteland is my #1 book for 2020. I’ve read it multiple times and it’s exquisite, providing an emotional thrill ride that sticks with the reader well after the last page has been turned.
Blacktop Wasteland follows Beauregard “Bug” Montage, a man trying to live an honest life and do right by his family under increasingly difficult circumstances in rural Virginia. He’s married with 2 sons, has a high-school daughter from a prior relationship and runs his own garage. However, the garage is losing money due to stiff competition, his daughter needs money to go to college and one of his sons needs braces. Out of options, Bug gets lured back into “the life” by Ronnie Sessions, a man he has worked with before but has major beef with from being shorted in a previous score gone bad. However, desperate and with the promise of a big payday, Bug agrees to plan a diamond heist and puts his exceptional driving skills to the test as the wheelman of a 3-man team. While the score is big, it doesn’t go as planned and things just keep getting worse, pulling Bug deeper into the abyss. He now must make a choice about his real character as he sets events in motion to get out of this alive while protecting his family from hard men wanting to do them harm…or die trying.
There are several reasons I love Blacktop Wasteland. First, this is a character-driven story and SA Cosby does a masterful job developing characters with great depth. Each character is more than they seem when first introduced, building layer upon layer of their personalities and motivations as the story progresses. Which leads to the second thing that’s great about the book, creating emotional connections. I found myself incredibly emotionally invested in the story – rooting for Bug, cursing out Ronnie, feeling for Kia, and more. Despite never having experienced anything close to what these characters go through, I was thrust into their shoes and felt what it was like to be them. As events unfolded, it became more than reading the words on the page. I could feel the action, the pain, the hope and the helplessness. And this happens because of the third reason this book is incredible, SA Cosby’s writing genius. He provides incredibly vivid descriptions, settings, similes and metaphors via world-class prose. Turn to any page in the book and you’ll find beautifully crafted sentences that transport you into the story as if you’re there. Lastly, because of the vivid writing, it feels like you’re watching a movie that should be nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. It’s so brilliantly written that it automatically creates a picture in your mind and emotions in your heart. And once the book ends, you’re left with a book hangover, thinking through everything you just experienced. Only the best books can create that feeling.
I highly recommend Blacktop Wasteland as a must read and S.A. Cosby should immediately be added to your list of authors whose books you automatically preorder whenever they have a new release on the way.
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