"Boys in the game only respected you in direct proportion to how much they needed you divided by how much they feared you."
S.A. Cosby's immersive tale features frantic pacing and commendable character building. "Blacktop Wasteland" is peopled with actors that pity and revolt, that we fall for and abhor. The story features some underrated humor and is more than willing to stand in the background as the setting takes the wheel -- literally and figuratively.
As protagonist, "Bug" Montage is constantly trying to stay one step ahead of his checkered past, juggling roles as a father, failing-business owner, husband, friend, ex-husband, caretaker of an elderly parent, and wheels for hire.
"It struck him how many times his life had been changed by sitting across from someone at a desk."
The book undeniably has some rough edges as it speeds along "a blacktop wasteland haunted by the phantoms of the past." Ages, dates, and locations can be difficult to figure at times, and the shifts in perspective to minor characters can be jarring. The dialogue clangs at times, and there are some clear gaps in chronology.
But these are mere quibbles in the face of a mesmerizing story. "Blacktop Wasteland" has the rhythm of rolling rubber on superheated asphalt on a desperate road trip, both imploring and daring you to hang on for the ride as you root for Bug to make the choices needed to outrace his origin story.
"Wives he had made widows. Mothers who waited in vain for their sons to come home. Sons who would never see their fathers again. All those faces, all those lives, nothing more than earth, ashes and rust now."
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