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It was only ten and it was already as hot as hell. When he stepped off the porch, he could feel the sun beating down on him like he owed it money.
Blacktop Wasteland deserves all the praise it got and then some. It marries classic noir prose and plot to a Black protagonist in a southern milieu, a heartbreaking story of fathers and sons, social commentary, and jaw-dropping action sequences featuring some very imaginative things you can do with motor vehicles.
Beauregard “Bug” Montage used to be a getaway driver, just like his long-gone father. But now he's gone straight, supporting his wife and two sons as a car mechanic, his only remnant of the life his father's beloved car and a feeling in the back of his soul that he was always meant to be be a criminal.
A series of unfortunate events lands him in the hole, and his past gets him an offer of some quick cash if he'll just be a getaway driver one more time. However, the people he needs to work with are less than impressive:
The last thing Ronnie remembered was one of the girls sucking his dick like she'd been poisoned and the antidote was in his nuts.
And also prone to double-crossing:
"He so crooked they gonna have to screw him into the ground when he dies," Boonie said.
The robbery goes very wrong, leaving Beauregard with no good options other than pulling off a truly spectacular heist.
The general thrust of the plot is very classic noir, but the individual twists and turns, and particularly some of the action sequences, are startling and original. It has a plot as meticulously constructed as a master carpenter might make a chair, but everything is motivated by in-character decisions and plausible twists of fate, so it feels completely organic.
The prose is something you luxuriate in, and Beauregard's downward spiral is heartbreaking. It's an excellent book on every level, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys noir.
Content notes: violence, drugs, non-graphic child harm, depictions of racism and homophobia.
Blacktop Wasteland deserves all the praise it got and then some. It marries classic noir prose and plot to a Black protagonist in a southern milieu, a heartbreaking story of fathers and sons, social commentary, and jaw-dropping action sequences featuring some very imaginative things you can do with motor vehicles.
Beauregard “Bug” Montage used to be a getaway driver, just like his long-gone father. But now he's gone straight, supporting his wife and two sons as a car mechanic, his only remnant of the life his father's beloved car and a feeling in the back of his soul that he was always meant to be be a criminal.
A series of unfortunate events lands him in the hole, and his past gets him an offer of some quick cash if he'll just be a getaway driver one more time. However, the people he needs to work with are less than impressive:
The last thing Ronnie remembered was one of the girls sucking his dick like she'd been poisoned and the antidote was in his nuts.
And also prone to double-crossing:
"He so crooked they gonna have to screw him into the ground when he dies," Boonie said.
The robbery goes very wrong, leaving Beauregard with no good options other than pulling off a truly spectacular heist.
The general thrust of the plot is very classic noir, but the individual twists and turns, and particularly some of the action sequences, are startling and original. It has a plot as meticulously constructed as a master carpenter might make a chair, but everything is motivated by in-character decisions and plausible twists of fate, so it feels completely organic.
The prose is something you luxuriate in, and Beauregard's downward spiral is heartbreaking. It's an excellent book on every level, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys noir.
Content notes: violence, drugs, non-graphic child harm, depictions of racism and homophobia.
