Books I've read: Blacktop Wasteland

 

This is not the kind of book I'm usually drawn to, but I picked it up at the library and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Set in a small Virginia town, Beauregard "Bugs" Montage can drive like nobody else.  He used to be in the getaway game, but now he's gone largely legit, owning  a garage to support his wife and two young kids, plus a daughter from an earlier relationship.  He lets off steam occasionally by driving his long-disappeared father's old car in illegal street races.

When a new white-owned garage opens up across town, his business suddenly goes downhill and Bugs finds himself drowning in bills and probably only weeks away from losing the business all together.  So when an old acquaintance shows up with plans for a diamond heist, Bugs reluctantly agrees to take on the role of getaway driver as a way to solve his money problems and get back on his feet.  

Of course, things don't go as planned and soon Bugs finds himself dealing with exactly the type of underground character he's been trying to escape, and the lives of all the people he holds dear at stake.

This book is crying out to be made into a movie.  It's tightly plotted and peopled with colourful, distinct characters who have very real problems.  Bug is a great protagonist, and even though there is a lot of violence in the book, some of it instigated by Bugs, you remain firmly on his side throughout.  

It's testament to the author's skill that a violent, criminal protagonist can be sympathetic even when stomping on someone's ankle and crushing their bones.  But as a reader, you always know why Bugs is doing what he's doing and it's easy to relate to someone who is just trying to do their best for the people he loves and has sworn to protect.

So I'd recommend this one.  It is violent in places and the violence is described in quite visceral detail, so if you're squeamish you might want to give it a miss, but it's a definite page-turner and one I enjoyed very much.

But don't just listen to me.  Here's the blurb:

Beauregard "Bug" Montage: husband, father, honest car mechanic. But he was once known - from North Carolina to the beaches of Florida - as the best getaway driver on the East Coast. Just like his father, who disappeared many years ago.

After a series of financial calamities (worsened by the racial prejudices of the small town he lives in) Bug reluctantly takes part in a daring diamond heist to solve his money troubles - and to go straight once and for all. However, when it goes horrifically wrong, he's sucked into a grimy underworld which threatens everything, and everyone, he holds dear . . .