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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWhen Crime Fiction Lover reviewer Rough Justice<\/a> said \u201cbelieve the hype\u201d about SA Cosby\u2019s rural noir novel, Blacktop Wasteland<\/em>, he wasn\u2019t kidding. Suffice it to say that Cosby has achieved that literary ideal\u2014to create the universal by focusing on the specific. The types of challenges faced by Beauregard \u201cBug\u201d Montage are faced by many sons of missing dads, by many hard-working people of limited means, by many who believe they cannot escape their past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So much has been written about this multiple award-nominated novel, I won\u2019t rehash the story, but if you like audio books, this is definitely one for your \u201cmust-listen\u201d list. Actor Adam Lazarre-White is pitch-perfect, not only when it comes to the Black family at the center of the narrative but also in portraying the white trash grifters and petty criminals with their dubious, dangerous schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cosby has written his dialog with a precise ear for the rhythms and patterns of speech of his native southern Virginia (the pleading \u201cJust hear me out,\u201d from someone Bug should never in a million years listen to). Combined with Lazarre-White\u2019s talents, Cosby’s characters come to life unforgettably. Good and bad, Black and white, brave and sniveling. They are real people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agent Running in the Field<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is John le Carr\u00e9\u2019s last novel published before his death in December, set in the upper realms of the British espionage establishment. The hero, 47-year-old MI6 agent Nat, is afraid he\u2019s about to be shoved into retirement, but instead he\u2019s given a lackluster post in a local backwater. Maybe this is to keep him out of trouble, but no matter, trouble finds him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s an unsettled time, with Brexit looming and the political establishment, like all of Britain, deeply divided. Though you may anticipate what the sources of Nat\u2019s deepening dilemmas will be, how he goes about extricating himself is exciting reading or, in this case, listening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Agent<\/em> is narrated by le Carr\u00e9 himself, and though I\u2019m usually skeptical of an author reading his own work (mostly because I know what a bad job I would do), he offers a persuasive performance. Almost all the characters are British, which may help, or not. (Prof. Henry Higgins would be happy to dissect the regional and impenetrable idiosyncrasies of English speech.) Listening to le Carr\u00e9 read his own words here, quite expertly, as it happens, feels like a kind of good-bye. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Was your New Year\u2019s resolution to get more exercise, and you\u2019re having trouble bounding out of bed with the necessary zeal on these gloomy mornings? Here are two thrillers for your in audio that will get you up and moving, … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vweisfeld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Agent-Running-in-the-Field.jpg?resize=299%2C302&ssl=1\")
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