South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
‘Quarry Girls’ a coming-of-age mystery; S.A. Cosby’s debut gets overdue reprint
For the girls — and boys — of Pantown, Minn., the quarry is the place of parties, swimming, getting away from their parents, pretending they are older than they are. But the teens also ignore that the drinking and the much older men who show up can be as dangerous as the murky waters they dive into, as Jess Lourey shows in her thrilling “The Quarry Girls.”
Heather Cash has been growing up too fast for several years, caring for her younger sister, Junie, and her often bed-ridden mother while her father, the district attorney, is often working. “Fifteen’s a girl and sixteen’s a woman, and you get no map from one land to the next,” says Heather.
It’s the summer of 1977, “and everything had edges,” Heather observes. Heather and her two friends, Brenda and Maureen, have formed their own little band — the music becomes their escape and a way to be noticed by boys.
Plenty of ennui seeps through this little suburb of Saint Cloud where the original developer linked all the houses with a series of underground tunnels. Those tunnels allow the adults and teens to meet without going outside, especially during the severe Minnesota winters, or sneak off without being seen. “Tunnel time . . . was part of Pantown’s fabric.” The three teenage girls become involved when several young women go missing.
In her last several novels, Lourey has found a niche
writing about the immediate past — and, yes, the 1970s are now considered historical fodder. Lourey nails the sights, music and culture of the 1970s through the lens of teenagers in “The Quarry Girls.” Lourey’s skillful plotting illustrates how powerless the girls feel when confronted with the actions of older teens and the town’s powerful men.
“The Quarry Girls” is a
first-rate crime story but also a coming-of-age tale as these teenagers maneuver through adolesence, grief, loss, an emerging awareness of how the world works and whether they possibly can change it.
S.A. Cosby’s debut
In 2020, S.A. Cosby seemed to burst on the literary scene with “Blacktop Wasteland,” a decidedly noir story that brilliantly examined race, responsibility, parenthood and identity. “Blacktop Wasteland” centered on a young family man whose money problems lure him to be a getaway driver in a jewelry heist. The novel won a slew of awards, including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and made myriad best of lists.
Many critics, readers and bookstore owners assumed “Blacktop Wasteland” was a debut. They were wrong.
Cosby’s debut, “My Darkest Prayer,” came out in 2019 from a small publisher and was largely ignored by readers and critics. We were all wrong. But now is a second chance to see the origins of Cosby’s considerable talents with Flatiron Books’ reprint of “My Darkest Prayer.”
“My Darkest Prayer” involves what has become Cosby’s trademark — unusual characters caught up in the machinations of a small town. These are people who want to do the right thing but economics and limited options get in the way. Cosby also skillfully looks at racism and responsibility.
The anti-hero of “My Darkest Prayer” is Nathan Waymaker, a former Marine and sheriff ’s deputy who now works in his cousin’s funeral home — a job Cosby himself had. Nathan is a fixer whom people come to when they have no other choice. When a local minister is murdered, Nathan agrees to investigate, leading him to a morass of politics, corruption and crime.
Cosby followed up “Blacktop Wasteland” in
2021 with “Razorblade Tears,” in which two fathers, both former criminals, teamed up to find out who killed their gay sons, who were married to each other. “Razorblade Tears” is a story about racism, homophobia, parenting, classism, squandered chances and seized opportunities. Neither father was a good man, but each tried to honor their sons and come to terms with how each failed their child.
Cosby’s fourth novel “All the Sinners Bleed” is slated to be published in July
2023.