Publishers Weekly
04/07/2025
A Virginia man is sucked into a brutal drug syndicate in this fitfully inspired crime novel from bestseller Cosby (All the Sinners Bleed). After a long absence, Atlanta finance manager Roman Caruthers returns home to Jefferson Run, Va., where his father is in a coma after a suspicious car accident. When the accident gets linked to his younger brother Dante’s drug dealing, Roman offers his financial expertise to the Black Baron Boys, a gang led by brothers Torrent and Tranquil Gilchrist, who are as inclined to murder Dante as to let Roman help settle his several-hundred-thousand-dollar debt. Engaging with criminals sets Roman on a path of escalating violence that builds to a tragic, near-Shakespearean crescendo. Meanwhile, Roman and Dante’s sister, Neveah, reinvestigates the still unsolved disappearance of their mother a decade earlier. En route to the novel’s tragic finale, Cosby hits some off notes: Roman’s passage from rescuer to aspiring kingpin is almost too smooth, his growing appetite for violence is overplayed and undermotivated, and the book’s unyielding nihilism can feel more suffocating than powerful. Still, Cosby continues to excel at evocative scene-setting and drawing richly detailed portraits of rural Black family life. This is best suited to the author’s devoted fans. Agent: Josh Getzler, HG Literary. (June)
From the Publisher
“Propulsive and powerful. . . A gripping roller coaster ride of escalating danger in cars and crematories, punctuated by pulpy moments of dark glamour in the bedroom and the club, interspersed with elegiac meditations on the art of war. The story overflows with immersive velocity and crackling sensory details. . . With Roman, Cosby has sculpted a character of Shakespearean proportions: kingly, devoted, shrewd. He reminds us of Hamlet, a tormented antihero struggling with how best to take revenge while preserving his soul in a depraved land.”
—New York Times Book Review
“Dark, riveting, and accomplished. . . Cosby has built an impressive reputation for creating brutal, fast-paced novels in which bad things happen to just about everybody.”
—Washington Post
“Pick up the novel everyone will be talking about. . . The flashy sequences of violence feel apt for TV (Netflix, along with Steven Spielberg’s production outfit and the Obamas’ media company, is working on a series), but the novel’s real draw is the quieter ache of a family torn apart.”
—The Atlantic
“A thrilling and thought-provoking look at privilege and loyalty. . . Raw, gritty and undeniably entertaining, King of Ashes delivers one sizzling summer read that concludes with a few unexpected twists.”
—Atlanta Journal Constitution
“This is a tale of Shakespearean proportions, of festering passions, brutal vengeance, of loyalty and love. Cosby’s prose is a brilliant conflagration of fiery metaphors and brutal realism.”
—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“A fast-paced thriller that will have readers asking whether the ends justify the means if there is no end in sight. . . Reminiscent of the great tragedies, this is Cosby at his best.”
—Library Journal, starred review
“Cosby is one of the biggest names in the crime/thriller world these days. . . King of Ashes takes its cue from The Godfather – an ailing patriarch, a family falling apart and a son who comes back home to hold it all together.”
—NPR.com
“A Southern crime drama to the tune of “The Godfather.”
—USA TODAY
“Cosby has published one magnificent crime novel after another. . . and this new book spotlights the author’s gift for building complex characters. . . His dialogue, too, is pitch-perfect: colloquial and idiomatic, reflecting the education and upbringing of his characters—it feels like we’re eavesdropping on real people. A stunning novel.”
—Booklist
“Classically tragic.”
—Wall Street Journal
“Cosby keeps things tense, making great use of the crematorium and freshening the genre with lofty philosophizing. . . Rarely has a crime fiction family been given a more bitter spin than this one. Another strong outing by a modern noir master.”
—Kirkus, starred review
“A thrilling and dark take on a twisted American Dream cum Shakespearean tragedy. . . Cosby crafts an exquisite thriller; the pages whir by on superb prose. . . Building to a cataclysmic finale, Cosby once again propels readers on one hell of a ride. Excellent.”
—Deadly Pleasures, A+
“Today’s modern master of crime fiction is back in a scathing work that does what S.A. Cosby does best — entertain, but also leave a scar on the reader’s psyche.”
—Cemetery Dance
Library Journal
★ 04/25/2025
Cosby's latest (following All the Sinners Bleed) is a fast-paced thriller that will have readers asking whether the ends justify the means if there is no end in sight. Torn apart by the unsolved disappearance of their mother 20 years ago, the three Carruthers children each hid from the past in their own way—Roman ran off to Atlanta and became a successful financial advisor to the stars; Dante hid in the haze of self-medication while the world passed by; and Neveah sacrificed her future to take care of their father and the family crematory business. When their father is in a car crash and falls into a coma, Roman returns to Jefferson Run, VA, and learns that perhaps his father's injuries weren't accidental. Fighting unresolved guilt about the disappearance of his mother and leaving his family for success away from home, Roman decides to put his family first at any cost. As his father always told him, everything burns. VERDICT Reminiscent of the great tragedies, this is Cosby at his best. Will appeal to fans of Attica Locke, Jordan Harper, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.—George Lichman
