This novel was somehow darker and heavier than All the Sinners Bleed, even though that novel was about child abuse and serial killing. King of Ashes was just as compelling and just as well written, but carried a darkness that came from the fact that the main character was caught up in the crime, no matter how unwillingly, rather than trying to solve it. Roman returns home to help his sister with their sick father, only to be thrown into a disaster caused by his brother’s bungled drug deal.

S.A. Cosby never disappoints and King of Ashes was no different. This book illustrates just how far we will go for the ones we love and care about. Though it was a dark novel, it was navigated with such prose that I have come to love by Cosby.

King of Ashes is S.A. Cosby's darkest book yet.

He could also have titled this "The Fall of Roman". The main character, Roman Carruthers, has escaped the small dying rural Virginian town where he grew up and become a successful financial advisor to some of the rich and famous. When he learns that his father has been shot, he must return, the prodigal son. Roman's siblings, Neveah and Dante, have been struggling mightily with their own demons. Here's a note: both of Roman's siblings have names that have to do with Heaven and/or Hell and I'm sure this isn't by accident. This is the story of the Faustian bargain that Roman makes with evil men and how that bargain changes him forever.

The family business is a crematorium, which Neveah now must run almost entirely by herself with her father in a coma. Neveah has been beaten down by a past family tragedy (their mother disappeared when they were kids and the whole town thinks their father killed her). Her fingers have been so burned by contact with fire that she "can't feel anymore". Dante has chosen to numb himself with drugs, sex and foolishness and his bad choices are what drag Roman down. Roman wants to try to save Dante from his devil's bargain with the town's drug lords and offers his financial services and access to the crematorium to help the gang leaders' money grow in a desperate ploy to keep his brother and himself alive.

The gang quickly goes even darker than Roman thought they would so his "hands get dirty" and he's bound to them in complicity. If this had been my first book by Cosby, I don't know if I would have finished it or tried another of his novels. This book is incredibly grim and explores many different kinds of depravity. It's ultimately a character study of Roman and a chronicle of how one morally questionable decision leads to the next and then on to the next. It's a violent gothic look at the modern South.

I love all of SA Cosby’s books and this one didn’t disappoint. My favorite is still Razorblade Tears. Roman revives a phone call from his sister, that ends up changing his entire life in a matter of seconds. This book takes you behind the scenes of a very dark underworld of gangs, guns and drugs, surrounded by people you never hope to meet. Roman is a college graduate who is one of the few people who got out of the tiny town he is forced to return to Jefferson Run. His college education has him using lots of big words, that I found myself looking up to get the full meaning. Roman also like to refer to book quotes and few other people as well. All of this to say without giving anything away, the chess pieces are being put into play.

HUGE thank you to NetGalley for this ARC copy of SA Cosby’s new book! I have read quite a few of his reads thus far and there isn’t a single one I didn’t love.

This one was well written, it follows really what a family will do to protect the ones they love. Trauma has a way of bringing people together even if they weren’t close before. Cosby writes his characters with such heart and makes you feel for them as though they’re real people.

Another great one!!

This is also a repeat author when I see it, love his books, although Razorblade tears is still hands down my favorite. To say this is fast paced is an understatement. At about 10%, I realized I was going to finish it quickly. There is so much packed into this book. The characters are younger than we typically see from Cosby. But if you liked The Wire, you will LOVE this book. After reading this, maybe Omar wasn’t so bad cuz this has the most violent drug dealers ever. We get hidden secrets. A missing mom. And when the secrets were revealed, there was nothing that could have prepared me. Like WHAT?! Every book I read by this author is levels better than the previous one. This fast-paced thriller explores just how far someone will go to protect themselves and their family. A gripping read, highly recommended!

4.5 stars!! This story follows Roman whose life in Atlanta is interrupted by a call from his sister, Neveah telling him that their father has been in a car accident, and he needs to come home to Virginia.

Back in his hometown, Roman quickly realizes his family is struggling. Neveah is overwhelmed, running the family’s crematorium alone while their father remains in the hospital. Meanwhile, their brother Dante is in deep trouble, and as the eldest, Roman steps in, determined to help.

This fast-paced thriller explores just how far someone will go to protect themselves and their family. A gripping read, highly recommended!

King of Ashes is the darkest and most violent of Cosby’s books. I cannot imagine living in the type of environment that Roman and his siblings find themselves in. But Cosby describes it so vividly that you literally feel the anger, the fear, the anguish, and the grief that the Carruthers have gone through for most of their lives. I did not understand at first why Roman did the things he did to help his brother, but family is everything as you will soon come to realize.

Cosby has a talent for placing his readers directly into world's they will thankfully never see. I enjoyed this one but not as much as his previous novels. The main character didn't have as many redeeming qualities as I would hope for but the stark realism of the world his characters inhabit kept me on edge wondering how this one would end.

𝑯𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓'𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒐𝒘 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈. 𝑵𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒔. 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈.

S.A. Cosby is synonymous with Southern Noir, and he does not shy away from themes such as racism, poverty, and what it means to be a person of color in the American South.

Roman Carruthers has made a life for himself in Atlanta as a financial planner who plays fast and loose with ethics--as long as his clients are making money, then so is he. He's worlds away from his broken-down hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia, but when he gets word that his younger brother Dante is in debt to savage criminals and his sister Neveah is struggling to run the family business, the Carruthers Crematorium. A devastating car accident has left their father Keith comatose, and with his wife Bonita long-missing, it's time for the prodigal son to return home.

After finding out that their father lies in that precipice somewhere between the living and the dead because of something Dante set into motion will forever change the trajectory of these siblings' lives. Roman's slippery morals are no match for the sociopathic criminals he's up against, and he finds himself indebted to some of the most morally bankrupt characters I've read about in recent memory while desperately trying to close the gaping rift in his family.

This author creates realistic, believable worlds that I will never inhabit, and for that, I am grateful. I don't want to know violence and despair first-hand, but his talent at drawing the reader in to these worlds will make you feel the fear, the uncertainty, the terrors, and the hopes of these characters.

The English teacher in me adored all of the symbolism and allusions. The reader in me marveled at this man's talent with juxtapositions; writing with such stark beauty about horrendous things. The empath in me wept through several scenes, as the recent absence of my mother is still so raw. Everything I am was destroyed and reborn by this story. The universe may seem indifferent to our suffering, but I believe it weeps with us.

My sincere thanks to Flatiron Books for the early copy of this book. It is expected to publish June 10, 2025.