Publisher: Flatiron Books
Release Day: June 10, 2025
Thanks to Flatiron Books for a complimentary arc of this title for review. Opinions expressed are my own.
Review first published in Mystery & Suspense Magazine
Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic and dazzling family drama.
Review:
Author S.A. Cosby’s KING OF ASHES is a bold, brutal, in your face Southern Noir family drama by that begs the question, "What would you do to protect your family?". Like Cosby's preceding books, this tension laden story is a gritty, raw, gut-wrenching masterpiece with blood, sweat, and tears permeating every page. Settle in your favorite corner before starting this highly addictive page burner. It's a wild ride! Roman Carruthers, a financial guru, left his run-down hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia, and the family Crematorium business he detested in the rearview five years ago, seeking the bright lights and opportunities of the big city. Over time, Roman built a reputable, profitable business as a respected expert managing clients’ money and making them wealthy. He's living the good life when a phone call informs him his father is comatose following a near fatal car crash, and he's needed back home. Roman has no choice but to swallow his dread and return to the place he fled to pay his dues with plans to make an appearance and then get back out as soon as possible. Unfortunately, Roman's plans change when he finds his sister, Neveah, exhausted and nearing the end of her rope as she single handedly works killer hours to keep the Crematorium running while keeping vigilance by her father's hospital bed and riding shotgun over younger brother, Dante, whose bad decisions put him in a dicey situation with local, lowlife criminals. Upon arrival, Roman analyzes the situation as he would any mathematical problem and proceeds with a plan to pay off Dante's debt; however, events backfire and quickly escalate out of control. He learns the hard way that Dante's careless actions have attracted criminal elements way beyond the local thugs. Someone with power is seeking retaliation against his family, leaving him to wonder if his father's car crash was a warning . . . not an accident. Now, everyone Roman cares about is in danger, and to Roman, family is everything. Money won't buy them off, but Roman knows how the game is played. Swallowing his pride and the bile rising in his throat, Roman crosses over to the dark side, selling his soul to the devil in a bargain that may forever bind him to the small town life he worked so hard to escape. While he doesn't like it, one lesson Roman learned from his father is that everything burns. And he's not above striking the match that'll burn this town down around them to save his family.
Cosby never lifts his foot off the gas in KING OF ASHES. From beginning to end, it's an action-packed, fast paced family drama with flawed, larger than life characters battling impossible odds in an age-old battle of good vs. evil, but in doing so, what do they become? What sets Cosby's characters apart is their strong family ties, hearts of a lion, keen sense of morality even as they're forced to cross lines in the name of old timey justice, and their ability to display vulnerability while stepping up as antiheroes all in the name of family. Fueled by an increasing tone of impending doom, nonstop action drives the maddening pace forward through flawlessly woven, twisted, multiple plot lines towards an explosive climax that left me breathless. Family skeletons along with all the dark family secrets escape to wreak havoc in this epic southern noir thriller. Who will remain standing when they sift through the ashes? Highly recommended to readers who enjoy fast-paced, graphic, family drama thrillers.
Synopsis:
When eldest son Roman Carruthers is summoned home after his father’s car accident, he finds his younger brother, Dante, in debt to dangerous criminals and his sister, Neveah, exhausted from holding the family—and the family business—together. Neveah and their father, who run the Carruthers Crematorium in the run-down central Virginia town of Jefferson Run, see death up close every day. But mortality draws even closer when it becomes clear that the crash that landed their father in a coma was no accident and Dante’s recklessness has placed them all in real danger.
Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his himself, and his own particular set of skills.
Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.
Because everything burns.
Roman, a financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, has some money to help buy his brother out of trouble. But in his work with wannabe tough guys, he’s forgotten that there are real gangsters out there. As his bargaining chips go up in smoke, Roman realizes that he has only one thing left to offer to save his himself, and his own particular set of skills.
Roman begins his work for the criminals while Neveah tries to uncover the long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teenagers. But Roman is far less of a pushover than the gangsters realize. He is willing to do anything to save his family. Anything.
Because everything burns.
No comments:
Post a Comment