

King of Ashes
Books | Fiction / Thrillers / Crime
4
S. A. Cosby
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“Propulsive and powerful. . . A gripping roller coaster ride of escalating danger.” —New York Times Book Review“Pick up the novel everyone will be talking about.” —The Atlantic“Dark, riveting, and accomplished.” —Washington PostAward-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Southern crime epic and dazzling family drama.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 brother: 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. "[A] sizzling summer read that concludes with a few unexpected twists.”—Atlanta Journal Constitution
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More Details:
Author
S. A. Cosby
Pages
352
Publisher
Flatiron Books
Published Date
2025-06-10
ISBN
1250832071 9781250832078
Community ReviewsSee all
"This was a captivating book centered on an older brother helping a younger brother who's poor choices have him targeted by a psychopathic gang."
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Brian strong
"Roman Carruthers gets called home from Atlanta after his father is injured in a Virginia car crash. Home is where he reconnects with his brother and sister, Dante and Neveah; sits with his comatose father in the hospital; literally stokes the fires of his family’s crematorium (a handy business for what comes); and tries to put his brother on the straight and narrow. Or so Roman tells himself. In reality, we as the readers can see that Roman steadily makes himself into an indispensable consigliere and ultimately a crime boss, disposing of the nasty crime bosses and crime soldiers who get in his way. In Atlanta, where Roman lived before this story starts, he made money for important people, and in this poor town in southeast Virginia, he uses his money making skills to ingratiate himself with bad guys across town, turning several from foes to reluctant allies. I was torn with this book: I hoped for a lead character as honorable and human as Titus Crown in All the Sinners Bleed. In King of Ashes, SA Cosby seems to have created Roman as the opposite of Titus Crown, with Roman digging ever deeper into the morass of violence, crime and anger steeping in town. That Roman becomes the crime boss by the end while his family dies or leaves him is a Shakespearean tragedy forming right before us. Three stars: The action was nonstop (yay!), but I didn’t like Roman’s character, and he was the star of the show (boo!)"
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Diane Morello
"#dark and #profound S.A. Cosby is a #crowdpleaser once again"
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Nikki Foster
"Stellar book!!! Amazing storyline that kept me on the edge of my seat the entire read. Definitely my new favorite author! Crazy plot twists that I didn’t see coming! "
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Alyssa Castillo