King of Ashes
- Judith D Collins
- Jul 18
- 8 min read
By: S.A. Cosby
Narrator: Adam Lazarre-White
Macmillan Audio
ISBN: 9781250832061
Publisher: Flatiron: Pine & Cedar
Publication Date: 06/10/2025
Format: Audio and hardcover
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ALC)
“Pick up the novel everyone will be talking about.” ―The Atlantic
“Dark, riveting, and accomplished.” ―Washington Post
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.
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.
Praise
"American crime fiction has foudn its future and his name is S.A. Cosby."
—Dennis Lehane
"Cosbys novels always hit the grand slam of crime fiction."
—Michael Connelly
"S.A. Cosby is one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-bothears voices in American crime fiction."
—The Washington Post
Indie Next pick for June 2025 • Library Reads pick for June 2025 • Book of the Month Club pick • Starred Library Journal • Starred Kirkus • Los Angeles Times 30 Must-Read Books for Summer • NPR’s 10 books we're looking forward to this spring • New York Post’s Must-Read New Thriller Books • New York Times’s 12 Summer Books We’re Looking Forward To • USA TODAY’s Most Anticipated Books of summer 2025 • The Atlantic’s 24 Books to Read This Summer • TIME’s 16 Most Anticipated Books to Read This Summer • People’s The 15 Most Anticipated Books of Summer 2025 • Vulture’s 28 Books We Can’t Wait to Read This Summer • New York Times’s Books to Read This Summer • New York Times’s 4 Summer Books We’re Looking Forward To • Washington Post’s 30 Books to Read This Summer • New York Post’s 30 Best Beach Reads
“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
“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.”
“A Southern crime drama to the tune of “The Godfather.”
―USA TODAY
“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+
My Review
Award-winning NYT Southern superstar S.A. Cosby returns following his hit, All the Sinners Bleed with this best yet, KING OF ASHES. A dark and riveting Godfather-inspired Southern Gothic crime thriller and family drama that will leave you breathless!
The author’s popularity has exploded in recent years, as has his brand of Southern noir crime fiction (and rightly so), with a TV series based on the novel upcoming!
TOP AUDIOBOOKS OF 2025!
About...
Roman Carruthers is called home after his father’s recent accident to help out. His younger brother, Dante, unfortunately, is in debt to a gang of dangerous criminals. His sister, Neveah, is tired of holding down the family business by herself. She and her father run the operations at their family's business, Carruthers Crematorium, located in the rundown town of Jefferson Run, Virginia.
When Roman discovers the crash that landed their father in the hospital in a coma was no accident, and then Dante finally comes clean about his recklessness, he knows they are all in danger.
Roman must fix this problem and use all his tools, plus the family Crematorium, to outsmart the thugs, or they all will wind up dead. After all, he is a financial wizard and makes people rich, so he begins pulling some tricks out of his bag. But will they be enough?
However, his tactics only buy him a little time; the danger and stakes are higher. How far will he go to protect his family?
At the same time, Roman and Dante are trying to deal with the criminals, and their price goes higher, and they are in more danger, trying to keep their sister in the dark; however, she is working on a long-ago mystery of what happened to their mother, who disappeared when they were teens. Everyone thought it was their father, possibly, who killed her, but he was not charged.
What happened to their mother? The answer may be closer than she knows. How will this one end when they see no end to this web of criminals, drug lords, gangster,s and their payback?
My thoughts...
EXPLOSIVE! Oh my, what a book!. S.A. Cosby has outdone himself and pulls out all the stops in this gritty thrill-by-the-minute, knock-out Southern crime thriller. This is a stay-up-all-night-and-never-stop kind of book that will leave you spellbound and heart pounding.
These three siblings could not be more different.
Roman who is a number guy, driven, and could not wait to get out of this small town for the big city. However, he is selfish and self-centered, looking for a way out. A solution. A fixer. He is not afraid to cross moral lines for the end result. He likes power. He, too, makes a deal with the Devil and thinks he can outsmart the enemy. What is he hiding?
Dante is impulsive, reckless, and not interested in the family business, with no thought to his actions nor the outcome to others. Continues to be a screw up making poor decisions and wants someone to bale him out. He is not the sharpest tool in the shed and is out for a good time. He has some childhood issues as well. He has made a deal with the Devil, and the time has come to pay up or else.
Neveah is the rock, the glue that holds the family together. Growing up without a mother, she is resentful. She wants answers. She does not want to work in the family business, facing death every day, but she feels loyalty to the family. She is ready to kill the person who took her mother. She is desperate for answers. Just wait, you may think she is in the back seat, but wait until she is ready to release her rage.
Crematoriums are freaky, creepy, and scary and even more so than funeral homes, as in the movies, a way to get rid of bodies. Even though I have already paid for my cremation, after reading this, it makes you think, will my sons get my ashes? Also, removing any chance of what actually happened to the dead, erasing all evidence?
Cosby is a pro and combined with this edge-of-your-seat storyline, the danger, nerve-wrecking suspense, the setting, the crematorium, the well-developed characters, and the parallel mystery of the mom from the past, you have a home run! No one could have written this story better than S.A. Cosby, the King of Southern Gothic Fiction.
Audiobook...
The audiobook was EPIC! I am talking SMOLDERING, STELLAR, EXPLOSIVE: BEST AUDIO OF 2O25, and the performance by the mega talented Adam Lazarre-White was award-winning! Stupefying! Off the charts fabulous! He nailed every voice, character, mood, intensity, fear, and thought, elevating the story to new levels. I was so engrossed, hanging on his every word—there was no way I was putting this audiobook down. Unputdownable. I listened to it in one sitting and couldn't wait to see how it would turn out. I highly recommend the audiobook.
S.A. Cosby and Adam Lazarre-White are a perfect pairing!
MOVE-WORTHY! Yes, a TV series based on S.A. Cosby's novel "King of Ashes" is planned. Netflix, along with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and the Obamas' Higher Ground Productions, have acquired the rights to develop the book as a TV series. The series is described as a family crime drama.
The author is on fire 🔥! I will be buying the hardcover for my home library, but the audiobook and narrator are not to be missed!
Recs...
It is difficult to compare this book to anything out there as S.A. Cosby is in a class of his own, but if you are a fan of his work, KING OF ASHES is a must-read, must-listen. My favorite of his. Fans of dark and gritty crime fiction and those who enjoy works by Karin Slaughter, Dennis Lehane, and Walter Mosley will devour.
Also the family dynamics reminded me of Terah Shelton Harris' (top book of 2024-highly recommend as well; Long After We Are Gone: An explosive and emotional story of four siblings―each fighting their own personal battle―return to their NC home in the wake of their father's death to save their family's home from being sold out from under them.
Thank you, Macmillan Audio, NetGalley, and #MacAudio2025, for an advanced listening copy via Google Play for the opportunity to review.
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
My Rating: 5 Stars +
Top Audiobooks of 2025
Pub Date: June 10, 2025
About the Author
S.A. Cosby is the New York Times national best selling award-winning author from Southeastern Virginia. His books include MY DARKEST PRAYER, Blacktop Wasteland, Amazon's #1 Mystery and Thriller of the Year and #3 Best Book of 2020 overall, a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, Winner of the LA Times Book Award for Mystery or Thrillers and a Goodreads Choice Awards Semifinalist and the winner of the ITW award for hard cover book of the year, the Macavity for best novel of the year, the Anthony, The Barry , a honorable mention from the ALA Black Caucus and was a finalists for the CWA Golden Dagger. He is also author of the best selling RAZORBLADE TEARS which also won the Anthony, The Barry , The Macivity and The ITW award and The Dashiell Hammett award. His book ALL THE SINNERS BLEED was nominated for The Lefty The Edgar and The LA Times Book award and The ALA book award
His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, and his story "Slant-Six" was selected as a Distinguished Story in Best American Mystery Stories for 2016. His short story "The Grass Beneath My Feet" won the Anthony Award for Best Short Story in 2019.his short story NOT MY CROSS TO BEAR won the Anthony in 2022.
His writing has been called "gritty and heartbreaking" and "dark, thrilling and tragic" and "raw ,emotional and profound " READ MORE
