I received this book for free from From the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
King of Ashes: A Novel by S.A. Cosby Published by Flatiron Books, Macmillan on June 10, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Thrillers / Crime
Pages: 352
Narrator: Adam Lazarre-White
Length: 13 hours and 19 minutes
Format: Audiobook
Source: From the Publisher
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Goodreads
Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired Black 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.
Review
S.A. Cosby’s King of Ashes hits like a shot of Tennessee whiskey – smooth at first, then leaves you burning. This Godfather-meets-Gothic tale centers on the Carruthers family’s crematorium business, where family loyalty gets tested in the fires of violence and redemption.
Roman Carruthers comes home to a powder keg after his father’s suspicious car crash. His brother Dante’s neck-deep in debt to the wrong people, and suddenly the family business isn’t just about dealing with other people’s dead – it’s about keeping themselves alive.
Cosby writes violence like a poet and family drama like someone who’s lived it. Every punch lands hard, every quiet moment between brothers feels earned, and the Southern setting wraps around the story like kudzu. This is his darkest book yet, but even in its bleakest moments, hope flickers like a stubborn flame.
The genius is in the details – the way a character’s hand shakes while lighting a cigarette, how family dinners feel like negotiating nuclear treaties, the weight of unspoken words between father and sons. Sure, some readers might flinch at the violence, but in Cosby’s world, it’s never just for show. It’s the price of doing business, the cost of family, the toll of survival.
Hollywood’s already circling this one, and no wonder. It’s got the bones of a classic crime saga and the heart of a family drama. Cosby proves again he’s not just writing crime fiction – he’s writing about the American South, about family, about the debts we inherit and the ones we choose to pay.
4.5/5 stars – A fierce, unforgettable story that’ll leave you checking your own family ties.
