A frequent theme of S. A. Cosby’s work, beyond racism,
is the idea of a family haunted by a horrible tragic legacy. A legacy that goes
back decades and is once again brought to light, eventually, in the here and
now, by a massive triggering event. Such is the case in the latest book, King
of Ashes: A Novel.
Roman Carruthers runs a wealth management firm in
Atlanta. His clients, rappers, and others, sometimes need creative accounting.
Sometimes they need a problem fixed and Roman turns those situations over to Khali.
Not only is a friend from way back, the man has skills, and has put them to use
in a variety of ways for various clients of the company, Carruthers and
Associates. Roman has some of the best people in the business and that is a good
thing because, as the novel begins, he has to go home to Virginia as his dad is
in the hospital and in a coma.
It doesn’t play to be in a car hit by a freight train.
He was and he may not survive. The Carruthers family is a legend in Jefferson
Run, Virginia. Part of that is the fact that his parents, built from the ground
up, a crematorium business that has been used for decades by families from
miles around. While that is very positive, the other part of the legend is that
after their mom vanished without a trace a number of years ago, quite a few
folks became convinced that their father killed their mom and burned up the
body and all the evidence.
For Roman, Neveah, and Dante, that disappearance and
resulting speculation has haunted them nearly their entire lives. They were
kids when it happened and their childhoods ended the day she vanished.
Roman, the oldest, eventually went on to college and
has a well-paying life down in Atlanta. Neveah stepped into their mom’s shoes
and took over taking care of dad and keeping the business going. The youngest,
Dante, is circling deeper and deeper in a pit of alcohol, drugs, and other
vices. The family, what is left of it, is a shell of what it was and rotting
from within.
Now their father, the possible murderer of their mom, and
the man known to all as the “King of Ashes” lies in a coma. From what Naveah
says, somebody might have tried to kill him. If so, it would be the latest in a
string of events that have happened in recent weeks. Naveah didn’t bother to
tell him as Roman was in Atlanta and hasn’t been home to help in years. Now he
is and he plans on digging into what happened.
What follows is a complicated and often violent crime
fiction read as Roman tries to save his family from the situation and their own
self-destructive impulses. He has those same impulses in his own way as well as
he tries to right wrongs and come to terms with a horrible and tragic family
legacy.
There is a lot going on via multiple levels as one
would expect from this talented author. I’m certainly not going to disrespect the
author or the work by revealing any more of the story or the themes in the
work. Certainly not a read for the squeamish as violence abounds, this is a
work that will linger in the mind long after the read is finished.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4ljBI0P
As expected, the publisher, Flatiron Books, totally
ignored my multi month request on NetGalley, so I had to wait for the Dallas
Public Library System to get it in. The digital version arrived first, via
Libby/Overdrive, ending the need for the print version that is just now arriving in the system.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2025
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