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King of Ashes by S. A. Cosby
I’m a big S. A. Cosby fan now. I think he’s right up there with James Lee Burke. In this latest novel, we meet Roman Carruthers, the oldest son in a family that runs a crematory in fictional Jefferson Run, Virginia. It’s troubled, motherless family.
Roman is a high-powered Atlanta financial advisor, a “college-boy” (as he’s called by the gang members) who’s made good but carries a lot of guilt. His sister Neveah runs the crematory along with younger brother Dante and their father Keith. Roman returns because Keith has been in a car accident and is in a coma. Returning to his dying, corrupt hometown, Roman learns of Dante’s attempt to get in the drug trade, a decision that has gotten him in debt to a local gang run by homicidal brothers known as Torrent and Tranquil, who are responsible for running Roman’s father off the road. Roman tries to reason with Torrent and Tranquil as if he was in a business negotiation, but things don’t go well, and Torrent and Tranquil break Roman’s teeth and cut off one of Dante’s fingers. But soon Roman has a plan to take down the gang leaders.
There is a family drama superimposed on the crime story: the hospitalized father had long been suspected off doing away with his wife, Roman, Neveah, and Dante’s mother, who had been having an affair. Bonita Carruthers disappeared one day, never to be heard from again. No body of ever found and the conventional wisdom was that she ended up in the crematorium. Neveah is convinced that her father is guilty and pursues that cold case even as Roman and Dante keep her in the dark about their relationship with the gang.
There is plenty of fast-paced suspense, violence, and enough twists and turns to keep readers on their toes. The novel ends up being an elegant moral tale, of mistrust, betrayal, and unintended consequences. I, for one, did not see the ending coming.
