King of AshA new novel by American writer S.A. Cosby is a real favorite that we can't wait to talk about!
There is no longer the slightest doubt: S.A. Cosby has established himself as one of America's great writers of dark romance.
We already felt this while reading Anger And you Blood of the Innocents (published in 2023 and 2024 respectively), two books that immediately made it onto our list of favorites. But after devouring King of AshWow. Her new baby… how should I put it? His new child is simply magnificent, brilliant, exceptionally good.
On the other hand, you need to be prepared to read a particularly dark and tragic story. Which is not surprising, because S.A. Cosby is an ardent Shakespeare fan.
“I’m one of his big fans,” he confirms in an interview. Moreover, it was by attending the performance of his Hamlet that I wanted to write a kind of family tragedy in which loyalty and revenge would take pride of place. It was a real balance for me because I had to push things far enough into the dark to be engaging, but not so far that I lost readers. I wanted to show how far Roman (the main character) is willing to go to save his family and how far he can justify every action he takes in the name of his family. But at some point, whatever the reasons, there is always a line that it is better not to cross…”
Return of the King
Roman Carruthers, who is in his 30s, hasn't set foot on Jefferson Run in five years. And if not for his father's serious car accident, it would likely be another five years before he returned to this small town in Virginia.
Roman, who heads a prestigious wealth management firm in Atlanta, is the epitome of a successful guy: luxury cars, tailored clothes, a bulging wallet. He never wanted anything to do with the family business, even though the crematorium founded by his father is now burning with God's fire.
That's because in Jefferson Run, two rival gangs are now fighting over territory, so between drugs and settling scores, there ends up being quite a few dead bodies… and dead bodies mean work!
With his father in a coma, Roman really won't have a choice to come and lend a helping hand to his sister Neva, who is starting to burn the candle at both ends.
What about his little brother Dante? Ugh. Let's not even think about it. He's in trouble again, and this time it's serious. So serious that Roman will feel obligated to do whatever it takes to get him out of there.
“In my previous books, the heroes were always strong, physically imposing men,” says S.A. Cosby. Here I wanted to create a character who is small in build, but very smart and deeply broken inside. At its core, this is a story about the pain we hold inside and how it can destroy us.”
Play with fire
To write it S.A. Cosby once again inspired his own existence. This means that yes, he himself was a funeral assistant for a long time, in particular, in a funeral home.
“Many elements and details of my life come into my work,” he adds. But I also wanted to use the specific aspect of the crematorium as a metaphor for change, for rebirth.”
However, he never directly interacted with the world of organized crime.
“On the other hand, I've read a lot of stories about true crime– he continues. And I grew up among people who, although not entirely part of the environment that I describe in my book, were still on the edge. I took inspiration from this universe, which I then enhanced and exaggerated to create the gangsters in the novel.”
“To me, gangsters are desperate people,” says S.A. Cosby. It was just a matter of understanding what they were looking for that made them so desperate. I think we live in a society obsessed with status and money and wealth, and it's not easy to access in the United States.
It is impossible to imagine what will come of all this. Because if we think that nothing worse can happen to the main characters, then every page we turn proves us the opposite.
A must read.
King of Ash
Yu.A. Cosby
Editions of Sonatina
408 pages
