King
of Ashes, by S. A. Cosby.
I hate starting any review by saying ‘He’s Done it
again!’ But it’s true – S. A. Cosby has
produced yet another story that explodes off the page, a mixture of horrific
violence and heartbreaking familial affection and an entirely believable chain
of events which culminate in a drama of Shakespearean dimensions. I have already started wondering what will
happen to the protagonists, but Cosby (so far) has not introduced former
characters into his marvellous fiction, so I shall just have to keep wondering.
Roman Carruthers is a financial adviser to the rich,
famous, and those who also like to keep a low profile. He’s based in Atlanta, is very good at his
job and really, life doesn’t get much better for a well-educated Black man with
the gift of knowing the many paths money can take to increase its size. Life is pretty satisfactory – until he gets a
call from his sister in Jefferson Run, a rundown city in Virginia: can he come home because their Daddy has been
grievously injured in a Hit and Run.
Dante, their younger brother is being worse than useless – she needs
Roman’s help, even for a short while, to run the family business which is a
Crematory disposing of ‘cremains’ for those funeral homes who don’t have such
facilities.
Roman can hardly say No;
his father put him through college to give him his glittering
qualifications, but is dismayed to find when he reaches home that Dante is the
author of all this misfortune, having decided with a loser friend to set
himself up as a drug dealer – but sampling the product became more important,
and the gangsters he got said product from want their money and what could come have arranged his Daddy’s Hit
and Run. They are just about the Baddest
gangsters in the State and are proud of it – why, they even have dogs who enjoy
human flesh, as they showed Roman one night so that he would know they weren’t
kidding.
Sweet reason will hardly prevail against such killers, so
Roman has to appeal to their greed: they
won’t touch him or his siblings while he’s making them money – he hopes. But will his beloved family survive this
terrible time – will Roman? They have
all kept a huge secret from each other for many years, but they always had the
bedrock of their affection for each other to justify the reason. Will that love survive?
Yes, S. A. Cosby has truly done it again – compelled us
to hang on to every page with its myriad characters so superbly realised, and
to ask how much a man profits if he becomes King of the Ashes but loses everything
else. SIX STARS.
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