King of Ashes

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"Propulsive and powerful. . . A gripping roller coaster ride of escalating danger." --New York Times Book Review
"Pick up the novel everyone will be talking about." --The Atlantic
"Dark, riveting, and accomplished." --Washington Post

Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author S. A. Cosby returns with King of Ashes, a Godfather-inspired 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.

"[A] sizzling summer read that concludes with a few unexpected twists."
--Atlanta Journal Constitution

Author: S. a. Cosby
Publisher: Flatiron Books: Pine & Cedar
Published: 06/10/2025
Pages: 352
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.20lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.40w x 1.40d
ISBN: 9781250832061


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 04/25/2025 pg. 5
Publishers Weekly 04/07/2025
Booklist 05/01/2025 pg. 55
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2025

About the Author
S. A. Cosby is a New York Times bestselling writer from southeastern Virginia. He is the author of All the Sinners Bleed, which was on more than forty Best of the Year lists, including Barack Obama's, as well as Edgar Award finalist Razorblade Tears and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner Blacktop Wasteland. He has also won the Anthony Award, ITW Thriller Award, Barry Award, Macavity Award, BCALA Award, and Audie Award and has been longlisted for the ALA Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence.