Thank you Macmillan Audio for the ALC and Flatiron Books / Pine and Cedar Books, #partner for the advanced copy of King of Ashes in exchange for my honest review.
Publisher: Pine and Cedar / Macmillan Audio
Published: June 10, 2025
Summary:
A son returning home.
A dangerous debt.
Secrets about to ignite . . . and a family consumed by flames.
Roman Carruthers left the smoke and fire of his family’s crematory business behind in his hometown of Jefferson Run, Virginia. He is enjoying a life of shallow excess as a financial adviser in Atlanta until he gets a call from his sister, Neveah, telling him their father is in a coma after a hit-and-run accident. When Roman goes home, he learns the accident may not be what it seems. His brother, Dante, is deeply in debt to dangerous, ruthless criminals.
And Roman is willing to do anything to protect his family. Anything.
A financial whiz with a head for numbers and a talent for making his clients rich, Roman must use all his skills to try to save his family while dealing with a shadow that has haunted them all for twenty years: the disappearance of their mother when Roman and his siblings were teenagers. It’s a mystery that Neveah, who has sacrificed so much of her life to hold her family together, is determined to solve once and for all.
As fate and chance and heartache ignite their lives, the Carruthers family must pull together to survive or see their lives turn to ash. Because, as their father counseled them from birth, nothing lasts forever.
Everything burns.
My thoughts:
It’s no secret that I absolutely love everything this man writes…no matter how dark and gritty it is – and make no mistake about it, this book is just that – very dark, very gritty and completely addicting. And phenomenal on audio…I purposely saved this to listen to on my drive to Montreal not too long ago because I knew I’d have uninterrupted listening time and I was not disappointed…in fact, I ended up with such a book hangover when I finished that instead of going on to another book like I usually do when I finished, I put music on and I’m not really one for listening to music…so that’s saying something!
I love the way Cosby develops the characters and relationships in this book. They are all deeply flawed, yet somehow they felt real and in some instances, relatable. Of course, there are some really bad seeds here and when bad things happen to them, it feels ok. And that’s another thing I love about these books…the violence that happens is there because it’s needed. It’s not done gratuitously. It’s done purposefully and with meaning.
There are such heavy themes within this book that are handled with grace and with intention, and that’s why I love these crime fiction reads so much. This is Cosby at this best for all this and more.
Audio thoughts:
Adam Lazarre-White is perfection when narrating this. His voice can be smooth when needed, filled with tension at other times and everything else that’s needed to elevate this story.
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