If cinematic southern noir fiction is your game, you can pick up S.A. Cosby’s previous novel, 2021’s Razorblade Tears, or Blacktop Wasteland. A Cosby book has enough political clout to match James Baldwin and gripping tension to stand proud in comparison to Raymond Chandler; his previous hard-boiled noir thrillers have film deals in place, with All The Sinners Bleed – Cosby’s darkest and most powerful novel yet – likely to follow suit.
Ex-FBI agent Titus Crown has been the first Black Sheriff of Charon County for a year. On his first anniversary of being elected, Crown is called to attend an incident at a school: Jeff Spearman, a popular teacher, has been shot dead by ex-pupil Latrell Macdonald. On arrival at the scene, Crown’s deputies fatally shoot Macdonald, who is brandishing a rifle on the school’s steps. At the start of the investigation, some seriously shocking and unexpected discoveries are made. To coincide, a serial killer starts to pluck off victims in Charon County – a place where fanatical religious sects and racial tensions are bubbling away nastily under the surface.
S.A Cosby’s All The Sinners Bleed is a dark, harrowing and real-to-life read that is equally hard to put down or forget after turning the last page.
All The Sinners Bleed, S.A. Cosby (Headline)
Price: £20/£24.99 audiobook. Info: here
words DAVID NOBAKHT