Ich werde das Buch nicht rezensieren, da ich es nicht beendet habe. Die erste Hälfte hat mir gut gefallen, aber dann wurde es mir zu grausam.

Set in Charon County, West Virginia, where things may seem calm but where racial tensions bubble under the surface. We have a badass protagonist in Sheriff Titus Crown, a formidable, witty man with a complicated past.

I loved how the book started with a shoal shooting and discovery of bodies in the woods and it kept me hooked until the middle. But I think that the plot lost its way as there was more emphasis on Titus's personal life and the town than the murders.

I'm all for a character study but this book couldn't quite manage both the murders and other things happening in the town and Titus's life. I felt like the narration about race (although on point) became repetitive and the side plots about the ongoings of the town distracted it from what could have been a 5-star book.

Towards the end, it felt like the author finished the murder storyline because it had to be finished and I found myself not caring about it.

This is still an amazing book and I will definitely keep reading S.A. Cosby's books but it could have been better.
Thanks to Netgalley and Headline for the e-copy. I appreciate it as always!

3.5/5

Sadly, I couldn't finish this book, I've loved the previous two books from the author, but I found this slow from the beginning and just couldn't persevere.

It might have been me not being in the right frame of mind as I know others have really enjoyed this. Not for me on this occasion.

This was my first exposure to SA Cosby. I needn’t have worried. This book delivers on many levels.

Titus Crowne is a former FBI agent, now back home in rural Virginia. A black sheriff in a small town revolving around religion and racism. A town where everybody knows everybody’s business — or do they? A school shooting is just the start of this dark, twisting story. 

An absorbing, enjoyable read from start to finish and I’d guess destined for a cinema near you soon! If you liked Silence Of The Lambs, you’ll love this.

Thank you NetGalley for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book in return for an honest review. I have only recently discovered S.A. Crosby and I am currently working my way through his back catalog. His new book All The Sinners Bleed was fantastic. It was so gritty and engaging. I really liked Titus and his relationship with his family and I was routing for them to get a good outcome. Crosby is definitely on my list of new favourite authors and I will recommend all his book to everyone. A big 5 stars from me.

3.5 stars. I enjoyed this one, and I really enjoyed the procedural aspect. The only other crime series I've read set in the south is my beloved Grant County series, and it's a very interesting place to set a book. This was definitley a choice in this book as it is told from the perspective of the county's first black sherrif. I thought the mystery was well done. The best thing about this book was the discussion of the racial divides that still exist in the south and what it means to be a sherriff who has to straddle both sides. Can you really fix the system from the inside if the system is designed to work against you?

I think the thing that let this one down slighty for me was one, the overwrought metaphors on every page. (Are the trees like a waiting army? Or are they like Macbeth's Birnam wood? Pick just one.) It's a small thing but it ended up taking me out of the story because I noticed how frequently they were being used. Also the weaving of Titus' backstory was a little clunky. We had to be reminded of 'Red Decrain's compound' Every single chapter. I liked Titus, I felt for him in terms of him wanting to change the minds of people around him and fighting what seems like an unwinnable cause, but I didn't feel overly connected to him. I did enjoy him verbally destroying racists though.

Also, Darlene deserved better.

I loved this thriller. It had a way of making me feel a part of the investigation and I was hooked on the plot.
It's a fast pace suspenseful read that had social commentary throughout which I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

Titus Crowne is the Black sheriff of Charon County. Charon County is not the sort of place where many people welcome Black people and certainly many of them were not keen of having him as sheriff. There is a tangible atmosphere about this book that simply reeks of these feelings. He - ex FBI - is determined to bring a balanced approach to all citizens of the county. This often means that he finds himself with few people on his side - sometimes simply his deputies (mostly!).

There is a school shooting and the gunman is killed by one of Titus's deputies. This does nothing to improve the atmosphere in the area. More importantly Titus heard the last words of the gunman and this aroused some strong suspicions in him. Investigating the matter takes an already dark story in the far darker places. Indeed many in the county seem to hold and conceal secrets.

The description of the county and life there is very rich. You can feel the living there and the history. The main characters really are Titus, his family and the deputies. The other parts are far more minor. I loved Titus and his family (father and brother). There were very well crafted and clear in my mind. The deputies were good too. However the focus is really Titus and this case becomes an all consuming personal crusade really.

The writing in this is stunning and so powerful as it was in previous books. I can't see many people putting this book down. However those that do will probably do so because of the content. There is historic abuse in this book and it rarely gets lighter than "very dark" (& manages to get darker than that at times). I loved reading this for the writing however if I'm honest I found the story tough and while compelling not easy. For me Razorblade Tears was a better read I guess but I did enjoy this story. I'd read more from this author anytime.

Former FBI agent Titus Crown is the first black Sheriff in the small town of Charon in Virginia. This a town with a statue of a Confederate General and a history of oppression of its black population, not least by its police force,a place where fundamentalists handle snakes in one of the churches and see validation of their right wing views in the Bible.
When there's a shooting at a local school and the perpetrator is shot by one of Crown's deputies the subsequent investigation proves that the victim was far from what he seemed .With the dead shooter being black and his victim, white tensions in the small town mount, as does the body count with a series of grisly murders.

This is an involving tale that's part social commentary, part murder and often borders on Gothic horror......the killer is certainly inventive and author Cosby gives all the gory details of his deeds,and they certainly are gory. Crown is a flawed hero,which is quite refreshing ,and carries his past on his shoulders,there's a reason why a hot shot FBI agent leaves the big city to return to the hick town he grew up in as Sheriff.

S.A. Cosby has very quickly become one of my favourite authors,his characters are never one-dimensional , his stories are always inventive and the reality of life for the marginalised of America is often a theme while never preaching .

Another great book from S.A. Cosby,if you haven't read any of his work yet this is a great place to start. His style reminds me of a more restrained James Lee Burke, whose characters often morph into caricature and ,while it might be heresy to some and as a great JLB fan myself,I actually prefer Cosby's work.

SA Cosby continues to grow as a writer as he proves with his latest multilayered Southern Gothic thriller, and in his complex creation of the first black sheriff of Charon County, Virginia. For ex-FBI Titus Crown, this place is his heart and home, where he grew up, and where he has returned when his father's health worsened, but it is founded on 'bloodshed and darkness'. This history refuses to disappear, but continually returns as surely as night follows day, to drench the soil with its generations of tears. As a Sheriff replacing a racist and corrupt predecessor, Titus wants to bring change to the office, he is under constant intense scrutiny and pressures, from elements of the black and the white communities.

After a year of relative quiet, Charon is about to explode after a shocking event presages a season of pain, in which a troubled black Latrell Macdonald kills Charon's most beloved of teacher's, Jeff Spearman, winner of teacher of the year award in a school shooting. Before being shot deat, Latrell makes claims that challenge Spearman's whiter than white reputation. What is uncovered about the teacher by Titus and his team is so terrifying that it is left to Titus to bear witness alone to the horrors of the worst acts that humans can commit, but one of the perpetrators is unidentified and remains free. The symbolism of the bodies of murdered, tortured and sexually assaulted black children being buried amongst the roots of a weeping willow tree is inescapable. Titus struggles to juggle the demands of a murder inquiry whilst further gruesome murders take place, and the Fall Fest drawing closer as tensions rise between elements of the black and white communities.

The highlights of this stellar novel are Titus and the author nails the intricate ordinary details of everyday living in a small town community, particularly for black people. Front and back this is a forensic examination of the issue of race in the South and the US, in all of its hideous nightmare history and present, the spilling of blood, and secrets hidden under the cloak of darkness, within churches, religion and families, and the impact on mental health. Titus is a good man with his own secrets and traumas, a character fleshed out with his close and tender relationship with his father, with a former FBI mentor, with the likes of Scott Cunningham, and given aspects of his strait jacket of a role as a Sheriff, I applauded his final act on leaving Charon. After this profoundly moving storytelling, I cannot wait to see what Cosby writes next. Highly recommended. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

If you liked Cosby previous works. You would like this thriller. Interesting to me. Couldn’t put it down.

Wow, what a stonking book. It grabbed me from a few pages in, just could not put this book down.

New author for me but one I will be following with keen interest.

Racism, divided loyalties, small-town ideals, what could go wrong? Lovely parts in this book about father-son relationships, but also a very dark side to the beliefs that some people had/have in the South of America..

Grab this book without hesitation if you see it.

Every time I see Cosby's name on twitter, it's someone praising his writing, loving his book.
It sets high expectations, and this didn't disappoint.
The action starts a few pages in, and it doesn't ever really let up... its tense, with moments a little wince inducing, and always there's the small town racists. Always.
Also lovely moments, between Titus and his father.

As an introduction to this author, it's definitely hammers home I need to read more of his books.

S.A.Cosby strikes again with a powerful and wonderful novel of reckoning and showing us that all sins will be paid for one way or another. I can't say enough about this book, and just do yourself a favour and go grab a copy of this one! A true author on my must buy list!!