A gripping family story packed with tension, violence, and secrets that’s sure to enthrall Cosby’s legions of fans. It introduces the Carruthers clan of Jefferson Run, GA. The town, known to local kids and jaded adults as Jefferson Got the Runs, used to be prosperous, but “now all we make are orphans and widows.” In a gray area in that regard is Keith Carruthers, who might or might not be widowed. His wife hasn’t been seen for years; he’s the owner of a crematory; and locals think he killed and disposed of her himself. Now that he’s been the victim of a hit-and-run and is comatose, his grown children, Roman, Dante, and Neveah, may never know what happened to their mother. But that’s the least of their worries after rich, successful Roman returns from Atlanta to see his father and tries to help Dante, who’s in trouble with ruthless local gangsters. Roman is used to more than a little white-collar sleight of hand in his financial advising business, but is quickly far out of his depth in the evil underbelly of his hometown. “We all fall short of grace, but the beauty lives in the attempt,” says Cosby (All the Sinners Bleed, The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024), neatly summing up Dante’s increasingly bloody helping hand and the family’s striving to love one another even when the world gives them every reason to give up.
