©2023 All Rights Reserved Lynne Perednia
My Darkest Prayer
By S.A. Cosby
Thriller
Flatiron Books
While most readers became aware of S.A. Cosby with the publication of the great novel Blacktop Wasteland, and even more with the publication of the remarkable Razorblade Tears, they were preceded by another very good thriller. My Darkest Prayer, first published in 2018, has been reissued so a greater audience can discover it.
Nathan is a former Marine who now works for his cousin, a mortician, for the Black community in a small Southern town. He's also a former deputy who quit after the investigation into his parents' death was botched -- botched because they were run over by the drunk son of a local rich white man.
When the minister of a superchurch is found dead in his home, some church ladies are not convinced this death of a prominent Black man will be treated with care. So they ask Nathan to look into things.
As any reader of thrillers knows, Nathan is soon up to his eyebrows in trouble. And it's not just being threatened by law enforcement and criminals. The Rev. Watkins's daughter returns from her adult film job in California to do her reluctant part in laying her despised father to rest. She is soon sharing more than secrets with Nathan.
My Darkest Prayer does not read like a debut novel. It is fast-paced, all the pieces fit together, and the resolution of the main investigation makes sense. In addition, Cosby weaves in pertinent commentary on the culture in a racially divided small Southern town, the importance of church ladies, and longstanding friendships. Nathan may know too many women in the area too well, but he does have one thing a noir protagonist in a violent story cannot do without -- first-rate banter.
Cosby's debut is definitely a novel for noir fans to savor.
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