Reviews with content warning for Animal death - All The Sinners Bleed

This was so dark and twisted but so layered. Definitely not for the faint of heart. I loved it and was genuinely creeped out. I would love to see this turned into a movie.

Content Warnings

afriduss's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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shannahtan's review against another edition

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dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I did a tandem read with the audiobook and the kindle version. I thought Adam Lazarre-White was a wonderful narrator for this one. It’s definitely not a book for the faint of heart because it does get quite gruesome. I think this book does a great job depicting racism as well as exploring morality and religion. I wish there had been more about Latrell. Titus does a a tiny monologue to Darlene about how he loves Charon, and that’s why he’s hard on it. This reminded me of James Baldwin’s quote about America.

The fall festival scene was reminiscent of Charlottesville white supremacist attack in 2027, especially because the book is set in Virginia.

I don’t think the book had any major plot twists, and I also wouldn’t say it was predictable.

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bellasandrarose's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I would like to read another one of S.A Cosby’s books that has a less horrific crime plot. I think my level of enjoyment can only reach a certain capacity given the subject matter. I loved the final scene and I think that was the perfect way to finish the book. Really enjoyed reading a crime/thriller that didn’t centre a small town/suburban white woman, I don’t think there’s enough represensation in the genre. I really liked how race and religion were central, integral elements, because IRL they are and in my experience it’s not taken into account enough in the genre (esp. race!).

I’m in two minds about the number of characters and

the reveal of the killer

. I definitely got confused at times but it was nice to have a bigger pool of “ooooo it could be anyone”. I think it also made Charon more vivid, characters weren’t just their occupation, they each got a little backstory

which is why I struggled with the reveal, I’m not sure that character was ever introduced? if he was I don’t remember him

. It made me feel like everyone knows everyone and because I’m not a part of the town of course I’m going to be a little lost.

Writing-wise there were times where words were repeated that I think could have been crafted a bit and I think the characters did maybe need something a little deeper each to make them stick (like Pip was great cause he was the old one but Davy and Steve and I swear there’s another one were the same person in my head). Also one time they said

6 dead kids and I got confused, did they not find the 7th body? can’t remember

Overall, I enjoyed and I will check out some more from this author

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katiearcher's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book hits the ground running and never stops! If you want a fast paced book this is it! I love Cosby’a writing style; I will definitely be reading more of his books!

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szyca's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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kenlaan's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Gripping, timely, and grim as hell. Reads a bit like what Se7en might've been like if it came out today and was influenced by the many flashpoints of the last 10 (not to mention the last 250) years of American culture and politics, and set in rural Virginia.

The first Black sheriff - Titus Crown - elected in the fictional county of Charon in rural Virginia must stop a serial killer before the county erupts from the tensions of fear and the foundational racism that's a facet of its people's daily lives.

In spite of my five-star rating, this is a book that I would hesitate to recommend to pretty much anyone I know, in contrast to Cosby's previous novel, Razorblade Tears, which isn't a light novel but not nearly as dark as this. It's undoubtedly one of the darkest books I've ever read: there is a school shooting in the second chapter (no children are harmed, but...) and it just gets worse from there. This is not something I would've ever been drawn to if I hadn't read his previous stuff.

Cosby can <i>write</i>. With most authors I can point to their particular strengths: he's good at characterization, her prose is really evocative, etc. I'd struggle to mention something that Cosby doesn't excel at. The characters are nuanced, multidimensional people, the plot is tightly-wound and intricately charted, and I hear, smell, and feel the environs of Charon County.

And the insight with which Cosby writes the experiences of a Black man living amongst the prejudices and racism of ~~rural~~ America is what takes this novel beyond a genre thriller and into a must-read commentary of the world we live in.

If you know what you're getting into and aren't troubled by darker crime fiction, definitely read this, though I'd probably recommend Razorblade Tears as an intro to S.A. Cosby. And if you aren't sure, maybe stay away - I'm not someone that includes content warnings in reviews but I will be listing them as spoilers at the bottom.

I will read anything that Cosby writes and hope his next novel comes soon.

Opening:

Charon County was founded in bloodshed and darkness.
Literally and figuratively.
Even the name is enveloped in shadows and morbidity. Legend has it the name of the county was supposed to be Charlotte or Charles County, but the town elders waited to late and those names were already taken by the time they decided to incorporate their fledgling encampment. As the story goes, they just moved their finger down the list of names until they settled on Charon. Those men, weathered as whitleather with hands like splitting mauls, bestowed the name on their new town with no regard to its macabre nature. Or perhaps they just liked the name because a river flowed through the county and emptied into the Chesapeake like the River Styx.
Who knows? Who could know the thoughts of those long-dead men?
What is known is that in 1805 in the dead of night a group of white land-owners, chafing at the limits of their own manifest destiny, set fire to the last remaining indigenous village on the tear-drop shaped peninsula that would become Charon County.
Those who escaped the flames were brought down by muskets with no regard to age, gender, or infirmity. That was the first of many tragedies in the history of Charon. The cannibalism of the winter of 1853. The malaria outbreak of 1901. The United Daughters of the Confederacy picnic poisoning of 1935. The Danforth family murder-suicide of 1957. The tent revival baptismal drownings of 1968, and on and on. The soil of Charon County, like most towns and counties in the South, was sown with generations of tears. They were places where violence and mayhem was celebrated as the pillars of a pioneering spirit every Founders' Day in the county square.

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