All the Sinners Bleed

• Author: S.A. Cosby
• Genre: Mystery
• Publication Date: June 6, 2023
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio

A Black sheriff. A serial killer. A small town ready to combust.

Titus Crown is the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County, Virginia. In recent decades, Charon has had only two murders. After years of working as an FBI agent, Titus knows better than anyone that while his hometown might seem like a land of moonshine, cornbread, and honeysuckle, secrets always fester under the surface.

Then a year to the day after Titus’s election, a school teacher is killed by a former student and the student is fatally shot by Titus’s deputies. Those festering secrets are now out in the open and ready to tear the town apart.

As Titus investigates the shootings, he unearths terrible crimes and a serial killer who has been hiding in plain sight, haunting the dirt lanes and woodland clearings of Charon. With the killer’s possible connections to a local church and the town’s harrowing history weighing on him, Titus projects confidence about closing the case while concealing a painful secret from his own past. At the same time, he also has to contend with a far-right group that wants to hold a parade in celebration of the town’s Confederate history.

Powerful and unforgettable, All the Sinners Bleed confirms S. A. Cosby as “one of the most muscular, distinctive, grab-you-by-both-ears voices in American crime fiction” (The Washington Post).

This is one of those books that I came across during a TTT blog hop, and it went right on my TBR list. Where it remained for so long that I no longer have any idea who it was that introduced me to it. I was in the middle of reading a nonfiction book that was a tough read for me, and I started this audiobook to divert my attention. I had no idea how dark this story was going to get. There are so many triggers in this book, so if you’re sensitive to any type of content, it would be a pretty safe bet that it’s in this book. 

CONTENT WARNING: graphic violence, gore, physical/emotional/sexual assault of minors, murder, racism, white supremacy, school shooting, religious bigotry and trauma, animal cruelty, death of an animal, death of a parent, police brutality, kidnapping, mental illness, and substance misuse

I listened to the audiobook, and whoo boy, was the narrator perfectly suited to this story. Adam Lazarre-White has a deep, resonant, and commanding voice, making Titus sound exactly as I would have envisioned him. Additionally, he was able to convincingly narrate male and female characters, people of all ages, and he even nailed the subtle differences in accent between Black and white characters.  

Charon is the kind of place where the Ku Klux Klan still holds sway, while there is a thriving Black community as well. Not quite segregated, the different groups keep a wary distance in this town that is a powder keg just waiting to explode. Despite the far-right love of the Confederate flag and the belief that the South will rise again, Titus was elected as the first Black sheriff of Charon County, Virginia.

Titus is a complex character, but I really found him easy to empathize with. He’s a beautifully rendered character, with his flaws easy to see and his virtues rock-solid. If that wasn’t enough, his desire to apply the law equally to all residents of his county, whether they are Black, white, civilian, law enforcement, and even family. He wasn’t just a likable character, he was also one that was easy to respect, and that’s evident with how his deputies treat him.

Their town is rocked by a teacher being murdered by a former student at school exactly one year after Titus was elected. In a town as small as Charon, everyone knows the people involved—the teacher, who seemed to be well-loved and respected, and the former student who was known to be ‘a little off’ by others in the town is killed by Titus’s deputies. Titus picked up on a clue that was dropped just before the former student was shot, and doggedly follows up on any and every aspect of the case in pursuit of justice. But what he discovers peels back the layers of rot beneath Charon.

Small towns always have their secrets, but this small town in particular has more than most. Primarily a serial killer hiding in their midst, which Titus is the one to discover. And along with that comes a new motive for the two murders that shook the quiet town. The story is a tense, gripping thriller that had me on the edge of my seat, with pacing that steadily ratcheted up the already tense situation in the town. And as if that isn’t enough, the far-right members of the town’s white population is planning a white supremacy march through the town. 

The characters were fantastically created, and each one felt vital to the story and had a fully developed persona. I was shocked at how dark and gritty the story got, starting early on and only getting darker. Some of the material was especially difficult to stomach, although it felt as though all of it did further the story rather than simply being in there gratuitously. I also found myself flinching at the sporadic use of racial slurs, mainly because they’re hateful and harsh, regardless of who they are directed towards. 

Overall, I really got caught up in this gritty, dark mystery. The suspense was steady and made this book practically impossible to stop reading. While I don’t typically enjoy being scared while reading, I often find that what lurks under the surface of polite society is scarier than anything my imagination can come up with, which makes for a thrilling read like this one. As long as you can handle the trigger warnings, I highly recommend this brilliant look at crime, race, secrets, and justice. Unfortunately, this isn’t the start of a series, because I’d love to read more about Sheriff Titus and the crimes to be found in the more rural parts of Virginia.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, and I may earn a small commission at no cost to you if you purchase through my links.