My Darkest Prayer was first published as a paperback original by Intrigue Publishing in 2019, and from what I gather, it didn't make much of a splash with either readers or with critics at that time. Consequently, most readers probably still feel that S.A. Cosby's debut novel was the highly praised and successful Blacktop Wasteland that Flatiron Books published in 2020. That one was followed by the equally successful Razorblade Tears (also published by Flatiron) and Flatiron's republication of My Darkest Prayer in 2022. This time around, My Darkest Prayer is getting the attention and appreciation it deserves.
"The truth is no one can be fully protected. Safety is an illusion. There is no safety. Just downtime between tragedies." (Chapter six, page 32)
Nathan Waymaker is a former Marine whose very soul has been forever marked by the Corps and what he learned about himself during his active service years. The man, who struggles sometimes to justify his personal moral code to himself, will forever be a defender of those weaker than himself - even if that might eventually mean that some very evil people have to die at his hand.
But in the meantime, Nathan has a day job at his cousin's Virginia funeral home where, as Nate himself puts it, he "handles the bodies." Nate has already put in a few years as a local sheriff's deputy, but after having tossed a fellow deputy (for very good reasons) through one of the department's plate glass windows, he is not very popular with that bunch anymore. Despite all of that, Nate still carries the reputation around town that he earned as a deputy sheriff - that he is a man willing to help "off the books" when it seems that no one else can, or will, help.
This time, though, after two nice ladies ask him to investigate the death of their much loved minister, Nate may have bitten off more than even a guy with his size and formidable skills can handle. Almost before he even remotely realizes what he's gotten himself into, Nate is having to deal with the minister's very successful porn star daughter, what seems like half the cops in two different small Virginia towns, and a powerful crime boss who has his own questions about the minister.
Nate does have one hidden ace in his deck of cards, however, a wonderful character known only as "Skunk" whose dark skills put even those of Nate's to shame. After Skunk teams up with Nate to get to the bottom of things, it's the bad guys who had better start worrying about their own safety.
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| Author S.A. Cosby |
My Darkest Prayer may be Cosby's first attempt at writing long-form crime fiction, but it puts on full display the limitless potential this writer has in the crime fiction genre. I found myself totally caught up in Nate's world for three or four reading days, and exactly as happened with the other two Cosby books I've read, I came away from My Darkest Prayer wanting more from the central characters (in this case, Nathan Waymaker and Skunk). I wasn't ready for this one to end after only 267 pages. I rate it at four stars instead of five only because of the few instances I began to feel that Cosby was trying just a little too hard to use language and descriptions obviously akin to the language used in those noir classics of the forties and fifties. That's a very small quibble: Highly Recommended Book
Months ago I put Razorblade Tears into my notebook listing books to keep an eye out for or actually get. I saw it reviewed in several Youtube vids and thought it sounded interesting. Have you read that one? And now here you are with another of his books and that too sounds very good. Time I read something by S.A. Cosby I think.
ReplyDeleteCosby just had his fourth novel published, Cath, and I have now read the first three - and have the new one on hold at my library (but I'm still something like number 45 on that list). They are all standalones, and all very different. He is the master of flawed heroes who just as often stray over the line making them criminals as they manage to stay legal. But they all have their own moral codes by which they try to do more good in the world than harm.
DeleteCosby's language can be kind of rough, I'll warn you, and his descriptions of what people can do to each other the same. But what a sense of grit that gives his writing! And even though they are over the top sometimes (at least I hope they are), they are always entertaining. You can tell that he learned from the masters of American noir, the guys who were writing in the forties and fifties.
You should try one to see if you can stomach his style. But I won't be surprised that he's not for you, because he's definitely not for everyone.
I did like Razorblade Tears which you reviewed and recommended two years ago? Cosby's writing is pretty gritty and intense and sometimes a bit dark, but I like the way he crafts his characters. His newest one is already on my TBR list, and I think I'll be adding this one to it now, too.
ReplyDeleteHis characters are most definitely unforgettable and one of the best things about his writing. I guess that's why I wonder why he hasn't started a series by now...so much to work with in some of them that he could go on with them for a long time. But nothing but four standalones so far.
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