Roman is a finance guy in Atlanta, coming home to see to his father who’s been out in a coma. He visits his sister Neveah, who is (as usual) bearing the classic eldest daughter burden of holding literally every thing in their lives together. He also sees his brother Dante, his youngest sibling who (to no one’s surprise) is mostly just a whiny, self pitying addict leeching off of their father and Neveah’s hard work. Roman is a classic oldest sibling- always thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room, always trying to fix everything, and holding a lot of guilt for things that are and are not his fault, alike. It’s a crazy ride through low income southern Virginia- gang rivalries, lots of guns, lots of bodies, and lots of intense, gritty moral dilemmas that had me STRESSED.

I said the whole way through, until the last 15%, that I truly didn’t understand Roman’s motivation as a character. Though the last 15% explains it to me somewhat, I think I’m surprised that one of SA Cosby’s characters didn’t immediately have me rooting for him? I’ll also say that this Cosby didn’t grab me as much as his others have- I felt a bit of a disconnect from the story, and didn’t feel too much loyalty to any of our MCs. Some of the details felt random, in a way that just isn’t his usual style. It almost felt like he was trying a slightly different story style than his other books, so maybe it’s just a lil bump in the road.

I liked the book, though. I did. Some crazy twists that were FUN to watch. As usual, Cosby lets me have my revenge, and I love him for it.

***** WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!! *****

The whole dominatrix thing was….interesting. I realize it was Roman’s guilt for what happened to his mom, I realize it was the basis for what made his relationship with Jealousy special, I realize it’s honestly probably just a kink of his. But…why? Why was it such a forefront character trait? I feel like I heard about that sexual preference more than I heard about his job, which was odd. It’s possible Cosby was just layering character depth, adding in more than just his usual (MASTERFUL) morally gray, does-what-needs-doing, not-gun-shy-guy, which I can respect. But it felt a little clunky to me, personally.

I’ll say this is my least favorite Cosby. I’ll still recommend it to anyone, and I’ll end up rereading this as soon as I can steal it from my fiancé’s stepdad (again). 3.75 stars.