Hitting The Books-June 2025

This Month’s Featured Book Pairings…

This month’s read-a-likes are curated for the release of King Of Ashes by S.A. Cosby, sure to be a contemporary masterpiece. It tells the gritty story of a prodigal son returning home to help run the family crematorium. Full of the complexities of the relationships that are foisted on us at birth and how far we might be willing to go to protect them.

Familial sagas, here we come!

CITY ON FIRE – DON WINSLOW

Danny Ryan yearns for a more “legit” life and a place in the sun. But as the bloody conflict stacks body on body and brother turns against brother, Danny must rise above himself. To save the friends he loves like family and the family he has sworn to protect, he becomes a leader, a ruthless strategist, and a master of a treacherous game in which the winners live, and the losers die. An epic tale that is The Godfather of this generation.

AGE OF VICE – DEEPTI KAPOOR

New Delhi, 3 a.m. A speeding Mercedes jumps the curb and in the blink of an eye, five people are dead. It’s a rich man’s car, but when the dust settles there is no rich man in sight, just a shell-shocked servant with no explanation of how he came to be there. This opening scene is the pivotal moment that changes everything for our characters; the servant at the wheel, the one who placed him there, the one with blood on their hands and the one who witnessed it all. This is a story steeped in the trappings of the rich, lavish homes, extravagant parties, esthetic props, predatory alliances, rampant corruption, and calculated relationships. Not to mention a level of violence that can only be described as bloodthirsty.

MYSTIC RIVER – DENNIS LEHANE

When they were children, Sean, Jimmy, and Dave were friends. But then a strange car pulled up to their street. One boy got into the car, two did not, and something terrible happened, something that ended their friendship and changed all three boys forever. Twenty-five years later, Sean is a homicide detective. Jimmy is an ex-con who owns a corner store. And Dave is trying to hold his demons at bay, demons that urge him to do terrible things. When Jimmy’s daughter is murdered, these three men find themselves on a collision course with no hope of changing direction. Haunting and masterful.

& So On…

The Godfather by Maria Puzo

A Time To Kill – John Grisham

Blacktop Wasteland – S.A. Cosby