bingo row 5 – citizen
S.A. Cosby’s All the Sinners Bleed takes place in Flannery O’Connor’s south. The protagonist – even cites her because he is so very well read.
The book is set c. 2017 and was published in 2023. Normally several years doesn’t make a big difference, but considering that topics included confederate statues being taken down, Black lives mattering, and racist cops, I think setting it pre-2020 makes a big difference. But I’m not Black and I’ve never been to Virginia so my perspective doesn’t mean much on that.
Anyway, Sheriff Titus Crowne (the aforementioned hyperliterate protagonist) is a small town/county sheriff in Virginia who left the FBI to take care of his father instead of his own issues. He’s also Black – the first Black sheriff in the county and he has to handle the line of indeterminate thickness and color, between being a Black man and policing the Black and white of Charon County. He also has to handle a school shooting that unearths a serial killer. And the serial killer targeted Black and Brown kids because society cares less about them.
Also Titus is still mourning his long dead mother, handling his atheism against his beloved parents’ religion, having mediocre sex with his amazing girlfriend, still horny for the amazing sex with his mediocre ex, the local right and left watching everything he does as a Black cop, and the PTSD from most of the above. Also the PTSD from the deaths and murders that had him leave the FBI. How did he cope with all that? Poorly and with a few methods, but I think being pedantic helped him the most.
There’s a lot going on, but it all fits and I’m happy to add this little bit to the buzz I’ve noticed around Cosby.
(And for bingo, do I have to explain how the item fits the prompt? And can I use someone else’s media? Because I didn’t and did.)