My First Thriller: S.A. Cosby ‹ CrimeReads

Cosby, as every fan of crime fiction now knows, then went on to blow up the genre. His next two books, Blacktop Wasteland, and especially Razorblade Tears, rocketed up the best seller lists with movie rights in the wings, changing forever Cosby's relatively quiet life in rural Gloucester, Virginia along the Chesapeake Bay.

His parents separated when he was a kid, and he grew up with his uncles-his mother's brothers-as father figures. He was seventeen before he bought his first pair of name-brand shoes. He was poor and wanted to tell stories about Black life in rural Virginia-from love to anguish, the good and the bad, and every inelegant topic in between.