King of Ashes

As a noir thriller, King of Ashes explores the moral degradation of society through the decline and corruption of the city of Jefferson’s Run and those who run it, both legally and illicitly. Cosby also explores the connection between money and moral decay through the transformation of his protagonist, Roman Carruthers, laying bare the moral decay that stems from corruption and greed by illustrating it on both personal and community levels.

The socioeconomics of moral decay shape Jefferson Run’s decline into violence and corruption. Once a thriving manufacturing hub, the small city is compared to “a patient on life support who was too stubborn to realize they were dead” (11). Residents’ opportunities to make an honest living dwindle as major corporations pull out of Jefferson Run and local businesses shutter, a situation that resembles the grim realities facing many rural and semi-rural communities in the United States today. As the city’s economy declines, organized crime proliferates. Greed is a driving motivation behind Torrent and Tranquil’s reign of terror, as evidenced by the fact that the two men claim over 50% of the Black Baron Boys’ earnings.