Truth to Power by S. A. Cosby

 

It's probably not any kind of secret that I'm a big fan of Cosby, and while this book isn't anything as much to my taste as the novels set in his own Virginia (as opposed to Marvel's) it's a fine novel and a blast to read. I don't know Luke Cage as well as some other Marvel characters, I have no sense how far outside the lines Cosby is coloring, here. The dialogue manages a fine and fun admixture of comics-talk and something more ... earthy, but stays very much on the side of teen-friendly (and the idea of some teen somewhere being introduced to Cosby by this book--or to Segura by Enemy of My Enemy makes me smile). The story has some Very Marvel elements but isn't wildly inconsistent with Cosby's own take on industry and small towns, and there's a lot of grit in the prose. It's not quite like chewing on a live wire the way Razorblade Tears or King of Ashes is, but that's setting the bar really really high.