All the Sinners Bleed is a crime-thriller novel that uses a police procedural point of view.     The setting is in small rural town in the Southern states.   The protagonist (Titus Crown)is a black sheriff in a community where the divide between whites and blacks has a long, troubled history.     The strongest part of the book is the depiction of the cross-culture integration of working people, right-wing religious followers, the antebellum white class, racist extremists, equality advocates, and average citizens terrorized by a psycho-killer.    Bad things happen in Charon (as the name might suggest) and it is up to the police to stop a series of killings.   Crown has an FBI background so he doggedly follows sparse clues, but the killer is elusive.    As a character, the killer is unknown and formidable, leaving few clues, except for religious extremist messages and threats.      This is the weakest part of the story – a faceless killer that is hard to understand and we are left to decide if he is a believable character or not.    There is an action-packed climax and most of our questions are answered.    The epilogue seems fitting.

Titus Crown is a strong character, but the supporting characters are less well-developed and some seem stereotypical.    The story is full of gruesome killings and dark elements that seem a bit arbitrary.    A master mystery writer develops all the key characters and provides insights into motivations, opportunities, and means, but there is little of those writing crime story fundamentals in this book.

It can be read as a crime thriller with an interesting setting, but it can only be recommended with reservations.    4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0