Truth to Power: A Luke Cage Marvel Crime Novel : Book Review

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We’ve finally reached the final book in the Marvel Crime Novel trilogy. The first book in the series, Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewell, hit shelves in 2024, with the second book in the series, Enemy of My Enemy by Alex Segura, coming earlier this year in March. Now S.A. Crosby brings his Southern Gothic background to Truth to Power. The first book in the series covered Jessica Jones, with Segura’s book taking on Daredevil, before this book picks up where Enemy of My Enemy ends and follows Luke Cage.

Catch up with my review of Breaking the Dark and watch our Nerd Initiative Book Club Roundtable discussion of Enemy of My Enemy.

Author Meets Setting

S.A. Crosby was the perfect choice to write this story. The Virginia setting of this novel along with Crosby’s southern gothic style experience makes Truth to Power a perfect marriage of style and form. Crosby writes Luke Cage in a way that the world doesn’t feel “super” but lived in. You really feel like you get to see the world through the eyes of Luke Cage. This means you see and feel the good, bad, and the ugly.

Family and Connection

Crosby tells a superhero story while perfectly capturing two of the most important aspects of Southern culture: family and connection. Without spoiling anything, I can definitively say that family is at the heart of this story and everything that Luke wants to accomplish in this story. It’s the relationships to people that are at times even strained relative relationships that makes you see the humanity behind the hero.

In framing that connection, Crosby also explores the notorious tension in the relationship between Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. We already saw part of this dynamic play out on the pages of Breaking The Dark but Crosby brilliantly gives us the same relationship from the other side of the coin. We see the sheer love for Jessica that Luke has but also how complicated their relationship can be. It’s the dichotomy that plays out on the page of Luke’s concern for his family in Virginia contrasted against the “what are we” relationship of Luke and Jessica that Crosby captures so well. Those relationships truly form the heart and soul of this book.

Unapologetic

S.A. Crosby is unapologetic in this book. He doesn’t hide the nefarious history of the relationship between law enforcement and minorities that has played out, and sometimes continues to play out, in small towns all across the country like the one featured in this story. In capturing the raw emotion and feeling of Luke Cage, his life, his love, and his experiences, there are going to be parts of this story that make people uncomfortable in the best ways possible. There are people from certain walks of life that are going to DNF this book simply because of how authentically and unapologetically Crosby plays out some of the relationships, interactions, and conflicts within this story.

Final Thoughts

Truth to Power with all due respect to Alex Segura and Lisa Jewell is my favorite story of this trilogy. That is saying a lot because I loved both other novels in this series. The reason this book resonates so well with me, is multifaceted. First, Crosby so perfectly captures life in a southern small town. Secondly, this feels like more than a superhero novel. While Breaking the Dark and Enemy of My Enemy are outstanding books in their own right, you always remember that you are reading a superhero book. That’s not the case with Truth to Power. Sometimes, Crosby legitimately makes you forget you’re reading a superhero book with the way he draws you into the narrative. If this is the final story in this Marvel Crime Novel series what a heck of a way to finish.

Don’t miss out on your copies of the Marvel Crime Novel Series.

Buy Breaking the Dark by Lisa Jewell

Buy Enemy of My Enemy by Alex Segura

Buy Truth to Power by S.A. Crosby

Overall Grade: 5/5

Have you finished the Marvel Crime Novel Series? What book is your favorite? Tell me in the comments below.