Razorblade Tears
Ratings106
Average rating4.2
WOW. I mean literally, WOW. I know I say that about a lot of books, but this one I'd give 6 stars if I could. this isn't a comfort book or a light-hearted read, but if you find you're in the headspace for a deeply written story with so much to offer, Cosby's book should be at the top of your list.
“Folks like to talk about revenge like it's a righteous thing but it's just hate in a nicer suit”
WOW!! Just incredible. Whatever I try and say won't do this book justice so I won't even try. Blacktop Wasteland was amazing but this blows it out of the water.
I kept hearing about this book so I decided to pick it up. It did not disappoint. It felt like I was watching a movie. Road house type of fight scenes. I loved it. I laughed, gasped, felt sad at times, and was upset with both the protagonist and the antagonist. It had a very satisfying ending. I don’t know which was my favorite character Ike or Buddy Lee. In my opinion, all of this automatically equals ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
I love that this is a ‘men's thriller' type book with much deeper themes of racism, homophobia, and more. We get gun battles, explosions, truly evil bad guys, and righteous causes to fight for like I have come to expect in these types of books. I was unprepared for the amount of things that Ike and Buddy Lee learn throughout the book. I will be thinking about these characters often.
Wow...I was expecting vigilantism and revenge but not this level of violent grittiness reminiscent of noir thrillers. Admittedly too on the nose at times with its preaching, but I'd rather that than a complete dismissal of reality, even if magnified, in rural parts of America.
I don't recommend picking this up if the premise is enough to get a rise out of you, but I do like to think culpable (yet receptive) humans deserve a chance to learn from their mistakes, no matter how late. That being said, I wouldn't necessarily say the fathers are redeemed by their actions or by the narrative itself - revenge is simply the only way they can channel their regret in the physical plane.
Thanks to Marie for the push to finally listen to this!
3.5 stars
This definitely wasn't an enjoyable read in the normal sense, I didn't feel any joy reading it and it was a heavy read in parts, but it was compelling and very readable.
Obviously the themes of racism and homophobia are a huge part in this story, but its so heavy handed that it became a bit repetitive in the middle and second half.
I did like the action and the conclusion, it was very hard to put down once everything started ramping up.
4.3 razorblades/5
Forget cozy mysteries. This is a crime novel that hits you like a rogue vehicle speeding down a highway. It's fast, it's brutal, and it'll leave you breathless.
It's not your typical revenge story. Ike and Buddy Lee, two fathers hardened by life, are united by a gut-wrenching loss: their sons, who were also a couple, were brutally murdered. Screw the tears and therapy; these guys are all about fists and fury. You can't help but root for them, despite their bloody knuckles and questionable methods.
It's also not afraid to get uncomfortable. Cosby pulls no punches - tackling issues like homophobia, racism, misogyny.. you name it. It's a wake-up call, reminding us that the fight for justice is messy, brutal, and never sugar-coated. Be prepared as well as this one isn't for the squeamish. It's a dark and gritty with lines and dialogue that linger like razorblade cuts. I found myself highlighting a lot of passages while reading.
No book is perfect, but Razorblade Tears is the kind of story that stays with you long after the final page. After all, sometimes justice isn't always pretty, but damn, is it ever compelling.
Every year there's a novel that's just everywhere in the bookish water you're currently swimming in. For me last year it was S.A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears which felt ubiquitous, as if it were algorithmically targeting me. It kept creeping in my feeds, insisting on being read but never quite making it into the cart. I'm glad I finally succumbed.
This is the perfectly violent, odd couple, revenge thriller. Ike “Riot” Randolph and Buddy Lee Jenkins are the most unlikely of companions. Sure they're both middle-aged men that have served hard time, but Buddy is an alcoholic, trailer park living redneck while Ike is trying to fly straight and narrow as an entrepreneurial Black man running a successful property maintenance business. It is only when their respective gay sons are brutally executed do they find common ground. The police investigation has gone cold and they're not content to let this heinous crime go unpunished.
It's a great premise that's easy to get wrong. Cosby shows great restraint portraying the oil and water buddy dynamic. We've seen countless iterations on screen and this could have been a cliched mess but every beat feels earned. Meanwhile the stakes keep getting ramped up. This is Elmore Leonard, meets Walter Mosley thrown in a blender with Quentin Tarrantino. While Ike and Buddy learn a little acceptance about their sons' lives it hasn't tempered their rage in any way and it makes for a satisfying ride the whole bloody way.
9/10
This is a very good crime thriller centering on two men who are quite different who have to come together and learn how to be better people while having to solve a problem . Its been done before, but it's done pretty well here. My only real criticism of this book is that sometimes the dialogue was corny or just straight up ham fisted, like Cosby had a point to make and needed you to know it. There were also a couple times where the language the character would use would be out of character in a way that brought me out of it - an example is a middle aged southern white man (whose whole “thing” in the book is that he is somewhat unintentionally racist, and bigoted to boot) refers to someone in his head as “Latinx”, which is just unlikely.
However, the core of the book is very good. The mystery portion of it wasn't revolutionary, but I didn't see it coming, and I do like how both lead characters, Ike and Bobby Lee, grew and challenged each other throughout the book. The ending was really dang good. I'll definitely read more from S.A. Cosby.
I listened to this, and found it compelling, beautiful, haunting, tragic, and a bit too violent for me. If I were reading (which I did to with a library copy for the last 1/3), I could skip over the difficult parts. I agree with other reviewers that it didn't make sense that the murdered sons would be outing someone from their community, but overall – a great story that was well constructed.
This is an easy contender for “Best Book I'm Going to Read This Year.” I was glad to know that Jerry Bruckheimer has already optioned this book for Paramount, because it is instantly cinematic, and it's going to make a great film.
SA Cosby takes two bottom-of-the-social-ladder everyman types, puts them together in a dark buddy action/revenge plot, but manages to make it about so much more than just two guys from opposite sides of the tracks in a small, poor town getting revenge on the men who killed their sons.
Ike Randolph, who is Black, and Buddy Lee, who is white, are not great people, and they know it. Ike is a former gang member who did some time. Buddy Lee is a white trash hick who also spent some time in the Graybar Hotel. They're older. They're set in their ways. They're coarse. They're unrefined.
And they each have a gay son. And those sons are married to each other.
Much to Ike and Buddy Lee's disappointment.
However, when those boys are murdered, Ike and Buddy Lee make an unusual partnership to set about finding out who murdered their boys, and to vow revenge on those that did it.
Along the way, Ike and Buddy Lee learn about themselves, and why their relationships with their sons went so wrong.
Expertly paced with excellent dialogue, this book was riveting. It unfurls in your mind in full 70mm Surround-Sound, just waiting patiently for its big screen debut.
While this is far and away a five-star book, I still had some knocks with Cosby's prose. For instance, the phrase, “Ike sucked his teeth” feels like it appears about 40 times in the book, to the point where it gets comical. Also, Cosby likes to shoehorn big similes into his work. As a writer and editor myself, I would have hacked out about half of them because he does it to reckless abandon.
However, the dialogue is where this book shines. Cosby has a finely tuned ear for the cadence of rural Virginia and Ike and Buddy Lee come alive in their exchanges with other characters, particularly in their quieter moments with each other when they discuss their sons.
This is a book about revenge. And there's a mystery element to it. But the themes of repression and redemption, and the overarching theme of acceptance will hit home. The finale is big and painful, and the denouement is sweet and closes the story perfectly.
This is one you won't want to miss.
Another uncomfortable wonderful plot driven tale full of regrets, grime, wonderful analogies, and missed opportunities. Cosby is really a great author.
Actual rating: 5/5 stars
Read for the Literally Dead Book Club: February
literally black commentary, lgbtq+ commentary, revenge, and graphic murder? what else could you want
It was well written but a bit predictable. I guessed the twist and that made me sad.
A slow burn thriller with diverse characters about a black father and a white father whose sons where married and murdered in cold blood. When the case goes cold the fathers take it upon their hands to find out who the killer is.
“Folks like to talk about revenge like it's a righteous thing but it's just hate in a nicer suit.”