Razor Blade Tears by S.A. Cosby

337 pages

You can buy Razor Blade Tears...Here

• The Blurb...

Ike Randolph left jail fifteen years ago, with not so much as a speeding ticket since.
But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

Ike is devastated to learn his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah's white husband, Derek. Though he never fully accepted his son, Ike is broken by his death.

Derek's father Buddy Lee was as ashamed of Derek being gay as Derek was of his father's criminal past. But Buddy Lee - with seedy contacts deep in the underworld - needs to know who killed his only child.

Desperate to do better by them in death than they did in life, two hardened ex-cons must confront their own prejudices about their sons - and each other - as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

• Our Review...

Hell of a book. Violent and visceral, seething with raw emotion. It is a mirror to all that has gone wrong with race and gay rights issues in the U.S. and begs the question what is really important to you as an individual. It has a strong message that says It's vitally important to love a loved one despite their flaws (like being gay/wrong race) because at the end of the day, they are not flaws. The flaw is in your attitude, not in their skin colour/sexuality. After all love is love. I'm distilling and concentrating the message here, the book does it far more eloquently than me.

I am from the U.K. so this is not my culture and God knows we have enough issues of our own here but this is a real eye opener to attitudes in the USA.

The two main characters are well drawn. Both gnarly, ageing ex-cons well versed in the lower strata of American society. One is a black ex gang member, the other a redneck unaware of his "white privilege" The interplay between crackles with energy, intensity and some real bite. The Police show a lack of interest in solving the case of their murdered sons. In any case the trust between the Police  and the various communities (redneck, gay, black) is non existent. Therefore information is hard to come by. Ike and Buddy Lee decide that they may have more access so decide to find their sons killers and bestow their own justice. The plot however good is just a vehicle for the extreme emotions that the narrative brings to the reader.

The writing is focused and to the point. Nothing peripheral or hazy. So much so that It feels like the prose is in HD. However, it does have with some lovely similes. These similes do not add extra flounce, they actually add to the process of defining and claryfing the image in your mind.

This has quickly become one of my all time favourite crime fiction books. Read the book and feel the rage against society that underpins the words.  It is blistering. 

• Selected Quotes...

"Droplets of sweat ran down his face and dripped into his eyes. Tears ran from his eyes and stung his cheeks. Tears for his son. Tears for his wife. Tears for the little girl they had to raise. Tears for who they were and what they all had lost. Each drop felt like it was slicing his face open like a razorblade. "

"You just another white boy that don’t have to worry about people like me and the shit we go through,” Ike said. “Look man, the only color that really matters is green.

Green don’t matter if it’s in a Black hand,”

"The wound on his cheek was weeping like a broken- hearted bride."

"Ike knew what gave Buddy Lee’s eyes that murderous sheen. It was the rage coursing through his veins. A poison that killed off certain parts of yourself. The parts that made you weak. It was coursing through Ike’s veins, too. It was powerful but deadly. It made you determined but reckless. It gave you an edge that could turn against you and slit your own throat."

• If You Liked This Then You May Like...

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Punch Me Up To The Gods by Brian Broome

Monster by Walter Dean Myers

• About The Author...

S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from southeastern Virginia. He is the bestselling author of Blacktop Wasteland, a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and Goodreads Choice Awards semifinalist, as well as Brotherhood of the Blade and My Darkest Prayer. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.

(from bookbrowse.com)