Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

94 reviews

stephhamp's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny informative tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This was a great introduction to SA Crosby. I will be reading more of his books. This book has an addictive quality in all great mystery/thriller books. I flew through this in about 3 days which is quick for me while working. The story of revenge, and character development was realistic and very human. These two characters are admittedly bigots, and in a lot of ways are still bigots and homophobic at the end of the book. they still don't fully understand or accept the LGBTQ community, but they miss their sons, and wish they could have changed, or just learned to not care before their deaths. 
My grievance with the book was the (my grievance only) this need for Ike to have to explain to Buddy, why being black in America is difficult. It's hard to read this tired trope of bigoted or racist white people, having to meet a "good" black person to begin to break down their racism. They have to have a common enemy with black people to even begin and explore the idea of working together or reaching out. Buddy needed a person to help him solve this mystery. If he didn't need Ike he wouldn't in a million years be in this partnership with a black man. But this is a reality for so many people, relationships, families, and circumstances. And Ike is not by any means perfect. They're both men who did horrible things and made horrible choices in life and parenting. They've both killed people

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Torture, Gore, Racial slurs, Alcoholism, Racism, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death of parent, Stalking, and Vomit

batforanna's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Wow! What a story! S.A Cosby is at the top of his game! Absolute class act! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Car accident, Cultural appropriation, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Violence, Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Physical abuse, and Hate crime

killmoore_'s review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Razorblade Tears was perfect in every way. Tons of very heavy content and gore, but so beautifully written it was like watching a movie. I'll be thinking of this story for years to come. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Medical trauma, Vomit, Deadnaming, Addiction, Outing, Sexism, Cancer, Car accident, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Classism, Terminal illness, Blood, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Hate crime, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Death, Kidnapping, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Gun violence, Grief, Homophobia, Murder, Racism, Transphobia, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

sdowling's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Racism, Racial slurs, Blood, Cursing, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Gun violence, Gore, Murder, and Violence

Moderate: Alcohol and Alcoholism

keats1787's review against another edition

challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Mass/school shootings, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Violence, Blood, Child death, Hate crime, Torture, Racism, Gore, and Alcohol

Moderate: Police brutality, Sexism, Sexual content, Stalking, Medical content, Rape, Misogyny, Transphobia, and Outing

searobin's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Listening to this book felt like watching one of those ridiculous movies where it seems like the people who created it just want to be able to shoot everything, and are imagining themselves as the vigilante/heroes bringing down the bad guys, eighty bullets at a time, violence porn, if you will.
On one hand, I loved it in a guilty-pleasure kinda way and couldn't put it down. On the other hand, a lot of the actual plot was rather weak, the twists were obvious a mile out, the similes were excessive, gross, and/or weird (e.g., "his chest was as tight as virgin pussy"), and the characters were two-dimensional at best. It was just really, really, really violent. I have aphantasia, so gore in books doesn't bother me in the same way as in movies/tv shows, but some of the descriptions were just unnecessary - like, way too much detail about someone's guts spilling out like taffy that had had merlot spilled on it or something, for example.

Also, it was not at all a surprise that Tangerine was trans, so that "twist" was especially weird. I also don't understand at all what the article on her ex would have been about - was it going to be some sort of queer-shaming the conservative politician kinda thing?  If so, gross. It wasn't really clear, largely because we didn't learn much at all about what either of the two did or their lives before being murdered.

I am queer, but don't have a lot of queerphobic trauma, so that aspect of things wasn't triggering for me, just terribly sad and hard to read, but I can see how it would be really terrible for some. 
Idk, it was a weird read. I was so hyped when I finished it; it felt like I had whiplash from the whole thing. However, the more it settles and the more time I have to process it, the more I realise that I think it was more an adrenaline high than a good book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Sexism, Body horror, Deadnaming, Gun violence, Racism, Car accident, Abandonment, Hate crime, Kidnapping, Alcohol, Blood, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Outing, Torture, Homophobia, Murder, Racial slurs, Stalking, Violence, Transphobia, and Vomit

Minor: Excrement, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Cancer

cadence99's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.5

I really wanted to like this more than I did as it came highly recommended, but unfortunately it wasn’t a runaway hit for me. A story of two fathers, brought together in their quest for vegance after the murder of their sons. Throughout, both grapple with how their homophobia towards their sons destroyed their relationship. I liked the fast paced, whodunnit aspects of this novel but did struggle a bit with the intense graphic nature of it. If you have a weak stomach, this book likely won’t go over super well. Our characters are as morally grey as you can get, stopping at nothing to attain their own version of justice. I think there is a conversation to be had here about how the only way these characters were able to accept their sons was at the cost of their lives. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Hate crime, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Alcoholism, Chronic illness, Racism, Murder, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Homophobia, Alcohol, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Deadnaming, Death, Medical content, Blood, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Vomit, Addiction, Body horror, Grief, and Kidnapping

rei_reads's review against another edition

dark emotional tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Gore, Car accident, Alcohol, Gun violence, Violence, Homophobia, Blood, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Cancer, and Transphobia

Minor: Deadnaming, Confinement, and Vomit

jkar7's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved this book. It felt like a movie. The audiobook was decent as well. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child death, Death of parent, Hate crime, and Violence

Moderate: War, Car accident, and Cancer

Minor: Animal cruelty

takeaim's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Raw.

That's "Razorblade Tears." This thriller mystery easily could be written off as a violent revenge story, but do not underestimate S.A. Cosby. 

The premise is compelling: A married couple are murdered, and the men's fathers want to find the killers. But that's not the only thing Ike Randolph, who is Black, and Buddy Lee, who is white, have in common. Both have criminal pasts. Neither would have won the Best Dad award. Both refused to accept that their sons were gay. And both are drowning in grief and regret.

The two also combat racism, classism, and homophobia, within themselves and the outer world of rural Virginia. They clash and butt heads, but perhaps there's nothing like getting to know one another by getting into fights and exchanging gunfire with the bad guys.

Yes, this novel is action-packed and violent. But Ike and Buddy Lee's emotional self-torture is an all-too familiar mantra to anyone who has ever lost a loved one. Should've. Could've. Would've. And this is the strength of Cosby's writing. He exposes the gentleness of two troubled men who loved their only sons, but did not know how to love them.

According to Wikipedia, the novel has been optioned for a possible film. Fingers crossed that Hollywood does this novel justice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Kidnapping, Grief, Racism, Homophobia, Classism, Alcohol, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, and Death