Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

74 reviews

greatestheights's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Kidnapping, Murder, Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Alcoholism, Racism, Sexism, Homophobia, Transphobia, Gore, Grief, Hate crime, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death, Gun violence, Torture, and Violence

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

sarafinley's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Child death, Death, Gun violence, and Torture

killmoore_'s review

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

jeshleman's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? It's complicated

5.0

I really liked this book - it was a huge change from what I normally read. I kept feeling like I would love the movie version! It reminds me of The Equalizer, but with more than one character being developed as the story progresses. Really enjoyed it, but I am not sure who I’d recommend it to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Torture, Murder, Hate crime, Racial slurs, Grief, Violence, Transphobia, Racism, and Gore

keats1787's review

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

laurenexploresbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional relaxing 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

4.5

This work was such a powerful and visceral experience. So much truama, grief, violence and vengeance. This book highlighted injustice and racism and homophobia. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Blood, Violence, Torture, Gore, Murder, Xenophobia, and Homophobia

brandilovesbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Razorblade Tears is the story of two polar opposites with two things in common- they are both ex-cons and they both lost their sons to a hate crime.  The men set out to discover who killed their sons.  

I almost quit about a third of the way into the book.  I found the book to be very violent.  I am not the targeted audience.  I continued reading because it was a book club book.  I am glad I did.

The characters are very well developed.  Even if you didn't agree with their choices, you found  yourself caring for Ike and Buddy Lee.  I cried at the end.

S.A. Crosby has a beautiful way with words.  He is able to create vivid images to go with his words.    The name of the book comes from a description of Ike's tears after his son's funeral.

The genius of this book is that it has a very specific, very important, message that is probably uncomfortable for the targeted audience.   There are many guys just like Buddy Lee and Ike who are going to pick up this book for the vigilante justice and the war with a biker gang.  They are going to read it and they are going to hear that message over and over, starting out subtly but getting more direct by the end.

I wasn't a fan of the almost omnipotent point of view that happened during fight scenes.  Although there were multiple points of view throughout the book,  they were separated by scenes.  During the fight scenes I was overwhelmed by knowing what too many characters were thinking and feeling.  (Could be that I'm not the targeted audience.)

I recommend this book to people who like to read about vigilante justice and biker gangs.  Sons of Anarchy fans should pick this up.

My content warnings-
Violence 
Murder
Kidnapping
Torture
Racial slurs
LGBTQ slurs
Dead naming 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Murder, Hate crime, Blood, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Racism, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Gore, Torture, Cursing, Deadnaming, Death, Transphobia, Violence, Classism, Grief, and Religious bigotry