A review by tenten
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

adventurous emotional mysterious 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
Razorblade Tears was a fun, fast-paced book about two Southern fathers, Ike and Buddy Lee, avenging the death of their sons, Isiah and Derek. The fathers, one Black and one white, are not only dealing with grief, but also regret for the strained relationships they had with their gay sons. this regret is the driving force in their quest for vengeance: they feel that they failed as fathers so they’re finally doing right by their sons by embarking on this mission. 

this novel was really absurd! like, these two middle aged men
took out a biker gang and two powerful political figures?
lol. okay. sure! i enjoyed this though–i didn’t pick up this book to be confronted with reality, and this provided exactly what i needed from it. the writing was good enough, though there were some sentences that i felt were really cliche. relatedly, Ike’s constant lecturing of Buddy Lee about racism sometimes felt out of place and a little, like…would anyone really say this in this situation? be forrea;. speaking of Ike, between the two protagonists, i think he experienced the most character growth especially in terms of being able to be more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, but i think part of that was because Buddy Lee was already more accepting to begin with. he obviously made his mistakes with his son, some huge ones, but on the whole seemed less….disgusted by queerness than Ike did. he’s ignorant in a way that is harmful at times, but generally is more easy-going and chill than Ike. and funnier. honestly, if you asked me before i started the book, i never would have guessed that i’d find the white dad more likable. he was just more fun!
everything really pops off in the last 100 or so pages. the identity of the person behind it all felt somewhat contrived to me, but the benefit of a more plot-oriented novel is that sometimes you can sacrifice realism for the sake of a good story. and this book certainly delivered on that front! there were parts when i got real life heated about the characters’ actions. that’s how you know a story is good, when it can get a real rise out of you.
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