Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Audible Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Audible Narrator: Adam Lazarre-White
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller
Rating: Best Book
Reviewed by Ginger

A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.

Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.

The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.

Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed of his father’s criminal record. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.

Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.

Provocative and fast-paced, S. A. Cosby’s Razorblade Tears is a story of bloody retribution, heartfelt change – and maybe even redemption.

Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee are both ex-con fathers with a lot more in common than they thought–the love of their sons and the heart to confront not only their sons’ killer but their own prejudices.

This book is filled with fast paced action, bloody violence, heartfelt change, and personal growth. There are a lot of important topics touched on, talked about, revealed, and delivered in such a masterful way that I wish I could rate this book 10 stars. There is humor, healing, brotherhood, reflection, love, and judgement. Judgement of race, sexuality, social class, criminal history and probably the worst kind, self judgement. The message I took from this novel is to give people their flowers (love, acknowledgment, acceptance) while they are presently here in the physical. Do not judge someone for who they love, for the color of their skin, their criminal record because in the end all that does not matter. They are human, and time is short and precious.

I very much enjoyed this novel. There is action, violence, and topics that may be sensitive to some but, I personally would love to see this as a movie (but only if they’d don’t change anything). This is a current day storyline that will impact readers from any lifestyle or social class. The characters are well developed, likeable and authentically true to life. I enjoyed both Ike and Buddy Lee; they were not bad men but seeing them self-reflect on things they could have done better or differently, seeing them appreciate the important things now and seeing them change for the better was at times an emotional read. There were times it felt like an invasion of their privacy as they processed their healing, and then I had to remind myself they were not real.

My favorite character is Buddy Lee. He is down to earth, keeps it real and comes with no filter. In the audio version of the book Buddy Lee needed his own narrator. The narrator did an awesome job but a character with the personality of Buddy Lee deserves his own. The writing is superb. Readers will be able to take away their own message because the author is just that award talented in covering so much that it fits a multitude. This book kept my attention and is definitely on my highly recommend memorable book list.