Razorblade Tears

“This is who I am. I can’t change. I don’t want to, really. But for once I’m gonna put this devil inside me to good use.”

S.A. Cosby impressed me with Blacktop Wasteland. He absolutely blew me away with Razorblade Tears.

A killer premise is always a good start. Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee are plenty different. Ike is black; Buddy Lee is white. Ike built a business from the ground up and employs crews of workers; Buddy Lee’s work history is checkered at best. Ike is a comfortable business and home owner; Buddy Lee lives in a dilapidated single-wide trailer with a window unit that pushes around lukewarm air. Ike is happily married; Buddy Lee hasn’t been in a serious relationship since his son’s mom left him. But they have a few things in common too. Both did time in prison. Both have ample capacity to deal out violence. Neither could accept their son’s homosexuality. Their sons who were married to each other. Who were just murdered.

To paraphrase Solomon Kane, men will die for that.

Ike isn’t quick to go back to that old life, to be Riot Randolph again. He has a lot to lose now—a home, a business, a wife, a granddaughter. He knows the danger of going back to that dark place is more than physical. Buddy Lee feels different, though, and Buddy Lee talks him into it. Ike and Buddy Lee have more than skin color and the rest of the stuff I mentioned above that makes him different. Ike is all about bottling up his ungovernable rage. Buddy Lee is happy-go-lucky with a quip for everything and lets his rage fly freely. Both men have plenty of rage to spread around with the blood.

The contrast really works. I can see plenty of myself in both characters, and the characters play off of each other. The conflict of personality between the two helps drive the narrative, along with the conflict conflict and their conflicting emotions toward their sons. They loved their sons but couldn’t accept them. They realize the error of their ways now, but it is too late and men do not change their worldview overnight.

Ike and Buddy Lee set about getting to the bottom of why their sons got killed in what looks like a less-than-random way. Which isn’t to say this is a mystery. Ike and Buddy Lee are killers, not investigators. They lack the skills to find the killers, but start knocking heads around and the killers are liable to come find you. They can handle themselves just fine from there.

One reason I love country noir is how comfortably it sits in the overlap between literary and pulp, often showcasing the best of both worlds. Razorblade Tears is killer from either perspective. The subject matter is heavy and handled with gravity. The character arcs are rich. The prose is elegant and deep. The action comes early and often. The violence is visceral. The revenge is sweet. The pacing is propulsive. Don’t get fooled into thinking people are praising this book because it’s trendy—it’s the real deal, and for all the depth it works completely from a pulp perspective.

I've had Razorblade Tears kicking round the Kindle library for some time, and just never got around to reading it. It's great. Ike and Buddy Lee could hardly be more different; the only things they have in common are that they're both ex-cons; their sons are married to each other; and both men have been unable to accept their sons' sexuality. As a Black man in the South, Ike has overcome not just a (heavy-duty) criminal past and 15 years' time, but is a success in every sense except his relationship with his son. Ike's a great character and Cosby draws his complexity really well; there's a sense of living inside this character's skin.

When Ike and Buddy Lee lose their sons to a double homicide, it's about the only thing that could bring these two together. Buddy Lee is a racist alcoholic with a barely controlled anger at the world. Vengeance is a powerful force, though, especially when driven by both fatherly love and terrible guilt.

Razorblade Tears is spectacularly written, well-paced, brutal in many places, yet beautiful and moving. We see both men grow and change as they seek justice for their sons. It's a difficult and violent path but also one of redemption.

Cosby is a great new (new to me, my fault for sleeping on this book) voice in the genre. Big big recommend.

So what has Shawn Cosby prepared for us? A revenge novel that would make Thomas Kyd weep with envy. The premise is very hip and au courant. A black man and a white man have gay sons who marry one another and are viciously murdered. The reason: one of the gay men was a reporter investigating someone in power who did not want it revealed (mini-spoiler) that he was having an affair with a trans-woman. The twist: both the fathers (who were alienated from their sons because of their sexual orientation) are ex-cons. Tough ex-cons. Homicidal ex-cons. Revenge-seeking ex-cons. Before they can get to the puppet master they have to go through his intermediaries—biker outlaws who will kill without hesitation or remorse.

So the putative story is that this will all eventuate and the fathers will embrace one another across racial lines, embrace their sons in retrospect, embrace the trans-woman, and grow emotionally as part of the experience.

That part of the story is all well and good and as woke as a caffeine-addict with a new Keurig machine, but the bottom line is that that part of the story is ultimately incidental. It may serve to widen the author’s audience, in which case, blessings upon him. That audience, however, may be a little rattled by the violence of the real story. This is a rip-roaring genre fiction feast. We’re talking street-sweeper machine-gun heavy. We’re talking knife points to the throat and a level of mayhem and the old ultra-violence that would make Alex and his droogies blanch.

And I loved every word. The difficult thing with a novel like this lies in the proportions. The villains must be truly villainous and the price they have to pay must have a far-east decimal point. There must be tears and there must be blood but there can’t be too much or too little. It must be fulsome but … just right. And it is. Shawn can cook like a master chef. Interestingly, his greatest creation here is Buddy Lee Jenkins, the white sidekick of Ike ‘Riot’ Randolph. Buddy gets all of the best lines because Ike is ultimately his straight man. Somebody’s got to be strong and silent and lethal and somebody else has to put the whole experience into words.

I thoroughly enjoyed Blacktop Wasteland, this novel’s predecessor, but Razorblade Tears takes things to a whole other level. Jerry Bruckheimer and Paramount have already snapped it up.

Bottom line: gird your loins. It’s going to be a long and bloody night. This is the unexpected buddies story of the decade. Somebody done them wrong and they’re breaking out the street sweepers, the Mac-10’s and the gardening implements, the kind with sharp edges. If that is your cup of tea (and it certainly is mine) prepare to swim in oceans of it.

I love Ike and Buddy Lee😍. Best dad redemption award ever! These 2 were bad ass! I swear I was watching the punisher! 2 most unlikely characters building a tight bond over the deaths of their gay 🌈 sons. I am in love.

Action was packed, end to end. Even during the times that buddy Lee and Ike were bonding, the action didn't stop. There is so much naked truth in this story. So much pain, grief, love, sorrow, empathy 🥺. I mean I felt all the feels.

Pure satisfaction! Now, I have to find me a buddy Lee truck! 💙💚💙

A happy pride read A fathers day read A must read !

Theme: Love is pure, love is unconditional, love takes time and understanding.

Razorblade Tears was released in July 2021 and it had been on my TBR list for quite some time. I’m glad I finally got around to reading this blisteringly emotional crime thriller. As the book description states, Ike and Buddy Lee are fathers whose sons were married to each other, yet Ike and Buddy Lee were estranged from their boys. Ike and Buddy Lee didn’t meet each other until their sons’ funerals, after being ruthlessly murdered for unknown reasons. The fathers were reluctant to speak to each other at first. But when Buddy Lee spots a tattoo on Ike’s arm, he realizes they both have a shared past of incarceration. Buddy Lee finds Ike around town and suggest they look for their sons’ killer. Ike hesitates at first, but when the police seemingly do nothing as far as investigating, both fathers come together with the common goal of bringing their sons justice.

Cosby excels at pushing the crime narrative along, the chapters are short and packed with action, bristling with clever metaphors and similes. But where Cosby really shines is his ability to mine the deep emotional trauma and regret from both fathers who realize their shortcomings as parents and husbands and men. Both Ike and Buddy Lee were easily lured into a life of crime when they were young men, both regretting choices they made and the absence in their sons’ lives while being incarcerated. They both also regret not taking the time to understand their sons and their sexuality, knowing that it’s too late to reconcile this with their deceased sons.

Cosby also weaves in discussions about race and class between Ike and Buddy Lee and as they become closer from their shared mission of justice, they begin to understand each other better, realizing they have a lot more in common than they initially thought. But ultimately, this is a crime thriller and this emotional tapestry that Cosby weaves makes their desire to find justice for their sons all the more palpable and provocative, even justifiable. The conclusion is deeply satisfying. I will definitely be reading more of Cosby’s books in the near future.

I really enjoyed this novel and I highly recommend it. I would give this book six stars if I could, but will stick with the usual max of five stars.

This novel marks my introduction to the works of an exceptionally skilled author. "Razorblade Tears" artfully blends occasional humor with intense suspense, creating a compelling narrative. The emotional depth of the story is striking, eliciting a range of feelings throughout. The portrayal of the two fathers as formidable figures adds complexity to the plot. The profound theme of loss resonates strongly, emphasizing the value of loved ones. This book left a lasting impression on me, and I eagerly anticipate exploring more of S. A. Cosby's literary works.

Two fathers form an unlikely partnership when they band together to figure out who murdered their sons. When the book begins, the only things Buddy Lee and Ike have in common are that they both have a prison record and they both disapprove of their son’s marriage to each other. Ike is a black man, who, after being released from prison, started a successful lawn care company and promised his wife and son that he would stay on the straight and narrow path. He has not faltered. The only real point of contention between he and his family for the past fifteen years had been his refusal to accept the fact that his son is gay. Buddy Lee, a <i>good ol’ boy</i> from a long line of trailer park <i>good ol’ boys</i>, is long divorced, barely and rarely employed, and has been in and out of jail multiple times. He must certainly does not like the fact that he has a gay son.

When Isaac and Derrick are murdered, possibly due to a story that reporter Isaac had been working on, Buddy Lee and Ike chase down leads to try to find the killer. Along the way, they go up against a biker gang, a powerful family and anyone else who gets in there way.

WHAT I LOVED This book is an odd mix of violence and poetic prose. Author S. A. Cosby has way with words! Almost stylish violence.

Here is one example;

“When he hit the ground, his large and small intestines began to unspool like a ribbon of saltwater taffy soaked in merlot.”

There are a ton of similar examples throughout he book.

The plot was nonstop. It never got boring.

The evolving relationship between Buddy Lee and Ike and their regret for the way they treated their sons gave the book more dimension. It’s very relevant to the times, all the hot button issues were touched upon; race relations, LGBT rights and family drama.

WHAT I DIDN’T LOVE There was just so very much violence. Just too much for my tastes. I’m sure it’s fine for a lot of people but I’m not a fan of fight scenes in movies and don’t love this many of them in books. I Ended up skimming a lot of the fights.

OVERAL If you like nonstop thrillers with pretty words and are okay with some violence, this is a book for you. It’s almost like watching a Clint Eastwood movie.

“It’s easier to keep your head in the sand than it is to try and see things from somebody else’s point of view. There’s a reason why they say ignorance is bliss.”

Isiah Randolph, and his husband Derek, are brutally murdered. Their fathers didn’t agree with their lifestyle and they knew it. Isiah and Derek grew up with periods of time where their father’s weren’t around because their fathers were in prison. Now Ike, Isiah’s father, and Buddy Lee, Derek’s father, two ex-cons, set out to find out who killed their boys and why. What they find is a tangled up web and realizations about their own biases.

This book is a solid three stars. I enjoyed the plot of the book, and the racial awareness that the book brings. The book also brings awareness of what those who are a member of the LGBTQ+ community have to deal with – mainly hate and violence. However, there were definitely aspects about this book that I didn’t enjoy. The book was heavy with needless description and metaphors. There is also a lot of violence. That may be absolutely okay for some readers, but it’s not particularly my favorite. And while there was a lot of violence, that was the only action in the book. Moreover, the parts of the book between the violence, and other very interesting parts, were boring. This definitely was not a fast paced read.