This is a brutally violent story shadowed with heartbreaking regret. It's a fast read, and after my love of Blacktop Wasteland last year, I'm in for any of Cosby's writing.
In Razorblade Tears, two men are coping with the tragic, violent, mysterious deaths of their married sons. Derek and Isiah were estranged from their ex-con fathers, each of whom now regret every moment they didn't make sure the young men knew that they were perfect and beloved.
Buddy Lee and Ike have sworn off their brutal pasts and all of the tangles and troubles that went hand in hand with them. Buddy Lee lost his job while mourning his son and is holed up drinking in his trailer, and Ike, who knows a Black man can't afford to put a foot out of line, has built his landscaping company from the ground up and stayed clean for years.
But the cops seem to have given up on the case, the killers are still on the loose, and the men share a deep desire for vengeance. Their old days as hardened criminals could help them satisfy their thirst for revenge--as long as they're willing to potentially give up everything else in the process.
This is a brutally violent story shadowed with heartbreaking regret. It highlights unlikely loyalties forged during desperate times, terrible scenes of cruelty, and shocking, mortal danger posed to everyone even cursorily connected to the situation at hand. It's a fast read, and I'm in for any of Cosby's writing.
I received a digital prepublication copy of this book--published today--courtesy of Flatiron Books and NetGalley.
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I was so excited to see that S.A. Cosby had a new book coming out. I loved last year's gritty, character-driven mystery-thriller Blacktop Wasteland so much that it made my Six Favorite Summer 2020 Reads list.