Razorblade Tears
Ike and Buddy Lee are two ex-cons with a mission: find who killed their sons and get revenge. They are an unlikely pair; Ike is a Black man on the straight-and-narrow for 15 years, while Buddy is a white redneck who is rarely sober for a full day. Their sons, Isiah and Derek, were married to one another, with a young daughter that Ike and his wife are now raising. Both fathers struggled to accept their sons, but both are grieving hard following their deaths.
The men are determined to make up for their failures in their sons' lives, in the only ways they know. Their search for the killer leads them back into the violent world they left behind--and they slip back in comfortably. Cosby has created two unforgettable characters and a fantastic relationship between them, which is the real driver of this book. They could easily have been drawn as endearing men who simply made past mistakes, but the gruesome and cavalier violence in this book makes it clear: they are hardened criminals who did then, and will do now, whatever it takes to fulfill their end.
The story is gripping (though I guessed many of the reveals), the violence is gruesome (it truly bears repeating), but Ike and Buddy Lee's relationship and journey will stay with you. Highly recommended.
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Publisher’s Description
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 his father was a criminal. 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.