Flatiron Books, 336 pages, $17.99 (c2021)
This has been nominated for an Edgar Award.
S. A. Cosby’s most widely known books, “Blacktop Wasteland” and this book, “Razorblade Tears,” weren’t published until the author was in his 40s. His success is due to his perseverance and his outstanding writing.
“Razorblade Tears” is grim and compelling. After each chapter was finished, I gulped and gasped as if there weren’t enough air. I don’t find the word “propulsive” attractive except when referring to jet fuel, but were I to use that word I would use it for this book. Cosby knows how to keep his audience reading.
What Buddy Lee and Ike have in common: They are both fathers and grandfathers. They have both served time in prison. Life pitched them down and it has been hard to claw their way up. They are disgusted that their sons were gay. Their sons are dead.
What Buddy Lee and Ike don’t have in common: Buddy Lee is white and Ike is Black. Buddy Lee is unemployed, lives in a trailer, and consumes a lot of beer. Ike has built up a successful lawn care business during the fifteen years he has been out of prison.
Derek, Buddy Lee’s son, was married to Isiah, Ike’s son. Neither of their fathers attended the wedding or would talk to their sons in any meaningful way. Derek and Isiah’s daughter, Arriana, is three. After Derek and Isiah were recently murdered, Ike and his wife, Mya, took over raising her.
Too late, Ike is trying to come to terms with his son's homosexuality and the fact that he no longer has an opportunity to tell him he loves him, something that went unsaid for a long time. Buddy Lee and his wife parted ways years ago. She remarried someone who is racist and homophobic. She’s no great shakes herself in the area of tolerance. Buddy Lee is no saint and despised his son's “choice,” but between Ike and Buddy Lee, Buddy Lee is the one who is opening his heart.
Buddy Lee thinks he needs to atone for his past thinking by finding his son’s killer. He goads Ike into helping. It is a partnership forged in hell. Buddy Lee is racist and keeps putting his foot into his mouth around Ike. Ike hates Buddy Lee. The partnership starts off rocky and for every step forward, there are a couple of steps back. Of the two of them, Ike is the one who is built to intimidate. His old street name was “Riot.” He has killed before and is fighting with his better self to bring himself to kill again. It’s a short battle.
It’s a lesson in cutting to the chase when Buddy Lee and Ike begin to do some investigation. Grrr. Crack. Smash. Shake, shake, shake. They slowly build on the information they “acquire.” One clue is getting to a woman, Tangerine, who may be the reason the young men were killed. More grr-ing, cracking, smashing, and shaking ensue.
While grim and violent, the book is not without some dark humor, mostly provided by Buddy Lee. Here’s Buddy when two men are giving him a beating:
The first monster that approached him had a mustache so full it was like a cat had taken up residence on his upper lip. The other grizzly bear was so cockeyed Buddy Lee figured he could see around a corner without turning his damn head.
Buddy Lee went at them like a windmill on legs. He swung on Cockeyed while he kicked a Cat Stache.
Even though it is 2021 book, here is an MBTB star! I think it counts that I’ve had the book since 2021!
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