A review by nclcaitlin
Razorblade Tears by S.A. Cosby

2.25

DNF at 70%. 

When their sons are murdered, their two fathers team up to avenge their death. This forces them to confront not only the guilty villains, but also the prejudices surrounding their relationships with their married gay sons. 

Due to the two fathers’ violent pasts, Cosby explore humans’ disturbing capacity for violence and the nature of justice. Not to mention racism, preconceptions of society, and attitudes towards incarceration. 

Most of the characters see violence as a solution, creating a reinforcing cycle where everyone is trying to achieve vengeance or keep a dark secret. 

From all the reviews, I was expecting the writing to be touching and beautiful and heartbreaking. To be sobbing from chapter one. 

Instead, I sometimes found the writing clunky and not too impactful. It was just very violent.

I preface this by saying I did it by audiobook. 

I don’t normally DNF, but maybe it was because I was using my Spotify hours and so felt more compelled to choose wisely and didn’t want to feel like I was wasting it on something I didn’t feel gripped by. 

I found I really didn’t care about what happened and none of the characters captured an attachment or investment from me. 

Sadly, this is a booktok recommendation which didn’t work for me.