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Razorblade Tears Review
Manny's review of S.A. Cosby's Razorblade Tears
BOOK REVIEWS
8/30/20264 min read
Have you ever found a professional who just gets you? You know what I’m talking about. The barber who knows exactly how you like your line up (I don’t have to worry about that anymore). The barista that knows the exact amount of foam to put in your cup of joe. The manager at your local pizza joint who gives you a personal call when you order something out of the norm just so you didn’t make a mistake (true story, that’s why I can never cheat on Marcos). Better yet, an author who knows EXACTLY how to scratch that literary itch you just can’t get with most authors. Razorblade Tears is another stellar read by one of my new favorite authors S.A Cosby. He takes an age old plot device as revenge and adds just the right amount of nuance to keep it fresh.
Review will contain mini spoilers
Brief summary, Razorblade Tears starts off with tragedy: fathers learning of the demise of their sons’. The fathers, Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee, must confront the reality of losing the sons they never cared to understand because of their (the sons) sexuality. The sons were married to one another and the details of their demise raise eyebrows, but what can two, ex-convict fathers do about it? Not much, so it’s a job for the police… until someone desecrates the couple’s gravesite. Now the unlikely duo of grieving fathers must work together to find the people responsible for the crime… or die trying.
They say when you seek revenge, dig two graves. Little did I know that these graves would be filled with more than just people, but ideologies. Cosby does a masterful job of weaving in themes of love and redemption without it sounding preachy like media nowadays. Hardened ex-convicts Ike and Buddy Lee don’t just tackle the surface level plot of finding out who killed their boys, they also come face to face with the monsters they created within themselves. The protagonists are slowly changed throughout the story when they are forced to enter the world of their children. People who they would have never interacted with challenge their worldview, make them ask questions they wouldn’t have asked within their own myopic bubble. Expand their horizons past what their toxic masculinity has ever allowed. These are men whose conceptions of masculinity prevented them from fully loving their sons while those sons were alive.
The writing, especially the character writing, is 100% the selling point of this story. Execution comes down to every level of prose from the sentence to the syllable when telling a revenge story, because we’ve seen and read these kinds of stories before. Cosby’s use of metaphors and parallels differ depending on whose POV we’re following. Buddy Lee is the king of southern adages and uses humor to deflect. Ike is more raw and grounded and guarded. Hell, even being in one of the antagonist’s POVs, the prose becomes more vulgar and distasteful. It goes to show that Cosby has mastered the art of characterization, making each POV feel distinct. I stated in my last Cosby read that I gained so much inspiration from his writing style and it helped the creation of my latest book. I plan to continue dissecting his prose to better my craft.
Speaking of prose and POV, I initially found the frequent perspective shifts within scenes jarring, but I got used to it after the sixth chapter. Scene by scene, chapter by chapter, this story reads like an action blockbuster. The story is structured in a cohesive cause and effect flow that gradually builds momentum until the explosive climax. If this were turned into a film, I would not be surprised.
We get a peek into the different but similar pasts of both protagonists as they have to revert back to their old ways to seek justice. The grit and grind duo of Ike and Buddy Lee obviously steal the show as they play off each other like a 90s buddy cop movie. They start off as tense partners who are only working together because they have a common goal into genuine friends that open up to one another about their insecurities. (Spoiler Alert) But the twist near the end of Buddy Lee being the one who destroyed the tombstone almost undid all of those days of bonding. Ike was pissed as hell, and rightfully so, but I felt his anger lingered too long on Buddy Lee for pushing him into this crusade. I’m glad Ike eventually looked inward even realizing there is still a piece of him that was looking for an excuse to go back to his gangbanging ways. Buddy Lee gives him the match, but Ike discovers there was already gasoline everywhere.
There were a few antagonists, but they didn’t take up too much of the real estate. One was just a racist hired gun while the other was the puppeteer hiding in the shadows. Cosby pulled a Freida when dropping the big bad reveal via revealing a character’s full name. Buddy Lee’s mind was working like the meme from the Hangover when his ex dropped that bomb.
My only major gripe of Razorblade Tears came near the end when Ike had to drop off Tangerine. Ike being unable to return to Buddy Lee because of a random truck pile up and no cell service to communicate his delay felt very contrived by Cosby. Instead of being shocked by what transpired next, I was anticipating something big because Cosby needed to keep Ike away from Buddy Lee and his wife for a few hours. It may not be a big deal to most, but things like that pull me out of the story for a moment.
All in all, I can see why Razorblade Tears is considered a tour de force. While it’s just a nudge below All the Sinners Bleed in my opinion due to an all familiar plot, it’s its execution that keeps it fresh and not formulaic. If you read my review on the 2026 hit movie Obsession, you know how much value I put into stellar execution. What do I want to see next from S.A Cosby? If he can take his style and inject it into urban fantasy then I may just call him the GOAT! Until then… read Unbounded (shameless plug, sorry not sorry)