“Folks like to talk about revenge like it’s a righteous thing but it’s just hate in a nicer suit.”
--Ike Randolph
I spotted this 2021 hardcover on my MIL’s bookshelf that was in our guest room during our holiday visit. Olman had already read it when he stayed there in November, and he highly recommended it, so I chose this over the Megan Abbott book I’d brought. And besides, how often do I get to read a new release?
Olman sums it up pretty well:
The main character in Razorblade Tears is an ex-con who runs his own landscaping business. Cosby puts his knowledge to good use as yard tools and equipment feature heavily in the action. And there is a lot of action. It reminded me a lot of the Spenser books where he and Hawk have to go full commando. It's a great set-up. Ike Randolph's gay son (whom he rejected due to his own homophobia) and his husband are brutally murdered and he and the husband's white trash dad (who also has his own roughneck past) pair up to get revenge. They are a great buddy duo, both can fight and do crime and their banter is a mix of well-written repartee and heavier shit as they get to know and appreciate each other.
Indeed, Razorblade Tears was a highly readable buddy vigilante thriller that was burdened by some heavy-handed wokeness, which was expected as the plot dealt with issues of homosexuality, toxic masculinity and race relations in contemporary Virginia.
Adding a two-dimensional transgendered character as part of a plot twist was also somewhat Crying Game-y. Tangerine came across as so whipsmart she can clap back at Ike’s failings, yet she’s so gullible she’d fall completely under the charm of an older senator who’s known to be a Grade A Asshole?
Olman said the dialogue was well-written but I found it rather ham-fisted and unrealistic at times, though I did agree the plot was well-constructed and fast-paced. I wouldn’t be surprised if Razorblade Tears has already been optioned for an upcoming movie, though Denzel Washington might be getting a little too old for the lead.
Early on in Ike and Buddy’s “investigation”, they visit their deceased sons’ former workplaces. Isaiah’s coworker Amelia lays it down for them: “You both think our sexuality is something that has to be explained. It isn’t. It’s just who we are. It wasn’t Isiah being gay that caused problems between the two of you. It was how you dealt with it or didn’t deal with it that caused the problems.”
And then there's Buddy Lee, whom Olman thought was a great character. I agree too, but also felt that he was also idealized as a kind of white cipher, ie. the ignorant white trash with a heart of gold, the culturally racist character who gradually gets wokified when he joins forces with Ike and sees the world through a Black man’s eyes.
Here’s a section where their racial differences are laid down pretty thick as Buddy comments on Ike’s nice new truck, and Ike has the perfect response:
“So let me ask you this. Would you switch places with me?”
“Do I get the truck?
“Oh, you get the truck. But you also get pulled over four or five times a month because ain’t no way your Black ass can afford a nice truck like this, right? You get the truck but you get followed around in the jewelry store because you know you probably fitting to rob the place, right? You can get the truck but you gotta deal with white ladies clutching their purses when you walk down the street…”
And later in the book when Buddy is trying to justify his past behaviour:
“I ain’t trying to make no excuses, but when you grow up around people—your aunt and uncles, your grandparents, your brothers and sisters, your friends—all of them saying things that you don’t even think about being wrong or right, you don’t put that title on yourself… So you do think I’m racist.”
Ike: “I think maybe for the first time in your life you’re seeing what the world looks like for people that don’t look like you. I mean you still ignorant as hell, but you learning. But then, so am I. We both learning…”
Cosby did a good job at making these kind of exchanges sound as realistic as possible, but it still came across as wishful dialogue. For those who are already well-informed, the novel will come across as rather heavy-handed, but for non-Black popular fiction readers who aren't as up on their CRT, perhaps it may enlighten as well as entertain. Cosby also had a way of expressing strong emotions in keenly observed moments, especially when dealing with Ike’s loss for his son:
Maybe Mya was right. Maybe he didn’t deserve to grieve Isiah. It didn’t seem fair for a man to mourn someone abundantly that he had loved so miserly.
Overall, this was satisfying genre fiction - there was no holding back on action, violence, guns, bloodshed and destruction. It involved family ties, friendship, hardened criminals, redemption, vengeance, political corruption, conspiracies, child abduction, sexuality, racism and LGBTQ+ issues! All in a contemporary Southern setting. And despite some of my misgivings, SA Cosby did a very good job juggling all these facets to make very entertaining fiction.
One thing I’m glad about reading this was that it helped add one more to 2021 (finished on NYE!), as I was 99% certain The Bone Clocks was going to be my final book for the year. At least I went out with a bang with Razorblade Tears!
Inserted in My MIL’s Razorblade hardback was a clipped NYT article about author S.A. Cosby, and it makes an interesting observation: “As a Black crime writer in the rural South, Cosby is an anomaly.” It goes on to say that most well-known African-American crime writers like Chester Himes and Walter Mosley set their stories in urban environments like LA or NY. Cosby thinks one of the main reasons Black crime writers tend to avoid the South has to do with its painful and abhorrent history - genre writers just don’t want to tackle it.
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