Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

Amy  

action/suspense

In Razorblade Tears, a gay couple is murdered and then their headstones are desecrated. Ike and Buddy Lee, who have both previously served time in jail, decide to team up and investigate the murders of their sons. Neither had been in contact with their son in recent years, but they were both driven to solve the mystery of the murders by their guilt over the way their father/son relationships had deteriorated.

I liked the beginning and the way Ike and Buddy Lee partnered in an effort to do something for their sons, despite waiting too long and losing the opportunity to accept their sons’ choices while they were alive.  Better late than never to realize their mistakes and try to do something to make sense of the murders. But the fact that their criminal behaviors were so easily re-employed, drawing them back into the world of violence, turned me off. Sure, they had regrets about their law-breaking, but that didn’t stop them.  They felt they could handle whatever came their way, yet they didn’t seem to care about the danger in which they were placing others. They were irresponsible and reckless. This story was a cliché macho romp through violent fantasies.

Here's the thing. I admire the fact that S. A. Cosby set out to help cisgender straight men (who are obviously the target audience for this novel) learn to accept people who are not like them. And, sure, it’s great that these grown men were finally able to face their homophobia and that Buddy Lee came to realize that he did not admire his own past racist tendencies.  They were tough guys becoming enlightened. Cool. They improved their attitudes and opened their hearts. Awesome. But they were still stupid about taking on the situation themselves.  I was rolling my eyes quite a bit in the second half.

The audiobook narrator, Adam Lazarre-White, was a good voice actor and appropriate for this sort of genre but I did not enjoy the way he voiced Buddy Lee. I think he should have gone for a more careless country accent than the effeminate southern drawl that was used. I never grew used to it. Therefore, I’ll give this production a B+.