Razorblade Tears deserves all the accolades it has received. I was enthralled by this book.
Usually, I talk about the narration at the end of the review, but the audio version made such a difference in my enjoyment. The narrator, Adam Lazarre-White, made the voices so distinct. The accents added authenticity but didn't make the narration difficult to understand. I highly recommend the audio version.
The story is a difficult one -- so to use "enjoy" seems a bit strange when experiencing such an uncomfortable tale. Two married gay men (one is white, the other black) are brutally murdered. Their fathers - who hadn't been able to accept their sons' way of life -- decide to find the killers after the police give up on solving the case.
Both of the fathers have spent time in prison and had been violent offenders. One of them, Ike, had given up this past life and made a name for himself by owning a successful landscaping company. The other, Billy Lee, doesn't have much left so has nothing to lose.
Both of these men feel the need to avenge the deaths of their sons to prove their love since they didn't do a very good job of showing it while they were alive.
There is quite a bit of violence as they tear their way through the awful people who would commit such a heinous crime. It is interesting to see how these men, from such different belief systems, come together and even become friends as they mete out their vengeance.
The characters are interesting, the writing is compelling, and the pace is excellent. I would highly recommend Razorblade Tears, especially the audio version. But don't take my word for it. Everyone else seems to love this book too.
Audiobook obtained from libro.fm
336 pages
Rating: 5/5
Perhaps I should try this since you and many loved it. I started his first book on audio but it was quite gritty and I don't think I was in the mood for that at the times so I decided to stop and save for another time. Dis you read the first book?
ReplyDeleteThis one is quite gritty too. This is a new author for me. You are talking about Blacktop Wasteland? Looks like that one got a lot of high praise too. The audiobook has the same narrator. I may put it on my list!
ReplyDeleteYou liked this one more than I did, but I enjoyed it. Maybe I should have done the audio version.
ReplyDelete