Reviews with content warning for Medical trauma - Razorblade Tears

I’d heard great things about this book but it was just “ok” to me. It’s crime fiction about two fathers who set out to get vengeance for their sons, a gay couple, who were murdered. The violence and gore were way over the top. I sort of liked the redemptive arc of the characters, who were not accepting of their sons’ sexuality and regret that now, except it also made the plot a bit awkward to me because the learning and growth feels kind of simplistic and shallow. The LGBTQ+ characters are all quite underdeveloped and one-dimensional. I’d maybe read more by this author in the future if I read great reviews and especially if said reviews noted a decrease in gore and violence from previous books.

Content Warnings

killmoore_'s review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Razorblade Tears was perfect in every way. Tons of very heavy content and gore, but so beautifully written it was like watching a movie. I'll be thinking of this story for years to come.

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cadence99's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

3.5

I really wanted to like this more than I did as it came highly recommended, but unfortunately it wasn’t a runaway hit for me. A story of two fathers, brought together in their quest for vegance after the murder of their sons. Throughout, both grapple with how their homophobia towards their sons destroyed their relationship. I liked the fast paced, whodunnit aspects of this novel but did struggle a bit with the intense graphic nature of it. If you have a weak stomach, this book likely won’t go over super well. Our characters are as morally grey as you can get, stopping at nothing to attain their own version of justice. I think there is a conversation to be had here about how the only way these characters were able to accept their sons was at the cost of their lives.

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brandilovesbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Razorblade Tears is the story of two polar opposites with two things in common- they are both ex-cons and they both lost their sons to a hate crime. The men set out to discover who killed their sons.

I almost quit about a third of the way into the book. I found the book to be very violent. I am not the targeted audience. I continued reading because it was a book club book. I am glad I did.

The characters are very well developed. Even if you didn't agree with their choices, you found yourself caring for Ike and Buddy Lee. I cried at the end.

S.A. Crosby has a beautiful way with words. He is able to create vivid images to go with his words. The name of the book comes from a description of Ike's tears after his son's funeral.

The genius of this book is that it has a very specific, very important, message that is probably uncomfortable for the targeted audience. There are many guys just like Buddy Lee and Ike who are going to pick up this book for the vigilante justice and the war with a biker gang. They are going to read it and they are going to hear that message over and over, starting out subtly but getting more direct by the end.

I wasn't a fan of the almost omnipotent point of view that happened during fight scenes. Although there were multiple points of view throughout the book, they were separated by scenes. During the fight scenes I was overwhelmed by knowing what too many characters were thinking and feeling. (Could be that I'm not the targeted audience.)

I recommend this book to people who like to read about vigilante justice and biker gangs. Sons of Anarchy fans should pick this up.

My content warnings-
Violence
Murder
Kidnapping
Torture
Racial slurs
LGBTQ slurs
Dead naming

Content Warnings

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

mecmccann's review

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dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Initial thoughts: I liked this book a lot. It was dark and violent, but it had depth; it was more than just 320 pages of pew pew. I don’t think that existing lgbtq+ ally’s are the target audience. I think people who are new to allyship are. For that reason it wasn’t a perfect book for me. There were also a loooot of similes, some of which were poorly written, which did take me out of the story a bit. I’m also not a huge fan of the pew pew scenes. A good book, I’m just not the ideal audience.

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readwithinthespines's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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