Kim

When I first read the synopsis for this one I didn't think it would really be suited to my tastes, but I was intrigued still — fathers of a mixed race gay couple coming together to avenge their sons is, in a twisted way, a bit heartwarming after all. Seeing the raving reviews from other readers, as well as really enjoying the last Cosby book I read ("All the Sinners Bleed") made me actually give "Razorblade Tears" a shot though.

Turns out I know myself quite well, because this one didn't wow me the same way it has for other readers.

Objectively speaking, this is a good book — it's fast paced, action packed, and there's never a dull moment. I'd say it reads like a box office hit buddy cop movie, except instead of cops the buddies are ex-cons who are hellbent on getting revenge for the murder of their sons. It's also a story about guilt, grief, acceptance, and it definitely does not shy away from addressing racism and homophobia head on as well. There are some pretty powerful statements made by various characters throughout, and it was nice to see the fathers both begin to accept their sons for who they were, even if it was a little too late. But I found myself skimming through all the gang shootouts and other action bits because I was not personally as interested in those scenes as I was in the actual character development happening in-between.

So if you're a fan of action stories, then you'll probably love this book and I'd highly recommend you give it a chance. But for those who aren't as into the action/revenge stuff, then maybe skip this one and try one of Cosby's other books because he is an excellent writer who knows how to craft a story.

Well-written and perfectly paced, All the Sinners Bleed is a murder-mystery that will manage to captivate you, even in the midst of some rather disturbing crimes.

Cosby has done a fantastic job of creating a realistic setting with the town of Charon. He's really captured the, at times very questionable, Southern small town atmosphere and community perfectly. I think that the criminal investigation was also handled really well; the clues were revealed and pieced together in a natural manner and it didn't feel like there were a lot of sudden revelations out of nowhere.

I would've given this one five stars if it weren't for two points that bothered me a bit:

1. There are a lot of characters in this book. It was to the point that I was having trouble keeping all the names straight for a lot of the more background characters. For those that are only mentioned during one scene of the book this is fine, but for those that had multiple small mentions throughout it really would've helped if they somehow could've been characterized a bit more (if not just cutting a few of them out altogether).

2. Although I do think this was well-written, it also felt like some parts of it were a little overwritten in comparison to the majority of the book. It didn't happen a ton, but there were definitely points where suddenly it seemed to switch from standard prose into more literary prose, and then easing back into standard. The literary passages were still nice to read but I did feel a little thrown off a few times because of the jump in style.

But aside from those points, I otherwise found this to be a very engaging story and the only reason it took me four days to finish it was because I was already using all the free time I had to pick it up whenever I could!

This book did have some creepy and unsettling moments that were pretty well done, but unfortunately it wasn't enough to really save everything else going on here.

First off, all of the adults in this book are just unbearable aside from the brother-in-law who's basically just a near-silent background character (but considering the family dynamic going on here, I can't blame him). And although you can have a good story even with a full cast of unlikable characters, this one just wasn't it. The family's complaints about Anna felt more like high school mean girls than anything else and it was leaning a bit too immature for me.

The actual haunted house aspects of the story were pretty interesting however. There were moments that really did a good job at building up tension, but the book also did an excellent job of dropping all that tension almost immediately. Many times we'd get a good creepy vibe going only for it to be completely gone two pages later as the family went off on their next touristy outing, with the only callbacks to that feeling being just a quick mention of feeling some dread over going back to the villa.

I was originally planning to give this one 3 stars because even though I had problems with it, I was still interested enough to continue reading so I could see how it all turned out in the end. I decided to drop a star after the ending invoked a trope that ties up things a little too perfectly (which is about as vague as I can get without spoiling exactly what it is), so the whole thing fell a bit flat for me.

Considering the many 4-5 star reviews out there, this book definitely does have an audience; but unfortunately for me I am just not a part of said audience.

An entertaining read, although not without a few faults. That said, I'm still going to rate this one at 4 stars since I was overall quite entertained.

What I liked:
- The fact that the story is centered around the advances in DNA technology that have allowed us to solve decades old cold cases. I've always been fascinated with those stories in real life, so reading novels about them is fun as well!
- As crazy as it might sound, a lot of the plot does seem to be quite plausible, which made the story easier for me to get into. (I've definitely seen some actual true crime cases that check off a lot of the same boxes.)
- Pacing was well done. Maybe it could've been trimmed down a tad, but I personally liked having a little extra time to mull over the case.
- The dual timelines were utilized very well.

What I didn't like:
- The climax of the story got a little too wild there; I definitely needed to suspend my disbelief more than I prefer. Things would've been better if it had been dialed back a couple of notches.
- Some parts of the writing felt a bit awkward to me. There were a some instances that felt like they could've been phrased a little more naturally, along with some moments of exposition that didn't seemed out of place.
- I feel like it ended a little too abruptly? I would've liked to see another chapter or two that showcased how the main characters dealt with the major reveals immediately after the fact.

What I expected: A story about a therapist that wanted to help a woman alleged to have murdered her husband. I wanted to see the actual therapy process, an insight into her mind, and a slow reveal of the story about what actually happened the day her husband died.

What I got: A story about a self-centered man who believed he was the sole person who had the ability “save” one specific woman. This was not a story of a man that wanted to help someone out of the kindness of their heart, nor even for some sort of scientific interest — this was about a man with both daddy issues and a savior complex.

So needless to say, I did not get what I was expecting and I did not enjoy what was there instead.

I could've potentially gotten into this even with Theo's character in the picture if it wasn't for the fact that almost nothing happens the entire story. I don't feel like the story ever really picked up the pace, and even the big reveal of the truth towards the end of the book was something I managed to guess around 30% in. (And trust me, I was really hoping I was wrong about that guess.)

Very little therapy actually happens in the book and a lot of the actual attempts to talk about diagnoses, treatments, and exactly how therapy session work are just factually incorrect. It feels like the author did some very bare minimum research and then threw a bunch of buzzwords in there to make everything sound smart. (Also, patient confidentiality? We don't know her.)

If you have any interest in psychology or therapy, do yourself a favor and skip this one.