Last year, heist thriller-cum-rural noir Blacktop Wasteland was arguably the crime novel of the year, and its author S A Cosby the breakout star. It was deservedly feted across the world by readers, critics, and awards judges as heralding the arrival of a striking voice.

It left a big question though – what would the blue-collar Virginia author do next, now he’d set the bar so high? Now, we have our answer. And somehow, remarkably, Razorblade Tears is even better. This is quite simply an astonishing novel.

Ike Randolph and Buddy Lee are two quite different men in the rural South, though they’ve a few things in common: they both know what it’s like behind bars, and they’re both fathers to gay sons who they loved but struggled to fully accept. A black man and a white man brought together by the murder of their boys, who’d married each other, Ike and Buddy Lee embark on a no-holds-barred search for those responsible. And are forced to confront their own prejudices along with those of others.

This is a Southern Gothic revenge thriller of the most outstanding kind: violent, thoughtful, emotionally hard-hitting, and brilliant. Cosby writes with a poetic ferocity, and Razorblade Tears is a modern masterpiece.

Reviewed by Craig Sisterson