This is a great thriller, but what I liked most about it wasn't the thriller aspect of it, but the characters and the exploration of grief, violence, homophobia, and racism. 

I understand why some people may not like this book. Following the perspective of two homophobic fathers who loved their sons but didn't love them enough to accept them as they were when they were alive won't be what everyone wants to read about. And the way they go about soothing their own guilt about being shitty, unsupportive fathers, through so much violence, won't be for everyone. 

However, I found that this perspective was very interesting and it was compelling. It's clear that they loved their sons, but it's also clear that they weren't good parents or good people to them. They had a lot of battles to wage within themselves. You can see why, due to the context of their upbringing and way of life, they were the kind of people they were. It took their sons being murdered, and everything that followed, to unlearn some of their bigotry, and it makes sense for these characters that that's what it took. 

I wish there was more about Isaiah and Derek, though. They seemed like really wonderful men and it would've been great to see more of that, to see how they didn't inherit any of the shit they could've inherited from their fathers, and became the decent, loving people their fathers couldn't be.