OK, this was a hard one to read because of the homophobia and violence, although the story is valid. A whole lot of coulda, shouda, woulda after it’s too late.
Ike Randolph is a black ex-con with a loving wife and child. Buddy Lee is a white divorced ex-con, just barely hanging on. One thing they have in common was their ruthless reputations while they were in prison, and a fierce desire to stay out. The two had no connection until they are informed by the police that their estranged sons had been married, had been brutally murdered, and now who was going to take care of their child?
They meet at the scene of the crime and initially have no use for each other. But grief and regret for never having acknowledged their sons’ sexuality, and the loving family they had had together, forces them to join together to hunt down the murderers. Thus begins a road story of a sort. Since both are felons, they can’t possess guns, and thus the name of the novel. Justice of a sort is reached by the end, but it can’t make up for the remorse each man feels for the love they threw away. Reaching out would have been so easy. Both sons were eager to have their fathers back in their lives, but now it is forever too late. Homophobia is only felt by damaged people, but so many will never acknowledge that fact. And ultimately, they are the ones who pay the price.