*Straight Razor Days* takes an unflinching look at masculinity and its shifting codes in 21st c. Newfoundland. Fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons, police on the beat, strangers on the run, drunks in bars; God-fearing men, men with manifestos; lost and found men. "[Hynes] has a fine ear for the inflections of voice. His dialogue is littered with colloquialisms, which add authenticity, but aren't laid on too thick. Hynes's writing possesses a seamless emotional fluency, vividly capturing fleeting yet significant moments between friends and lovers.