Dead Men, a book by Derek Haines

I have had the pleasure to read two amazing books these past few days. One I already reviewed on my last blog. 


This one is from my favorite writer Douglas Haines. On this book Derek Haines goes more Dostojewski, than Douglas Adams, more boulevard of broken dreams, than the creation Of Sun and Moon by Michelangelo.

Dead men is a dark, angry, journey in to the dept of the souls of 3 friends in Australia, the three Musketeers, who go trough the hell of divorce. They haven't learned to deal with failure, mistakes, loss and guilt. Like wounded wild animals, driven in the corner, they fight back in the only language they know. The characters are not very likable in the beginning. But Derek Haines manages to give them depth and credibility, a real three dimensional shape and the more you read about them, the more you almost develop something like a sympathy, or compunction for them...

You might not like their decisions, but you get to understand them. Because they genuinely believe that they have no other choice. The retributive justice "an eye for an eye" is anchored so deep in our society, and those mens hearts, that it is not questioned at all... Read it for yourselves, I am not giving any more away...

I like the shade of hope, for at least one of the protagonists, that Derek gives us in the end.. 

Its not a easy read, specially not one for kids, or youths. Its raw, brutally honest and genuine. But if you like to be taken on a roller coaster ride to hell and back, this is certainly a book for you! 


Now I will just watch some TV, and rest my mind a while...