Dean Men - Book Review

Priyam's review of Dead Men

Read on July 08, 2011

One of my best reads ever! That I completed the book in less than 24 hours should give you a hint how gripping it was. Never a pretty read but a stunning work of reality. Beneath all the ‘ugliness’ (as the author points out) one appreciates the sensitivity of the characters. Not quite perfect, but undoubtedly human. With flaws, regrets, qualities and scars as anyone else. Life, of course, goes on and Hope, at the end of the day, is the fuel we all need to survive. The author makes it clear at the beginning with: “A story that may surprise, offend or shock, but will certainly not be forgotten.” He is, as always, correct.


Picking up a book about reality in its most honest form is never easy. Thinking that some people actually go through all that is even harder. Perhaps it isn’t a mystery that fantasy sells so well. We all seek the unreal to avoid ‘ugly’ reality. Those caught up in that reality are shady figures. Sometimes books like these are needed for a dose of reality. To tell the stories about the shady figures that we neglect or forget to care about.


A page turner, as all his other books, this author can always connect with you. His characters stay with you. You can almost watch them in your head. That is how strong an effect he has with his writing. His word play and mixing of the visual element with the overall mood is stunning too. You might even be tempted to reread some portions that are truly emotive. Then you’d keep going back to it. One cannot help but appreciate the act of bravery that this book is. A memorable read!

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Dead Men - Book Review

Thought provoking
Review by By Tracytid
Review of Dead Men (Kindle)

Dead Men tells the story of three men, each from different backgrounds, who are thrown together when each of them experiences a relationship breakdown. We follow them as they deal with the aftermath of adultery and divorce which in turn leads to them losing their homes, their jobs, contact with their children and which for one of the men, ends with a prison term.

I didn't expect to like this book and at times it's not an easy read. We see the men turn bitter as they feel society turn against them but I think it's a testament to the quality of Derek Haines's writing that I ended up caring about the characters, each of whom were pretty disagreeable at times. This book challenges the idea of the neanderthal Aussie bloke as each of the men are forced, by their circumstances, to confront their feelings, maybe for the first time in their lives. We see their struggle to reconcile their inner Alpha Male with the kind of behaviour that modern society expects from them. As a woman I found it offered a different perspective on the breakdown of the modern family. It's a book that certainly makes you think.

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Dead Men - Book Review

The Hell of Divorce
Reviewed by Mary Crocco
This a review of Dead Men (Kindle)

This is a story about the hell of divorce from the point of view of three men. They are angry, bitter, depressed, and lonely. They have lost their jobs, homes, and their children. Any money they eventually earn goes to child-support. They feel the Family Court favors women and they try to beat the system. These men did not exactly grow up in nurturing homes, which definitely adds to their outlooks on life.

Within a few months, divorce turned three men into confused and bored women haters. David and Tony’s wives discarded them, both had cheated on them. Steve felt his wife measured him by his salary, which he increased with petty criminal activities.

David, an innovative salesman; Tony, a hard working owner of a transport company; and Steve, a well-qualified and dependable accountant, are reduced to feeling useless and worthless to their families and society in general. They end up twisting their skills using illegal activities.

The story begins in their birth city of Perth, Australia. The men move to Sydney, Australia where they all meet by chance, calling themselves The Three Musketeers. This is where the story develops. The reader experiences the trials and tribulations these men experience during and after their divorces. We listen to the ramblings of broken men who can’t be seen as weak. They don’t know how to talk about their emotions and/or feelings in a healthy way. We watch how they do handle life, which isn’t very pretty.

Readers will have different opinions regarding how the story ends for Tony and Steve. David’s ending, where he meets his match, will have readers hoping for the best for him.

The book is dark as the story is rough. Derek Haines strength is developing his characters, and he does an extraordinary job describing three distasteful men who deal with their circumstances in the only way they knew how. While doing so, he does offer his readers a different perspective in the difficult matter of the hell of divorce.

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Dead Men - Book Review

Reviewed by Natalie Valentina
This a review of Dead Men (Kindle)

This time, Derek Haines goes more Dostojewski, than Adams, more boulevard of broken dreams, than the creation Of Sun and Moon by Michelangelo
It 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, almost something like a sympathies, or compunction...

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!

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Dead Men - Book Review

A thought provoking read
Reviewed by Irish Eyes
This review is from: Nobody's Fault (Paperback) (Reissued as Dead Men)

This is a tale of three men all dealing with relationship breakdowns which in itself makes it very different. As a woman I found it fascinating to see things from the other side of the story and Haines gets across, in very raw, real, terms the anguish a man goes through when he has to relinquish his children. This is a book that you won't put down and forget but will mull over for sometime afterwards.....