Regret by Dan Dawkins

by Dan Dawkins

Dan blamed himself for his wife's untimely death... at first, that is. Dan, a newly published bestselling author has just begun to taste the good Money in the bank, house in a quiet neighborhood, beautiful wife. His monster of a fictional character--a wealthy, handsome, womanizing murderer--is the catalyst for Dan's good fortune, intriguing millions of readers. But when Dan sleeps with his agent on a business trip, and then confesses the whole thing to his wife in near tears, he sets off a chain of events that cause him to lose his wife and his grip on everything, including reality.Fleeing his hometown in an attempt to outrun tormenting memories, Dan lands himself in a nearly forgotten small town in Oklahoma, taking up indefinite refuge in a Bed and Breakfast. While here, Dan's demons begin to prey on his mental instability, and the character that he's thrilled his readers with begins to come off the page and out into the flesh, sending shockwaves through the otherwise peaceful town, and giving Dan some interesting and horrific ideas on how to cope with his pain.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Thriller, Amazon, Mystery Thriller, Suspense

Paperback

First published February 3, 2011

About the author

EARLY LIFE:

Dan was born on March 23rd, 1980 in Hillston, Virginia, the first and only child of Samuel and Elena Dawkins. He stayed in Hillston his whole childhood, only leaving in the fall of 1998 to attend college at Virginia Tech, a few hours away in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Although a High School football player, Dan was cut during the Hokies' Walk-On Tryouts, and with sports in his past, focused on his other passion: Writing. He chose English as his major and graduated in 2002 with a final GPA of 3.89.

After graduation, Dan returned home to Hillston. His parents had retired to Florida his senior year and left Dan their home as a graduation present. Putting his dreams of pursuing writing on hold, Dan took a position as an English teacher at his old High School.

CAREER:

Dan met his wife, Amy Ridenour, during his first year of teaching. Amy was the Creative Writing teacher at Hillston High School. They married a year later and continued their jobs as teachers.

Eventually, Dan started writing again, and soon decided to attempt to publish a book of short stories. He found an Agent (Jenna McMurray) and together they got a book deal for Dan's first book entitled The Teachers' Lounge.

The Teachers' Lounge sold extremely well, ultimately landing Dan on Best Seller's List across the country. While the book as a whole was reviewed well, the major hype seemed to focus on one story in particular: Jackson Goes Out -- a story featuring the lead male character, Jackson, a young, handsome, wealthy stock broker who moonlights as a seductive murderer.

Between the initial advance for The Teachers' Lounge, and the followed success in sales, Dan quit his job as a teacher and focused on writing full time and traveling the country promoting his work.

Tragedy:

Less than a year after the launch, and subsequent success, of The Teachers' Lounge, Dan's wife was killed in a car accident at an intersection in their hometown. Afterwards, little was heard from Dan for months. Nobody knew where he was, or how to locate him. He only resurfaced to the public after being arrested in Jacob's Bluff, Oklahoma and charged with the murder. Few details were known as to what happened to Dan in the gap between his success and then arrest, but now in his newest (and last) book, REGRET, Dan Dawkins lays it all out for us in disturbing detail, as he journals his downward spiral from successful author to the criminally insane.

Reviews

[Brandon · Rating 2 out of 5]

My overall issues with this book is the transitioning or pacing in this story (Spoilers.) Dan has a moment of weakness and sleeps with his publicist. The first couple of chapters are illuminated with his guilt and his want to atone by confessing to his wife of his infidelity. It was absolutely evident how much this action was eating him up. Coincidentally, that confession led to a dramatic spiral of events.

Dan was left with further guilt, causing him to uproot himself to a small town and leave his life behind him (At this point I felt that the story would be just that; repairing his life after this act. NOOOOO!!!) He ends up at a bed and breakfast (which ironically stopped having customers after he arrived - yes I found that odd.) After a failed suicide attempt, he appears to want to turn his life around for the better and move on (Or so you think.)

But for some reason, he ends up committing murder, and more murder and more! To make it even odder, he is now inspired to write another Dan Dawkins book highlighting his kills (This makes no sense to me!) He blames his publicist for everything that went wrong in his life. I mean no accountability at all. You watch as he "becomes" a totally different person, who can only function if he is killing/womanizing. That "change" made no sense to me. Why? Why want to write a book all of a sudden? Why kill? Why adopt this new persona out of the blue? Just made no sense.

The last thing that upset me (aside from the lack of accountability) was his disdain for Minnie. The author obviously has a hatred (for lack of a better word) for overweight women. Constantly making comments about her weight and lack of exercise etc. Quite pathetic! At the same time plugging other "real" books by this pseudonym. I just didn't understand where the author wanted to go. It went from a story of infidelity and recovery to something else, quite quickly and it made no sense to me! I doubt, I'll ever read anything from "Dan Dawkins" again!

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Leave it to a man to totally blame the woman for his infidelity. He also could have kept his mouth shut to his wife and just felt guilty. A different twist on an old tale, but not better than a two star rating from me.

[Laura Moreno · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an original story! The author takes the reader on a strange journey beginning with hope, shame, grief and finally regret. The plot will grip you and force you to turn pages long after you should have stopped and gotten around to living your own life and completing your necessary daily tasks. I was intrigued by the details given in each scene that makes you feel like you are actually watching them and not reading about them. Very well done!

[Malinda Hoard-Atkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Speechless

How real this seemed. Like it could really happen. Makes me stop and look back at things I might have done differently. In a way it's scary, but we never know what a person will do when faced with the choices this guy chose. I've met some of those people who could and would embrace their dark side. Scary!

[Rosie Fernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Read

I stumbled across this book while looking for another Lance Brody book, sadly I've read them all. Love them! This book had me from the very first page. As an avid reader, life sometimes gets in the way of reading as much as
I'd like but i HAD to finish this one quickly. And not disappointed at all! I can honestly say I'm a huge Michael Robertson, Jr. fan!

[Tammey Valenz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kept me reading

Great idea, needed to be more in depth with story line. Good concept looking forward to reading more work. Thanks

[Rachel Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun read

Fun, and a little sick and twisted. I enjoyed the story. The Rob Zombie reference was not lost on me.

[Jennifer Shirley · Rating 3 out of 5]

regret was not a regret to read

Was an interesting tale of grief and the slow road to madness. Kept my interest and I enjoyed the story.

[Teresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I walkways enjoy Michael Robertson Jrs books but this one was awful. Maybe he stopped using his pen name because Dan’s writing and stories were really bad.

[Gloria ~ mzglorybe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very odd, different, well written. Think "The Dark Half" by Stephen King but lighter. Dawkins is often humorous which makes this a different type of read. I liked it a lot in the beginning but when the main character takes on unexpected dark side I almost stopped reading it. It just seemed unrealistic, and so out of character for Dan Dawkins. He ponders often how differently his life would've turned out if he had taken different forks in the road, but yet he never asked himself why he was so determined to unload his guilty conscience onto his wife. If he had kept quiet none of what transpired would have altered his life to this degree... but then this novel wouldn't take place.

Slight spoilers ahead: Actually, I'm glad I chose to continue with the story even though I found it far-fetched that he Jekyll/Hyded us. Apparently it can happen, but rarely. The remainder of the story even though it had some gruesome scenes, kept me interested in the outcome. I was surprised the outcome didn't come around sooner. I expected the guy who issued him his fake I.D. to anonymously report the name to the police after it was broadcast all over the local news, or for someone in town to recognize him.

The main character is named the same as the author, Dan Dawkins, so I'm going to research why -- that itself is unusual, unless perhaps this is an autobiography instead of fiction. The characters are very well developed. I especially liked how he wrote about the old couple he stayed with after leaving town and settling in Oklahoma. You felt like you know these people. A more descriptive title might have been "Jackson Whole" or "The Making of a Murderer."

[Misha Mayhem · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was fantastic! It follows teacher and author, Dan Dawkins, through the consequences of his poor decisions, as he spirals more and more out of control, eventually becoming the monster which he created in one of his dark pieces of fiction. It serves as a reminder that with every action, comes consequences and that no one is invincible from said consequences. I think it's also a warning to not trust everyone you come across, no matter how nice they may seem, because lurking beneath, could be a very damaged and disturbed soul, waiting to go on a killing spreeThis book was fantastic! It follows teacher and author, Dan Dawkins, through the consequences of his poor decisions, as he spirals more and more out of control, eventually becoming the monster which he created in one of his dark pieces of fiction. It serves as a reminder that with every action, comes consequences and that no one is invincible from said consequences. I think it's also a warning to not trust everyone you come across, no matter how nice they may seem, because lurking beneath, could be a very damaged and disturbed soul, waiting to go on a killing spree.

[Ame · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. It kept me interested for the most part but around Chapter 43 I ended up skipping ahead to Chapter 50 just to see if he got caught or not because I was sick of waiting. I enjoyed reading it mainly for the psychological components and watching Dan's mental state deteriorate. I didn't find it particularly thrilling or suspenseful, however. A good story but it maybe could have been told with more punch.

Another reviewer had mentioned this book didn't "make sense" and that "the author" has a problem with overweight people. I thought it was fairly obvious that Dan was suffering from a mental health disorder given his state of mind early in the book. While actions by people who suffer mental health disorders might not make sense to those without them, I think it's safe to say that having such a disorder is a good enough reason for Dan's actions to make sense. As for the weight issues, I don't think one can say the author (Robertson) has issues, only the character Dan Dawkins. It was another glimpse into the shallowness of Dan's true character, IMO.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think the author had a great idea for the story in the book. I think where it went wrong was that it was just too slow and it just took forever for things to get moving; things did not happen fast enough to hold my attention. I also think the main character seemed kind of shallow to me. He obviously cared about his wife, but I really saw no passion in him for anything else, no reason for him doing the things he was doing, the murders he was committing. I needed to see some more emotion from him, make him more real. The other characters in the book were well developed and likable; however, I had a hard time thinking they were stupid enough to not know Dan was a killer. I also need to make comment on the editing, as many other reviews did here. It was pretty poor to the point of being a distraction to the reader. As I said before, the story in general could have been good but it just got sidelined by too much fluff.

[Gweicha Dyudee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not much of a suspense, thriller, action, killing-spree type of reader, but this is definitely a page-turner. It's kind of a good tactic to tell a story like you'r actually part of it. the mystery of it all is what's keeping you holding onto the book. the character development is good, if you were in his position, you'd understanding where he's coming from. also, his final message at the end is the highlight of it all. we should all understand that we have limitations, and whenever we feel we can't take it any longer, we are allowed to seek help. because we are humans, we bend and sometimes we just break.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's written in a very stream-of-consciousness manner but not necessarily in a good way. I didn't really get into the book until I was about 40% of the way in and even after that I went in and out of it. Some parts were surprising - some parts I anticipated so far ahead of when they actually occurred in the book.

***partial spoiler***

I did like the interaction of Dan with Jackson and how Dan worked out the main differences between him and Jackson. Mannerisms, dress, cars, money, etc.

Overall the writing could not save this book for me. The potential is there but the book could use some additional editing.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really.got into this book during the first half, which only made the second half that much more disappointing.

The writing style is okay, but the story makes little sense. Dan's turn to a murderer is illogical and unbelievable. Because he seems so intelligent, his sudden decision to become what he does just ripped me right out of the story. All suspension of disbelief left, and part of me didn't even want to finish the book. The ending was stale and uninteresting, and given the plentiful typographical errors at the end, was probably rushed.

I only give it two stars for both the pacing, which was good, and the potential the story had. I don't recommend bothering with this book though.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another free book I found on Book Bub that was great. I suggest everyone with an e reader sign up for it, I get the occasional dud like Everflame but usually get a very entertaining story.
A twisted, fast moving tale of love, lust, insanity, and revenge. The weird thing about it was it is written in first person by a character named Dan Dawkins which is also the real authors name, almost like it was a true story. Like if the Alex Cross books were actually written by Alex Cross. A nice little twist by the author, very well done.

[Krissi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I returned to this author after reading another book of his that I also enjoyed.....Rough Draft. I give very few books 5 stars, but I truly had a hard time putting this one down. I suggest not reading much background and going in blindly. Some things were expected for me, and some were not. Characters were very well developed and I clearly visualized each scene (and there are some graphic scenes if you are squeamish, FYI, but not as graphic as the average horror movie made nowadays.

I will be a returning reader, again :)

[April Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel takes you on a completely unexpected ride! What starts out as a light hearted humorous tale, quickly delves into dark and twisted rage.. I was hoping the entire book had the upbeat comic retelling of life after a loved ones death, but this was written wonderfully! Completely engrossing considering something like this is possible and has happened to people. After the first two chapters, it's a totally different story, but a very good one that I'd recommend!

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read alot of the reviews before reading this book, and I thought it was totally engrossing, I was caught up from the first chapter, and couldn't put it down. For those concentrating on miss spelled words and language, unless it's numerous times on one page or out of control, I don't pay attention to it. I read a book for the story itself, not to complain about errors. THIS BOOK is worth the read, from beginning to end!

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

At only 27% into the book on my Kindle, I found multiple errors that any decent editor should have caught. More followed. Very distracting. I'm glad the book was a freebie from Pixel of Ink. The plot moved along too slowly for me. It wasn't a terrible book. The plot line was interesting, and many descriptions & phrases had very unique wording, which I enjoyed. Some of the events were just too unbelievable, and it's difficult for me to look past that.

[Rob Mikal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Highly entertaining. This book explores quite a few different emotions, as it's at times witty, touching, dark, and gruesome. The point of view is also interesting, causing you to at times completely sympathize with a killer.

The pace keeps you reading and the style is a perfect fit for this story. Highly recommend.

[Rashmi Pant · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael Robertson Jr. writes this book as a first hand narrative under the name of Dan Dawkins. It is a good book that details the rise and eventual fall of an author, who gives into his psychopathy.. brought on by a mistake and eventual turn of events. Goes on to show that there is an element of both good and bad within all of us.

[belinda banks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

This book was a very good read. It kept me reading from the beginning to the end as fast as I could go because I just had to find out how the story ended. I must say I really liked how it ended! Kudos to the author. This book is truly a page turner and it will keep you guessing until the end

[Gaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read! You will not want to put this book down. Regret has love, suspense, tragedy, wit, and murder. It will definitely entertain you, but, at the same time, will make you realize how just one regretful night can change your life forever.

[Lori Bashline · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a weird little book. The plot is not very believable and there is something missing as far as character development. But the way it is written is interesting and it was good for an afternoon.

[Dash · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am giving up on this book. I hate not finishing books but it has become a chore to read. All the action so far happened in the first few pages of the book and now nothing is happening. It might get interesting but if you can get there in the first half of the book you don't deserve my time.

[Elise Bell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a free book through Book Bub, and I was pretty impressed with it. I like the protagonist, Dan Dawkins, as you get to know him so well throughout the book - despite his complete transformation half way through.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hmm how to review this.. Dan the author has a mental break after sleeping with his agent then confessing to his wife. Dan has been writing about Jackson who is a murderer and his books are very successful. Dan takes on Jackson's identity and becomes his character. I was mesmerized. Good book!

[Crystal Rafuse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished this book and all I have to say is wow. Just wow. Everything I complained about being too slow-paced in the beginning picked up with a bang in the second half of this book, and I couldn't put it down until the end! Fantastic story!