Killing Richard Dawson

by Robin Baker

A gripping and poignant black comedy about love, friendship, booze, morality, death…. And a generation's casual dissatisfaction with modern life.In this darkly comic, slow-burn thriller, reality is blurred… nothing can be taken for granted. A gripping and poignant black comedy about love, friendship, booze, morality, death…. And a generation's casual dissatisfaction with modern life. Sometimes, redemption lies in the darkest of places.A gripping and poignant black comedy about love, friendship, booze, morality, death…. And a generation's casual dissatisfaction with modern life.In this darkly comic, slow-burn thriller, reality is blurred… nothing can be taken for granted. A gripping and poignant black comedy about love, friendship, booze, morality, death…. And a generation's casual dissatisfaction with modern life. Sometimes, redemption lies in the darkest of places.A gripping and poignant black comedy about love, friendship, booze, morality, death…. And a generation's casual dissatisfaction with modern life.In this darkly comic, slow-burn thriller, reality is blurred… nothing can be taken for granted. A gripping and poignant black comedy about love, friendship, booze, morality, death…. And a generation's casual dissatisfaction with modern life. Sometimes, redemption lies in the darkest of places.

434 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Also published as R. Robin Baker

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not sure who the target audience is for this book but it wasn't me. I really had to push myself to finish it. Whilst an easy read, Killing Richard Dawson gets boring fast; the crux of the story is about love, life, and loss, all played out across nightclubs and drab inner conflict. There's murder thrown in to keep things interesting but the level of interest is minor at best. There's a twist too but that is easily picked to those with a keen eye for detail (or without, it's easy enough to work out how it's going to end). I won this book via an online competition so at least it didn't cost me anything aside from a couple of reading sessions. Sometimes books just don't work out and unfortunately, Killing Richard Dawson didn't connect with me.

[Marguerita Gomez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book for 2 reasons:

1. I was curious about a Western Australian author, seeing as I live in Perth.
2. I needed a read that combined black humour and extreme discomfort, to help cleanse my palate between the chick-lit and conspiracy theory books I had been swimming in.

The first half of the book had an eerie, disconcerting milieu that kept me glued as the narrator navigated (in retrospect) through his interactions from early childhood to the present company he keeps. The mystery behind Dawson, and why he is being watched had me skipping sleep to get to the bottom of it.

However, somewhere past the 1/2 way mark, you start to realise the obvious clues that lead to the final twist and Baker loses sight of the pace as he painfully tries to tie everything together for the big finish.

Still, it is an admirable debut towards classic satire but not the (dark) reprieve I had so needed.

[Annie Drewello · Rating 4 out of 5]

I REALLY enjoyed this. A very random find when I did an Amazon search for something completely different, once I started I couldn't put it down. There were a few twists in here... One I saw coming a mile away. The other not so much and I actually gasped when I figured it out. The author has a very interring narrative voice, it was fun to read. A very dark tale, but left me with much to think about, it almost made me wish I were in school so I could write a book report to digest it.

[Janelle Varlow · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book club book and certainly not my cup of tea. It was made even worse by the comparison with Dexter in Catcher in the Rye. However it was a league above “Catcher” and nowhere near as annoying but nonetheless annoying in the main characters inability to see reason and deal with his demons by seeking help from the obvious sources. Can’t say I would recommend this book to others but it did have its redeeming features and I didn’t struggle to finish it.

[Andrew Walton · Rating 3 out of 5]

The end was the best part, obvious in the way it built up.

[Tracey Allen at Carpe Librum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Killing Richard Dawson is narrated by a uni student with a tragic back story now living alone with his Gran. He's visited once a fortnight by a young social worker who checks on his Gran's welfare as well as his own, although he's been keeping his real thoughts and emotions well hidden from her for years.

Lonely as a child until he met his best friend George, the narrator has never had much luck pursuing girls or socialising. He makes a friend at University - calling her Fatty Mel - and soon falls into a wider group of friends who go to nightclubs, get drunk and hang out. He is depressed, directionless and unmotivated until he meets Jade, a turning point in the book.

The friends belong to Generation Y, and whilst we've all heard countless stereotypes of Gen Y, this conversation between the narrator and his friend Beau on page 160 really stuck with me:

"Why can't we fix it? If we're all so depressed, why can't we do something to change?"

Beau shrugs. "Because we're all so fucking lazy? I mean, where do you start? Changing the world isn't easy. It's a scary thought. Most people would much rather bury their head in the sand and wait for it to fix itself."

And there you have it, although Beau's answer can apply to anyone too lazy to change.

Back to the story, and Robin Baker brings a fresh new voice to Australian writing. In one particular beach scene it was set up so logically I believed the outcome was 100% predictable until the joke was on me, the author flipping the plot on its head. Similarly, I had a feeling I knew what was happening with a particular character during the novel and then wham, towards the end I found myself scrambling back through the pages scouring for clues.

When it was all over, I turned straight back to re-read Chapter One - which serves as a prologue - with an entirely new appreciation.

Killing Richard Dawson is the exploration of a young man with a sympathetic and difficult past trying to find his place in the world, depressed, confused and falling in love. It's dark, it's surprising and it's strangely comic.

[Terri-Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I STRONGLY recommend this first book by Robin Baker, a promising and very talented new author from Perth in Western Australia.
When I first picked up this book I must admit that I wasn't enticed to read it. The back cover merely quotes a line from the book 'The phone rings. It's Jesus. I listen to him speak and then hang up...' For one it didn't really give much indication what the story was about and two, I assumed (wrongly as hindsight would show) that it was probably about some guy getting all religious. Definitely not something a very non-religious person wants to be reading. Well, for certain reasons I decided to give it a try and I was SO glad I did. The first page hooked me immediately. As I continued reading the first chapter I found myself somewhat confused and yet very intrigued and there was no way I could put it down then, I just had to find out how the story would unfold. I was not disappointed. I found Robin's writing style to be very refreshing and clever. He didn't bog the story down with unnecessary detail and kept me intrigued and engaged from beginning to end. He also had me caring for the central character, even when he turns out to be not such a very nice guy.
This book would probably especially appeal to guys in their 20s, but I urge everyone to give it a try (I'm a female in mid thirties and thoroughly enjoyed it).

[Simone · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was excited to read this book from the minute I received the email from Dymocks. The idea seemed promising-a young Perth author with a debut novel. While the novel started well, it faltered towards the middle, seemingly losing pace that it never quite seemed to gain. Again it is a debut novel so I will wait and see what happens with the next one he writes.

[Dee-Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dark novel, well written but when I got to the end still found it hard to work out what was real and what was not, including that of the father. It got me thinnking of ants a lot ... which is not pleasant.

[The Bookshop Umina]

A dark read that I wanted to like but it just didn't win me over.

[Kirstyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but very predictable

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are periods where it seems the author is trying to be Bret Easton Ellis (not necessarily a bad thing), but overall this is quite a good first effort.

[Johanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

The first half seem promising and then ran out of steam. I skim-read the last chapters and didn't feel like I'd missed much. I also guessed the ending somewhere around chapter 4.

[Jillian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not always an easy story to follow and at times downright unpleasant. It has some shocks and surprises along the way and the final twist leaves you gasping.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The slow-build story of a sociopath. There were twists and curiosities, but I was left feeling a little empty as a side effect of the detached violence.