1 out of 4 stars
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Dayne Fuller is a single father who treasures time with his teenage son, Anthony. When Anthony and his girlfriends want to go out and party, Dayne makes a snap decision to allow them to drink at home. He puts himself in a further compromising position by drinking with them. His worst nightmare begins a few weeks later when one of the girls accuses him of sexual abuse. The Sex Offender: Falsely Accused, Wrongly Convicted, Labeled for Life by Rocky Taormina is the fictional novel based on actual events of a father’s battle against the judicial system.
I’m a huge fan of legal thrillers and true-crime stories, so I was hooked when I read the book’s subtitle and intriguing synopsis. The foreword stated that all the characters and events are based on real people and real actions. However, rather than being signed by the author or his pen name, Dane Fowler, it was signed by the fictional name of the main character, Dayne Fuller. With the close resemblance of the two names, and because the author’s actual name was on the cover, it left me with the impression that there must have been a typo. Later in the book, I learned that the use of both names was intentional, though the reason was unclear to me. Unfortunately, similar inconsistencies were a constant throughout the book.
At first, the plot moves at a fast pace and is easy to follow. Even so, I was unable to relate to Dayne’s character whom the author portrays as a good-looking, cool dad that women of all ages seem to find irresistible. Even the court reporter is flirtatious with him during his criminal trial. His use of words like "babelicious" to describe female characters along with his constant emphasis on their physical appearance distanced me from the character even more.
When the plot seems to be winding down to a natural conclusion, the author changes voice and adapts his pen name, Dane Fowler. At this point, previous parts of the storyline are repeated resulting in over a hundred more pages. The extra length only adds confusion, and then to my frustration, the book ends abruptly.
I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. It’s apparent the book wasn’t professionally edited based on the numerous editorial issues. I noted grammatical errors on almost every page. Furthermore, I’ve never read a book that contained so many misspelled words. The plot has great potential, but I honestly wouldn’t recommend it unless the editorial issues are corrected.
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The Sex Offender
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