Regret

He wasn't bitter. It went deeper than that. It was disgust with himself for his own weak nature. And something else. Something that he could barely bring himself to admit ...

Matthew Wesker, a city dweller at heart, moves to the stagnating town of Cedar to take up a teaching job. Out of his depth in the bush, he's opposed to guns and afraid of what they might bring out in him. So when his girlfriend invites him to join a weekend shooting trip at Regret Falls, he goes with reluctance, torn between his conscience and his desire to please. In an atmosphere of sexual jealousy, racial tension and personal humiliations, what seems like paradise becomes a hellish nightmare, a fatal brew that leads inevitably to tragedy.

'A smoothly written psychological thriller that echoes the disorientation and culture shock of Ken Cook's Wake in Fright... a page-turning mystery of jealousy, corrupted idealism and racial tension. Brimming with fluent and cool intelligence.' - Ian McFarlane, CANBERRA SUNDAY TIMES

'In exploring notions of identity, Kennedy Williams is adept at exhibiting the limited nature of his characters without resorting to the laziness of patronising them... Regret is a substantial novel by an accomplished author.' – Bronte Adams, AUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW

'Fear of the bush and mistrust of the unknown stemming from white ignorance generate this thriller that simmers with racial and sexual tension.' – Debra Adelaide, THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD