Book Review - Devil's Child

Devil's Child
by Jerry Coyne

277 Pages

Child abuse is not a pleasant topic to discus, but I think that it is a necessary topic that isn't spoken of enough. I think it is because of this division between the everyday person and these damaged souls that these kinds of abusers continue to exist. Jerry is three months old when he is abandoned by his parents who are able but unwilling to care for him and his five older siblings, all six children are given to the Catholic Children's Society, the first four years at the Nazareth house for Jerry are how every child should be raised, he was loved, nurtured and properly cared for. Sister Dominic enters the home, immediately deciding that Jerry is the Devil's Child she beast and abuses him. She convinces other nuns of house Nazareth that it is their duty to cast the devil out of him thought nightly beatings, sleep deprivation and mental/verbal torture. By the time he is 12 he is sent to Knossington Grange a boarding school for wayward boys he has been taught that the beatings are his fault, no one wants him and no one loves him. He begins to self harm and contemplates suicide. At Knossington he is sexually abused until the age of 15, at 16 he leaves the school attempting to begin his life, given no skills and little education he is homeless until he is taken in by Arthur a kind, generous man from his childhood. He is 28 when he first tells his story to a solicitor, after attempting and almost succeeding at suicide.

Below is more discussion and detail about the book
It is unimaginable to me that one person could harm a child in any way. The fact that an entire establishment of people entrusted to raise children was seemingly easily convinced to harm a 4 year old boy is revolting. Inflicted upon him where; sever beatings, being thrown into an open grave and told he was going to be buried alive, being submersed in freezing water, being deprived of sleep, deprived of food. Not to mention verbal and mental abuse saying that there was something wrong with him, that he deserved punishments, withholding love, instilling self hatred and a lack of self worth. While Jerry was emotionally isolated he recognized that he was only one of the children being harmed. How many others over the course of years had to endure? The lasting effects of such mistreatment include, self hatred, lack of self confidence, difficulty forming relationships with others, trust issues (understandably), self harm, suicidal, Jerry developed a severe speech impediment.
Constantly having his hopes raised that he will escape his situation and go to live with either his father or his mother (they separated), a foster parent, be adopted only to have those hopes crush and the lesson that he is unwanted reenforced over and over again.

Knossington Grange was an escape from the Narareth house but a situation of the Devil you know, and out of the frying pan and into the fire. Although there is only one abuser in Jerry's situation from the age of 11-15, the sexual abuse appeared to be the final straw completely destroying his soul and spirit.

I am a believer in evil, i know that it comes in many forms. While those physically harming children are monsters the people who turn a blind eye are just as guilty over the course of his life Jerry attempted to tell multiple people (social workers, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists) and was told he was a liar repeatedly, although his behaviour problems should have indicated to professionals that something was not right. Even when the adults were aware that boys where being molested they chose to simply let Alan Johnson walk away instead of doing the right thing and involving the police. It is this handing off of responsibility that is sickening, these people must have decided that it was someone else's job to report what was going on, they didn't want to become involved. At any stage of a child's abuse an outside force becoming involved would completely change the outcome of that child's life.

Outwardly these damage children are often angry, introverted, anti-social and rebellious. The repressed hurt building up into this unstoppable uncontrollable anger that causes them to lash out at random. Society as a whole should be aware of how to identify these children so that they can be helped, where as they are often labeled lost causes and hopeless.