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Customer Review
- Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2023Riveting and soul crushing, I couldn’t put this book down. My first time reading anything by Gregg Olsen. I’m not well versed in non-fiction, but I thought he did a fantastic job at making me feel horrified and angry for these three sisters who grew up in abject terror of their mother and did everything in their power to just make it out alive.
At times I was shocked at all the times no one did anything to leave or get help. But I forget how pervasive fear is. The whole “don’t rock the boat” mentality. I should know better because I was raised by a violently turbulent mother who could be the sweetest, funniest and lovable person and in matter of seconds (always feels instantaneous) turn into the devil. I saw a little bit of myself in each of the sisters. The living inside your head fantasizing about revenge or better yet leaving them behind and forgotten for good and then the sicker and more confusing part of you that still loves them and yearns for the unconditional love in return. But this mother was unhinged 24/7 and completely unredeemable. EVIL.
These children were conditioned their entire lives by this “master manipulator” (gaslighting a very powerful tactic) that this is what family is. This what’s normal behavior. But they knew deep in their souls that this wasn’t right. The children I could understand. They were too afraid to speak out because they had been taught that they had no where to go. Their worse fear was that no one would believe them (because sometimes they had a hard time believing, “aka understanding” it themselves) and being brought to even greater heights of torture in retaliation. What I had trouble fathoming were the so called adults.
I suppose that shouldn’t have shocked me either, because I’m more than aware that most adults don’t have it all together and can live the majority of their lives in a perpetual state of ignorance. It’s so easy. Out of sight out of mind and all that nonsense.
But some people, like Shelly, who was referenced as an apex predator throughout this story had that uncanny ability to sense and then weed out the very vulnerable. People who needed a friend. Were given the barest of minimums in kindness and support and then had it all taken away. By that point they were already in too deep to really understand what they had gotten themselves into. Broke my heart. There are so many lost souls in this world just trying to figure things out and at the same time willing to give everything they have to offer to others. Making it easier to be taken advantage of, which would be bad enough.
But these unfortunate souls had the bad luck to make contact with Shelly. And be sucked into her abyss of gaslighting, finger pointing and violent rhetoric that had everyone under her roof a husk of their former selves. And that’s what she thrived off of. Like a vampire sucking the life out of her intended victim. She’d drain them of their confidence, free will and any sense of purpose until they were as empty as she was.
It’s hard to imagine that some people are just born evil. But I 100% believe that Shelly is one of those people. Maybe she’s missing something in her brain that provides the ability to truly empathize with others and know what it means to do right by someone other than themselves. But Shelly lacked all of the qualities that make us truly human. I know we all have the ability to be savage and take on the world when we’re being cornered. But Shelly, even as a little girl relished in her ability to be rotten.
There was a family history of abuse and neglect. Maybe it was in the blood or learned behavior? Maybe it was too late for Shelly to change by the time she was already brought to live with her estranged father at 6 years old? That’s terrifying.
There are no answers as to why this woman did what she did. It’s frustrating that so many people were aware of the situation and did nothing, but it’s not hard to understand why. If not for her inherent laziness and her incredible sense of entitlement, she could have been the leader of a cult that took over entire communities or a country if her vision went beyond just humiliating and dominating over one person at a time. She was so very good at lying and manipulating. Not everyone bought into. But she knew how to pick her battles and who to mess with. She was always in it to win it. She just never realized that her crimes would come to light by her own daughters. Her original victims. The girls by all accounts should have been her own mirror images. But they were born with a conscious. And after years of trying to make it out and stay out they could finally do the one thing that was never an option before. Stand up to the monster.
I’m emotionally wrecked after reading this. But it’s paced so well and the subject matter really hits home. Triggering for sure, but written in a way that makes it hard to put down. Sorry for this incredibly long and irrelevant review.
