The monster inside
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Sarah Harris was a normal 6 year old girl - happy-go-lucky, playful, sensitive and popular. So what was it that made her turn, almost overnight, into an unpredictable monster, hell bent on reeking havoc in her home with almost no remorse. She was cutting up clothes, slashing electrical wiring, stealing money and pills, attempting to poison her friends - and doing the unthinkable - accusing her parents of sexual abuse
For her mother Lyndsey it was her worst nightmare. Her once sensitive and kind daughter had become a person she no longer knew. What was going on insider her daughters mind? Was she possessed by some evil monster that was controlling her mind? Or was the explanation closer to home than she had ever realised? - and was Sarah the really the villan - or the victim? Was an even worse danger lurking just around the corner, waiting to hit them with the most evil betrayal of all?
While I found this book throughly interesting and thought -provoking, I do believe it could have been made a lot shorter than it is. Lynsey seems insistant on detailing ever minute incident when there is really no need to do so at all. There are 30 chapters in all, when in actual fact the story could probably have been told in half of those chapters. Lynsey Harris does tend to drag things out, and repeats herself a dozen times a chapter. I also think that it blindingly obvious who the perpetrator is from the beginning, which means the book lacks suspence and the final reveal isn't shocking because you have already worked out what has gone on.
Otherwise though, I found 'Betrayed' an intersting - if long-winded- read and it is thoroughly sad and extraordinary at the same time. This book won 'The Richard and Judy True Story Winner' and is worth a read if you want to read something different and are not blinded by other peoples negative comments. OK the book is not a litercy masterpiece, but please remember that Lynsey Harris is not an author, she is an ordinary mother with an extraordinary tale to tell. Her family lived through a nightmare that almost destroyed them, and I think she should be commended for her resiliance and strength.
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Stupid
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I also picked this book up because it had the Richard and Judy Award; who exactly read this and recommended it? This book is badly written, and I am sorry to say the author (and mother) must be the most stupid person ever not to have realised what was going on. Normally I would read a book twice to get a perspective but I wouldn't want to bother with this one.
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This book is DREADFUL!
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I picked this up spotting that it had won a Richard and Judy prize and thought to myself "how bad could it be?" Answer: pretty awful. I'd have had a better read picking up a copy of Bella as it read like one of the "real life" articles written for women's magazines, except that the author didn't have the skill to weave it into an interesting novel. Written in a very clumsy, amateur style, this is serious dumbing down. Richard and Judy aren't doing literature any favours by giving this the thumbs up. This book makes me wish there was a 0 stars option as a 1-star seems begrudgingly generous.
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Boring
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I'm still reading this book, its the most boringly written book i have ever come across in fact i read it at bedtime when i can't sleep cos a couple of pages and i soon drift off.
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repetitive, repetetive, repetetive
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When i started reading this book, I found it was really exciting and evidently shocking. But then it became obvious very early on that the friend was the saboteur, and it just ruined the excitement. I found that all Harris wrote about was her child cutting clothes, in every single chapter. I do not doubt that the reality of her experience was a terrible one, and the betrayal felt was absolutley colossal, but i think the story could have been told in far fewer pages, with just as much impact.
It is just not a story that should be transformed into a book, the end.
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