Stories like this break my heart. There is no lower life form than those that prey on the young and vulnerable. Jerry Sandusky is truly a despicable human being and it appalls me that so many people "turned a blind eye" to what he was doing with these young boys. And his wife! Where was she when he was sexually abusing young boys in the basement of their family home. Disgusting. Sandusky irreparably damaged so many boys, so many families.
Aaron, with the help of his psychologist, Mike, and his mother, Dawn, shares his traumatic story. Sandusky started "grooming" Aaron at 11 years old. He started sexually molesting Aaron at 12 years old. To make this tragedy even worse, by the time Aaron was brave enough to report the abuse when he was 14, it took another four years for a case to be brought to court against Sandusky. One significant roadblock of course was Sandusky's prominence in the community and his association with Penn State. Another significant roadblock was finding Sandusky's other victims and encouraging some of them to come forward. Fortunately, in the end, several men came forward to share their own abuse. I am sure there were many, many more victims that didn't come forward.
I do not understand why anyone at all, for any reason, would not take action to stop an obvious rape of a young boy in a shower. Yes, it was reported, but no action was ever taken by ANYONE. I don't care how prestigious a college is, go to the police!! Go to child protection!! Do SOMETHING.
It was super brave of Aaron to tell his story. He was able to take down Sandusky in the end, despite the hardships that befell him and his family. Thankfully, Mike and Dawn were persistent to the end. If it wasn't for them, I'm not sure Sandusky would have been stopped. What makes me super sad that at the end of the book, Aaron has plans to work in the criminal justice system, either as a police officer or with some other "protection agency". I wondered if he was able to follow through with his goals, so I googled him. All I could find is an article saying that he lived in relative isolation and worked on cars at a shop. Again, it's absolutely heartbreaking how much damage was done to so many at the hands of a monster.
Wendy's Rating: *****
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