Mother's Boys

Anyone who can remember their school years will attest to the fact that children are capable of truly heinous acts. As with Michael and Ben, their need to be accepted, and included is usually the causative factor. Sometimes, like Kestor, they're just very, very, wrong. Normally I consider any book under 500 pages as 'fluff' reading. I was profoundly disturbed. Put this book on your shelf next to 'Lord of the Flies'. It is a classic study of evil, and things falling apart. The fact that it revolves around children makes this book all the more horrifying.

Where does one draw the line between pathology and evil? Judith (the mother) is a very needy, completely irresponsible woman, and her actions are hideously destructive. She is obviously mentally ill, but does this illness let her off the moral hook for the damage she does to everyone who has ever loved her? Judith probably would have been admired during the Seventies...she is free of any sort of inhibition. Had I met a person like Judith when I was in my Twenties, I suspect I would have been drawn to her, envied her, and wished I could be more like her, until I saw the destruction she created. She is an amazing, terrifying, utterly detestable character, and I wish the author had written more about her. This is a deeply disturbing book.

Judith walks out on her family and demands a divorce. Years later she practically ignores her two younger children, Daisy and Ben but wants her two older sons Kester and Michael to be around her all the time. All four children love their mother and Kester and Michael adore her. Judith plays the victim of the divorce and blames everything wrong with her life on her ex husband and on his new girlfriend Netta. She brainwashes Michael and Kester into thinking all her misery can be overcome and their family back together if they get Netta out of the picture. Both boys hate Netta, especially Kester and when they learn of their father's intentions to marry her they have to stop this from happening at all costs. This is a sensational thriller which takes you into the minds of children who have been made evil by an even more evil and manipulative woman. A must read for anyone who is a kid, has a kid or plans on having a kid. This book will scare you for years after reading it.