Saturday, January 18, 2014

Stalkers, Rapists, Killers & Pedophiles-The Nasties of the World.

I come to the blog post today trying to clear my worst memories of something that happened when I was a child, and to talk about the book by Tami Hoag, Down the Darkest Road, which brought back these memories. I wasn't going to post this, tried to quit thinking about it. But, now I feel I have to. It's a subject that doesn't come up all that often, and maybe it should. Here is the book.

Here is description of the book:
Four years after Lauren Lawton's sixteen-year-old daughter disappeared, the world gave up the girl for dead. Lauren's husband took his own life. Her younger daughter is looking only for what's left of her childhood. But Lauren never surrendered. She knows who took her child, and there's not a shred of evidence against him.
Looking for a fresh start, Lauren and her younger daughter Leah move to idyllic Oak Knoll. So has Lauren's suspect. And it feels that history is about to repeat itself.

Leah is turning sixteen, and Oak Knoll has a cunning predator on the hunt. But as sheriff's detective Tony Mendez and his team sift through the circumstances of an increasingly disturbing case, a stunning question changes everything they thought they knew...

Tami Hoag is one of my favorite authors of suspense/detective works. I think I must have dog-eared and highlighted every book I've ever had of hers--except for this last one, since I didn't want to mar it up, as it was a hardbound. I read such books for enjoyment, but also as learning tools. And I must say this one hit me where I live, because a pedophile lived next to me while I grew up.

Yep. Only back then, you didn't know about such things. They didn't have neighborhood warnings about such people taking up residence next to you. I recall people whispering about him having gone to jail for something he had done to a little girl. I didn't know what that could mean. In fact, in her book Tami has placed this in the 1980's, and they didn't have DNA like they do now, and couldn't keep known sexual offenders away from schools, like they do now. In the book, it made it difficult for the police to do their job, and gave the offender more rights than the victims--which sucks.

This man who lived next to me was married. He collected junk, and filled his house and garage with junk. He would come into our house, not knocking, and call out--but he never came further than the doorway--at least I don't think so. But I could be wrong, since such unsavory creatures tend to feed their own depravity by stealing underwear of the women they stalk, and I know he stalked me. He drove an old van--always painted aqua, or some ridiculous color. I know he worked for the college (so he could look at all the young women and fantasize about them).

And he tried to touch me once--I think I was 14 or 15 at the time. Yep. I told him I'd scream if he didn't let me go. And he did. I was really lucky. Lucky his wife was home, right next to the van, and that he had fear enough to leave me be. But I still had to live next to him. I later learned he had taken pictures of me in my yard--something I had suspected. I felt he always had watched me, and then I had proof, not that I needed it.

This book by Tami Hoag was really good. I thought I had it figured out, but she twisted it in a way that was really surprising. It dredged up some unpleasant memories. But it also made me realize how lucky I am.

I have been working on my WIP, and the whole stalker, serial killer thing fuels the detectives in this case--until they find out the stalkers, and serial killers are not human. I try to help my writing about the detectives in the book with the help of other writers like Tami Hoag, in order to get down the lingo, background and police procedural. My nephew has helped me too, since he is with the sheriff's police, and has been for 30 years. I've talked to him about guns and such. It's interesting. I find it a challenge to blend reality with my vampire writing. It's a challenge to blur the edges and make the reader believe this could happen.


Next time I'll post something more up-beat. Until then...




10 comments:

  1. I had something happen to me by one of the neighborhood boys when I was six. I'll never forget it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Some things you simply can't let go of. I've got a few memories that won't go away, too.

      Delete
  2. That is a lot to share... but perhaps cathartic? I can see why reading this would dredge up unpleasant memories.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes. Possibly by purging this in a public way helps me feel somewhat relieved of it. It's odd that I hadn't remembered this until I read this book. I mean, it was there, packed away, just not something I carry with me day to day.

      Delete
  3. True, there wasn't the openness and the information that one has today, but sensible mothers warned their daughters. My mother did and she was born in 1900. She also put the fear of God in me about one of my uncles (by marriage). She had warned me when I was three never to be in a room alone with him and if he tried to touch me to start screaming, kicking, and/or running. Fortunately, they lived over 200 miles from us and I never saw him again. She warned me about other things also.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah, yes. by then, my mother was dead a few years. And the "funny uncle" lived 2,000 miles away. Good to have mothers who you can go to about things like this.

      Delete
  4. Yikes! Yeah, not a happy story. A school friend of mine went to jail for that sort of thing. We had been close, too. These kinds of stories are best when they're only in thrillers, am I right? That's as close to us as we need them to be.
    Sorry I've been gone so long. It seems to be getting worse before it gets better. This past week I actually worked about 70 hours. Not good. Hopefully 2014 will get easier and I can find the time for visits with my pals.
    Have a great week, my friend. *waves*

    -Jimmy

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello, my friend. Yep. Better to read about in a book. Living it is no fun. but like I said, I was very lucky this guy had some scruples left.

    Wow. 70 hours. That's so inhumane! I hope things get better soon, Jimmy!
    Waves back!

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  6. Tami Hoag is one of my favorite authors also. This is such creepy subject matter. But it is a problem in many neighborhoods.

    I hope the writing is going well Lorelei.

    .........dhole

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yep, and yep.
      And thank you, Donna for stopping in!

      Delete

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