Suffer the Little Children by Barbara Davis
Suffer the Little Children by Barbara Davis details the story of Jesse James Cummings, Jr. (when are people going to learn to stop naming their children after criminals?) and his abusive, controlling nature over his wives, Sherry and Anita, and the children born to them (two being Cummings biological, one from Anita’s previous relationship).
An absolutely sickening, and heartwrenching tale of domestic violence, child molestation, abuse – just to name some of the atrocities.
The particulars of the twisted relationship as provided by Anita and Sherry are so vividly detailed that you easily form mental images that will remain with you for a very long time.
While the story itself is one of the most gruesome and detailed that I’ve read about in a while, I was particularly put off by how the author, Barbara Davis, jumped around ; a sporadic, “all over the board” writing.
I often found myself having to double back to make sure that I hadn’t missed something or understood everything correctly.
With that and other “techinal errors” aside, Suffer the Little Children is an interesting study into human psyche: how one human can control others and how (most) women will do ANYTHING to protect the well being of her offspring.
