Edition Details::
Format : Ebook
Page Count: 288
ASIN: B08643FR7F
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| The Bad Lady by John Meany |
First Sentence:
Hey, I have something to tell you.
Story
When Billy was a ten year old boy he was sexually abused by a woman. This incident not only scarred his psyche but also changed everything in his life. It was this incident that brought ‘Bad Lady’ in his life and that destroyed everything that Billy loved.
Who had abused Billy?
Who was the Bad Lady?
What did The Bad Lady want?
How did this incident affect Billy’s life?
These are some of the questions that would be answered when you’d read this book.
Main Characters:
Billy Hall – The guy who is narrating the story
Bridgette Hall – Billy’s Mother
Mary Kate – The bad lady
Nancy Sutcliffe – A ice cream truck driver
Rudy Knorr – Bridgette’s Boy friend
Dr Fedrick Sedevic – Billy hall’s psychiatrist
Hugh Sandasky – Billy’s father
Nancy Sutcliffe – Driver of Good Humor Truck
Andrew Keller- Billy’s Friend
Stacie Keller- Andrew’s mother
Donald Keller – Andrew’s Father
Mrs Barbara Bailey – Andrew’s neighbour
My views:
Child sexual abuse is something which is lot more common than we think. When it happens most of the kids have no idea about what’s happening to them or they think it’s okay and so they tend to not report it. After they grow up they usually forget it or don’t harp on it. John Meany’s Bad Lady deals with this issue.
The story is narrated by a guy called Billy Hall who was sexually abused as a child and we get to see how that incident affected him. We see how he is at first confused about the incident and tends to think that his mother is making a mountain out of a mole hill. But in the later part of the story we see how that thing really affected him. Here the sexual abuser is a woman and we also get to see how that changes the situation. When we hear about child sexual abuse we tend to think of men abusing children but when woman are involved then the situation changes a lot. It seems more of a fantasy that has come true,especially if a kid is male. Also,most people either don’t believe it or don’t take it that seriously. And this makes a lot victims hide the abuse as they are embarrassed by it. We see all of this happening to the protagonist.
Although book starts with Billy telling the reader about his sexual abuse but then as the story progresses we get to see the other aspects of his life which are also not very pleasant. He has to live with a woman who was suffering from mental illness. Billy’s mother is someone who needs help. She’s a drug addict and is suffering from multiple personality disorder. He is aware of his mother’s mood swings and changes in personality and we get to see how he reacts to them. Although, Billy’s mother tries her best to give him a decent childhood but her personality changes are not in her control and that badly affects Billy. His friend’s family also knows about his mother’s erratic behaviour and Billy often has to endure snide their remarks about his mother. Reading the book makes you feel bad for Billy.
As far as the story is concerned, it’s an emotional story. The flaw in the book i think is in the manner it is being marketed. The book is marketed as a thriller and that changes your expectations from this book. A thriller is supposed to grab the reader’s attention and then the story should have enough tension to propel the reader to go through the book. This tension is missing here and that can let you down.
The book does gets interesting when Bad lady makes her entrance and you think it would explode from there but nothing of that sort happens. The book neither gains pace nor does any thing out of the ordinary happens. The final incident does occurs and it’s scary but it’s not that big that could make you call this an edge of the seat thriller.
It feels more like a memoir than a thriller. You tend to feel for the kid. You want to know how did it end for him. But as a thriller it would be disappoint you. If you want to read it don’t think of it as thriller. It’s story of a kid who had a very difficult child hood and we as a reader are taken to that child hood to see what it was like.
Rating: 2.5/5
If you have read this book then do tell me what did you think of it.
If you want to read the book then you can get it from the from the following link:
Kindle
Now some questions for you:
Question 1: Have you ever encountered someone with multiple personality disorder? What was your experience with them?
Question 2: Have you read any book or watched some books featuring people with multiple personality disorder? Can you name your favourite ones?
Other books by John Meany that i have read:
John Meany
Other thrillers that i have read:
Thriller
© विकास नैनवाल ‘अंजान’
