Haydens böcker är intressant och skrämmande läsning då det ju bygger på verkliga fall. Denna bok är inte lika gripande som hennes första bok rävungen men ger ändå en inblick i många barns utsatthet. Klart läsvärd. ( )

This was fairly pulp-type reading, I got through the book very quickly. The author is a special needs teacher & has written a whole series of books about the "poor" children she's worked with (but who's stories she doesn't mind using for profit...there's no real educational or informative angle on these things). It didn't sit right with me that this is apparently a real case, but obviously changed to "protect the innocent" to the point where she could have probably made up anything. I also don't like the fact how the blurb makes her out to be some sort of super teacher...its like she's using these cases to stoke the fire of her ego, when its not even clear how much has been altered. But, having said that, it was an interesting read & the case is very sad. She's not a bad writer, & unlike the blurb doesn't seem to really sing her own praises too much in the story even though some of the techniques she apparently used to get the girl to talk are quite interesting. I also liked that the conclusion wasn't a happily-ever-after cop out. I don't think I'll read any more of her books though, the whole Dave Pelzer thing turned me off stories of this type as they're never nearly introspective enough, they just come across as sensationalist to me.
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Ghost Girl by Torey Hayden
3.5 Stars

From The Book:
Jadie never spoke. She never laughed, or cried, or uttered any sound. Despite efforts to reach her, Jadie remained locked in her own troubled world—until one remarkable teacher persuaded her to break her self-imposed silence. Nothing in all of Torey Hayden's experience could have prepared her for the shock of what Jadie told her—a story too horrendous for Torey's professional colleagues to acknowledge. Yet a little girl was living in a nightmare, and Torey Hayden responded in the only way she knew how—with courage, compassion, and dedication—demonstrating once again the tremendous power of love and the resilience of the human spirit.

My Thoughts:
There is no nice, happily after-after, story book ending to this story of Jadie, a severely traumatized child who had so many different problems they were difficult to decide which was the most severe. It was finally determined that more than one thing may have been responsible for her condition...either separately or together.. She was either psychotic or was being ritually abused by members of an occult group. Torey Hayden was a young professional at the time...the beginning of her career and often found herself being made to feel inadequate by her older, more experienced colleagues who thought that they knew better...and to make mattes worse.... were not open to new ideas about special education and the needs of these special children. Hindsight is 20/20, and we all can look back later and wish we had seen the broader picture. Torey's honesty in writing about her own second thoughts made the story so much more compelling. I don't recommend this book to anyone that would object to reading the graphic...intense... dirty details about the life and treatment of an 8 year old girl...this is NOT fiction. I do however, applaud Torey Hayden's courage in telling the story. ( )

good book even though it was both happy and sad
torey l hayden is a good author ( )

good book even though it was both happy and sad
torey l hayden is a good author ( )