Book: Cruel Sacrifice
Author: Aphrodite Jones
Genre: Non-fiction, True Crime
What the book is about: On a freezing January in 1992, five teenage girls crowded into a car. By the end of the night, only four of them were alive. The fifth had been tortured and mutilated nearly beyond recognition. Her name was Shanda Sharer; her age--twelve.
When the people of Madison, Indiana heard that a brutal murder had been committed in their midst, they were stunned. Then the story became even more bizarre. The four accused murderers were all girls under the age of eighteen: Melinda Loveless, Laurie Tackett, Hope Rippey, and Toni Lawrence. Veteran true crime journalist Aphrodite Jones reveals the shocking truth behind the most savage crime in Indiana history--A tragic story of twisted love and insane jealousy, teen lesbianism, and the sadistic ritual killing of a young Innocent girl.
What I think about it...
Since it is based on true events, I will just share with you how I feel during and after reading the whole story. I won’t comment on what happened and I also can’t rate the characters because they are real people and the plot as well is real so I won’t be rating it.
When I was a few chapters into the book I feel sick. I can’t eat properly and I can’t sleep comfortably. If I wanted to eat, I will have to stop reading for a few hours (so I will not remember the gory details of what happened) and busy myself with work then I can have my meals. Also, for two consecutive nights I feel empty. I don’t know if it’s because of this book but during those nights I cried myself to sleep feeling down and broken. This is a very heartbreaking story. Sick. Twisted.
This book is written in a way that I can easily understand what happened the night before, during and after ‘the ordeal’. It documents the brutal murder of the 12 year-old girl Shanda Sharer in the hands of four other teenage girls. I must say that Aphrodite Jones is a story-teller. I like how she narrated every detail of the incident – even including the life background of each girl. There is no excuse for killing somebody, no excuse at all. But I just wanna say that one of the many things I learned after reading this book is that the guidance of parents is very, very important in a child’s growth, the environment they’re in is crucial as well. It reminds me so much of Proverbs 22:6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (ESV ver.)
By the end of this book, my eyes are welling with tears reading the statements of Shanda’s mother, Mrs. Vaught. Also my heart goes to Mr. Sharer. I can’t imagine how difficult it is to lose a child. For parents, there is no greater pain than to bury their child.
Would I recommend it?
I don’t recommend it to those who have a faint heart but I would recommend it to those whose interests are of true crime and psychology.
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