It is indeed rare when the young victim of a brutal crime grows up to reveal his story in a way that is both compelling and objective. Such is the case with Keith Smith in the gripping and deeply disconcerting bio-novel, Men in My Town. Based on his experience of having been abducted, beaten, and raped by a local pedophile, Smith reminds us how quickly the innocence of youth can be snatched away. But there are two stories here, one of despair, the other of revenge. While the boy in this novel shares the terror of the attack and the fear that grips his life thereafter, the reader is also pulled into the fictionalized account of his attacker's murder, orchestrated by a few local men who take it upon themselves to seek retribution and give Smith, and other boys of Lincoln, Rhode Island, peace of mind. Who murdered him and how is the stuff of fiction. That the case was never solved is truth. A compelling and chilling story about violence, survival, and retribution.
It is indeed rare when the young victim of a brutal crime grows up to reveal his story in a way that is both compelling and objective. Such is the case with Keith Smith in the gripping and deeply disconcerting bio-novel, Men in My Town. Based on his experience of having been abducted, beaten, and raped by a local pedophile, Smith reminds us how quickly the innocence of youth can be snatched away. But there are two stories here, one of despair, the other of revenge. While the boy in this novel shares the terror of the attack and the fear that grips his life thereafter, the reader is also pulled into the fictionalized account of his attacker's murder, orchestrated by a few local men who take it upon themselves to seek retribution and give Smith, and other boys of Lincoln, Rhode Island, peace of mind. Who murdered him and how is the stuff of fiction. That the case was never solved is truth. A compelling and chilling story about violence, survival, and retribution.
