Lowell Cauffiel

Article first published as Book Review: House of Secrets by Lowell Cauffiel on Blogcritics.

House of Secrets is the story of the very dysfunctional Sexton family. Eddie Lee, his wife and children. Dysfunctional is not strong enough a word. Incest, abuse, torture, satanic rituals and, yes, all this led to murder. You have to read it to believe it.

Lately, I have become addicted to true crime and have read many — all of them disturbing but in different ways. House of Secrets made me sick. Not show more like other true crime books did with killings and blood — this book had those, too — what made me sick was that this was a family. Parents who are supposed to love and protect their children did just the opposite. They abused them, brainwashed them, had sexual relations with them, boys and girls. I could go on and on. Grandchildren who are really not grandchildren but the father's children.

I was shaking my head just about the entire time that I read this. Where were the social workers? Child protection? Teachers reported things, but for whatever reasons these people fell through the cracks and were never caught — until one daughter had enough and told it all, breaking the ice for her sisters and brothers to choose to reveal how they were forced to live. The authorities finally caught up with them but not before they murdered at least two people.

The writing was excellent. Author Lowell Cauffiel did a very good job transporting the reader into the sick world of the Sexton family. My heart goes out to these innocent children whose lives were ruined by their parents.

If you like true crime, this is a book for you.

Read more: http://blogcritics.org/books/article/book-review-house-of-secrets-by/#ixzz1J36hy... show less

Horribly unsettling look into the life of a seriously deranged father. It gives a whole new meaning to "dysfunctional family." The photos of the house and the disturbed family who dwelled in it are chilling and incredibly sad. I'm very impressed with the author with the way he executed these real life events.

I had the privilege and the pleasure of knowing and working with Diane for three years. She was so kind as to serve as an expert consultant on an event the zoo produced each year during the school year for area students called "Native American Autumn Fest." Accuracy was very important to us and we didn't want to get the information wrong or offend any of our Native American neighbors. Diane was part Ojibwa and part Apache and even though the local tribe here is Pottawatomie they respected show more her opinion and trusted her. Imagine the shock when on February 9, 1991 we learned that she had been fatally shot and the main suspect was her husband Brad who was a criminal justice professor at Western Michigan University and a former police officer. Even more shocking was that her 3 year old son and 3 month old daughter were in car seats still in the car. They were supposed to have stayed at Diane's mother's home but her daughter appeared to be coming down with something and the 3 year old didn't want to stay alone. I didn't believe it was possible that Brad had killed her until I heard that the dog...a giant of a German Shepherd... was tied in the hay barn to the loft ladder and the fatal shot came from the loft. I had encountered that dog and knew that it had to have been tied there by someone that it knew and there was only one other person other than Diane at the house. It's not a huge in your face crime as far as murders go but it happened to a lovely, well respected mother, daughter and friend so it was huge to us. This author does a really good job telling Diane's story. show less

Pretty long for a True Crime novel, and not nearly as well written as some others I've read. Many grammatical errors and spell-check misses. But seemed to give actual facts based on interviews and police reports, without being overly "enhanced".