Title: The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders
Author: Anthony Flacco with Jerry Clark
No. of Pages: 287
First Released: November 2009
Synopsis (Courtesy of B&N): “From 1926 to 1928, Gordon Stewart Northcott committed at least 20 murders on a chicken ranch outside of Los Angeles. His nephew, Sanford Clark, was held captive there from the age of 13 to 15, and was the sole surviving victim of the killing spree. Here, acclaimed crime writer Anthony Flacco—using never-before-heard information from Sanford’s son Jerry Clark—tells the real story behind the case that riveted the nation.
Forced by Northcott to take part in the murders, Sanford carried tremendous guilt all his life. Yet despite his youth and the trauma, he helped gain some justice for the dead and their families by testifying at Northcott’s trial–which led to his conviction and execution. It was a shocking story, but perhaps the most shocking part of all is the extraordinarily ordinary life Clark went on to live as a decorated WWII vet, a devoted husband of 55 years, a loving father, and a productive citizen.
In dramatizing one of the darkest cases in American crime, Flacco constructs a riveting psychological drama about how Sanford was able to detoxify himself from the evil he’d encountered, offering the ultimately redemptive story of one man’s remarkable ability to survive a nightmare and emerge intact.”
Comments and Critique: I have never read a book like this in my life. When I finished, I wanted to crawl into a ball and sob but also wanted to throw up at the thought of everything that little boy had to suffer. I’m still shaken up by the book that my stomach is still churning several hours after finishing, but I wanted to write this review while my feelings were so raw.
Unfortunately, I had no idea what the Wineville murders were. My knowledge of them unfolded only as I kept turning the page. My horror at Sanford’s story increased from page to page, and yet I kept reading. I wanted to make sure that he survived, to find out how he was found, and to make sure that devil incarnate burned in hell for what he did to those boys. The need to make sure Sanford was okay kept me reading long after I knew I should have stopped. I don’t do horror stories, and this was that much more horrific because it is a true one.
Flacco does a tremendous job of presenting the story from Sanford’s point of view. Visceral and haunting don’t even begin to cover the adjectives to describe the book, while the emotions that run through the reader as Sanford struggles to assuage his guilt at the experiences his uncle forces him to have run the gamut from denial to horror and back again. The first-person narrative makes the story that much more powerful. Thankfully, just at the point where the reader cannot possibly take any more evil, Flacco transfers to a third-person narrative and describes Sanford’s rescue and recovery. Such a hellish book ends on a note of hope that someone so abused that he feels guilty about what he was forced to do can lead a life of normalcy and become a well-beloved model citizen. Sanford’s redemption proves that there is still good in the world even after the reader questions this very idea in the beginning.
I received this book as part of the BBAW giveaway from Sterling Publishing. I am glad I read it but I can’t help but feel that I lost just a bit of my naivete at learning the full story of what went on in Wineville, California in the 1920s. It is a story that is going to haunt my dreams for a long time to come.
Thanks, Dan! It looks like others felt the same way about the book as I did!
Michelle, I thought you might find the closing two paragraphs of this review interesting.
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/entertainmentnews/story/1235615.html
POSTED: Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010
Best and worst of humanity spotlighted in true crime books
BARBARA LLOYD MCMICHAEL – THE BELLINGHAM HERALD
There are many, many utterly repugnant details in this account, but ultimately “The Road Out of Hell” is about redemption. Northcott was eventually apprehended and Sanford Clark was rescued.
Instead of ending his story once the sensationalism had gone away, Flacco goes on to demonstrate how a handful of determined and compassionate individuals helped Sanford rehabilitate successfully. Emphatically breaking from the dysfunctional legacy of his ancestors, he became a beloved husband and father. Now that's a story worth telling!
Thanks again, Dan! Now I definitely want to see the movie, and I will be sure to check out the article you mentioned.
Jodie, a minor correction: It was the Los Angeles Police Department not the FBI. The LAPD returned “Walter Collins” to Christine Collins around six months after he was abducted.
Michelle, once you see the film, you may wish to read the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changeling_(film). The article is well written but has spoilers.
Jodie – You just convinced me to add it to my Netflix queue!
The movie's great! It's about the mother of a boy who goes missing who has a boy returned to her by the FBI many years later who she believes is not her son. The FBI are very keen to shut her up because they want people to see them as crime solving geniuses so they lock her up in a mental institution. I really enjoyed it but the later stages are a little brutal.
Thank you, Dan. It is definitely a book I will be recommending to others.
Michelle,
Your review is beautifully written. The Road out of Hell is simultaneously fascinating and painful to read, especially for someone familiar with the case. Anthony Flacco and Jerry Clark’s book just won the USA Book News Best True Crime of 2009 Award.
http://www.usabooknews.com/nonfiction/truecrimenonfiction.html
Changeling, The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders, and Nothing is Strange with You: The Life and Crimes of Gordon Stewart Northcott form a triptych told respectively from the perspective of Christine Collins, Sanford Clark and Gordon Stewart Northcott.
Flacco, Anthony; Jerry Clark (November 2009). The Road Out of Hell: Sanford Clark and the True Story of the Wineville Murders. Union Square Press. ISBN 978-1-4027-68699.
Paul, James Jeffrey (September 2008). Nothing is Strange with You: The Life and Crimes of Gordon Stewart Northcott. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-4363-6627-4.
Jodie – Yes, the blurb on the back mentions that it is the true untold story behind the movie The Changeling. I haven't seen the movie, so I had no idea what to expect.
Do you know if this is the book that the serial killer in the film 'Changeling' was based on? Sounds quite similar with the young boy being made to help.