The Road Out Of Hell – Sanford Clark And The True Story Of The Wineville Murders
By Anthony Flacco with Jerry Clark
Union Square Press; 285 pages, $ 24.95
It is not often that we hear the story of the victim of a serial killer as we do in this delicately written account of Sanford Clark, the nephew of serial killer Gordon Stewart Northcott.
In 1926, Northcott snatched his nephew, Sanford, 13, from his self-centered sister and used him for sex, as well as his servant and accomplice, as Northcott raped, tortured and murdered some 20 children on his ranch in chickens outside of Los Angeles. This scenario was repeated with a growing mania for two years before Northcott was captured, convicted, and executed by the state.
In an earlier work on Northcott and his crimes, James Jeffrey Paul’s book, Nothing Is Strange With You: The Life and Crimes of Gordon Stewart Northcott, Paul details the facts about Northcott and the legal ramifications of his crimes, as horrifying as anything we’ve ever known.
But what about the nephew, Sanford Clark, Northcott’s accomplice victim who managed to survive psychopathic depravity and sexual abuse at the hands of his uncle?
Sanford was small for his age during the years he lived with Northcott. He was young, lonely, and so dominated by his abusive uncle that he lost all sense of the outside world and fully believed that he would become Northcott’s next victim. Daily Northcott abused Sanford with beatings, put-downs, degrading his intellect, satisfying his sexual needs, and recruiting him to carry out his perverted atrocities on young children whom he lured to his ranch with promises of horseback rides, bunny rabbits, or a day out. job. This constant terror forced Sanford to subsume his individuality to accommodate his uncle’s sexual and controlling appetites.
There is nothing that can change the facts about Sanford’s victimization at the hands of Northcott, but we can learn a lot. The story is told from inside Sanford’s head from one fascinating moment to the next fascinating moment. I was so consumed with reading about Sanford’s life that I inhaled the hope that he finally found when, “He felt a quick burst of pride at how quickly he was learning to find his way around the worst in his uncle.”
My only frustration here, and it is minor, is that I wanted to know more, and in greater detail, the thoughts and steps during Sanford’s years at the Whittier Boys School, where he was sent after the murder trial. It was there that she found much-needed love and acceptance at a critical time in her life. I don’t think it’s a careless assumption that without the Whittier school, Sanford’s remaining years would have been that much more painful for him and the world around him.
It takes an exceptionally talented writer to describe Sanford’s circumstances without descending into wanton and gratuitous descriptions of sexual displacement.
Award-winning author Anthony Flacco is at his best telling true stories like he did in previous books, A checklist for murder by Dell Books and Tiny Dance from St. Martin’s Press. He writes from his point of view that the reader must delve into “the heart and mind of his central character.” Excel in this challenge.
Flacco’s historical fiction, The last nightingale by Random House and The hidden man by Ballantine Books, are equally well written and captivating, as Flacco uses his main characters well to tell the story, but his powerful literary punch comes from the execution of personal experience.
A thorough understanding of Sanford’s strategy to prevail forced me to read on. Although the facts are disgusting, Flacco’s writing style is like being pulled out of a burning house into the arms of a heroic firefighter. You know what is happening is really bad, but Flacco’s literary embrace, like being rescued, allowed me to witness the destruction from a safe place.
The book is inspired by the sound of Sanford Clark, Jerry Clark. It is his tribute to his father’s amazing resolve and willpower to move on and live a full and loving life despite his never-ending struggle to exorcise Northcott’s demons embedded in him.
Jerry Clark achieved his goal here. Readers skeptical that children can get through a hellish childhood will find this book not only uplifting but also wonderful to read.
Highly recommended. Extremely well crafted.