History Of Rape Victims In Heartaches By H. M. Irwin
Rape is a crime in which the stronger uses his advantage of strength to force and obtain sexual gratification from a weaker victim. The rape victim suffers both physical and emotional pains. Whereas the physical pain may heal with time, the emotional pain may last for the entire life of the victim. There is also the likelihood of getting unwanted pregnancy or contracting sexually transmitted diseases. Unfortunately, this animalistic and brutish crime is on the increase defying the efforts of the law and the law enforcement officers to curb it. In Heartaches 1, the Author H. M. Irwin told the story of two victims who came together to fight a common enemy.
Anna Walters-Simmons lost her loving father at a tender age. Her mother Jane married another man who was abusive and was never a father figure to Anna. John Simmons was killed by his renegade only child Brian, a crime Anna witnessed but failed to report. Months later, what started as a platonic love relationship with Matt Preston turned sour as Anna was raped in turn not only by Matt's brother Jason, but also by their father Peter Preston, not. only in Matt's presence, but with his full approval and participation. Even though she knew she was been abused, she felt too weak to fight her abusers because of the effect of the mind-bending drug that was used on her, which made her not only to enjoy the abuse, but to long for more. That single night's experience left her battered and emotionally shattered. She did not want to add to her mother's troubles and with no other person to relate to, she withdrew to herself and her room. She however found solace in Rafe Brown, who himself was a victim of similar abuse when he was in the army.
Rafe Brown took her along when he assumed duty as an instructor in a military school. It was from there that they planned to launch their revenge. Unfortunately, even there, they could not get the needed respite because their abusers followed them there to continue their evil. Whether these two succeeded in fighting of their demons and getting their required justice would be unveiled in the next two books of the trilogy.
The book highlighted some of the major pains rape victims suffer. Apart from the emotional trauma and shame they suffer, there is the legal bottle neck which makes justice for the rape victim almost impossible. Moreover, the inability of the victims to open up because of shame and fear of stigmatization makes them to live in mental agony. In addition, most rape victims are threatened not reveal their abusers or face dire consequences if they do. I'm a situation where the rapist is well placed, for a poor victim to get justice is actually a herculean task. It is actually distressing to see the rapist freely parading the street while the victim is languishing in agony in emotional and social dungeon.
The book was very entertaining, well written and no any grammatical error was noticed. I rate it 3 out of 4 stars and recommend it to those who are not only hurting, but also those who want to help the hurting.
