The Truth about Demons by C. A. Gilchrist

Book Review

This book is an autobiography from a boy who spent part of his childhood growing up in the apocalyptic cult of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs) in the 1970s. He starts life in a seemingly normal suburban family, but with a mother who is obsessed with evil and demons. His father is a decent man, and a positive influence on his life, but he unfortunately dies when the author is still a child. By then his mother has joined the JWs, and the family is consumed by the cult. Despite his intelligence, he is forced to leave school early. The JWs believe the world is going to end soon, and the cult needs manual labourers to help rebuild the world afterwards. He suffers through a series of menial jobs, before joining the party scene and becoming a DJ. His new lifestyle is not tolerated by the JWs, who excommunicate him and demand his mother throw him out of the house. He experiences the hardships of homelessness, but eventually does well enough as a DJ that he is offered a good job. During this period, he gets tangled up in the criminal underworld and develops a number of problems. He eventually falls in love and decides he needs to sort out his life. It is a remarkable story of tragedy and resilience.

There are a diverse set of themes running through the book, which make for very interesting reading. From the sadistic psychopathic child in his neighbourhood growing up, to homelessness and drugs, racism in the 1970s, becoming entangled in the mafia, and more. The book is well written and is broken into short chapters that make it easy to pick up and put down. I highly recommend it.