The Betrayal of Innocence

The Betrayal of Innocence
Colleen Passard
PublishAmerica
ISBN: 1-4137-4313-7
Fiction, Thriller
Reviewed by Dr. Tami Brady

The Betrayal of Innocence details the journey of one woman as she struggles to bring the priest who molested and sexually abused her as a young teenager. As a young girl, this woman had been enamoured by this caring priest who took her under his wing. He feed her confidence with talk of her beauty both inside and out. Then, by telling her that he planned to marry her, at age thirteen the girl became a toy for the priest to use and abuse as he wished. It wasn’t until years later of such abuse that the girl realized that this priest was a clever conman who abused many children in such ways. The really frightening part of this was that not only did the church know of the horrible situation but created a variety of complicated cover up techniques to keep both the church and the priest safe from controversy.
The Betrayal of Innocence is so real and life-like that, even after I had completed the book, I wondered if it were a true story. This realism is especially true of the woman’s reactions both as a child and an adult. As a child, she is so completely taken in by this man that even when she is scared and hurt, she still assumes that this priest is only doing right. As an adult, she still has leftover questioning and feelings of guilt in her words, in her tone, and in her constant questioning of her own motivations in life and love.