Colbert

A woman's campaign against child abuse, a courtroom drama and political infighting over Mississippi's gambling laws are elements in this stirring report. Its focus is Sue Hathorn, who sought funding for a center for abused children that she opened in Jackson. Despite her adherence to Baptism, which frowns on gambling, Hathorn became partners with Robert Malone, owner of a bingo parlor, who faced racketeering charges for allegedly running a high-stakes racket under the guise of a charitable organization. Mississippi's attorney general Mike Moore--portrayed here as politically ambitious and overzealous--held that bingo, being a type of lottery, was illegal under the state constitution, but the Mississippi Supreme Court disagreed and cleared Malone in 1990. Intertwined with these proceedings is the searing account of a nine-year-old girl sexually abused by her stepfather; we see her lost in a maze of courts and shelters, a bureaucracy the author implicitly condemns as irresponsible. Crime novelist Colbert ( Skinny Man ) draws on court records, interviews, and verbatim and reconstructed conversations to show how families and child protective services are failing our children. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Publishers Weekly

Colbert, author of procedural detective novels All I Have Is Blue ( LJ 6/1/92) and Skinny Man ( LJ 2/1/92), brings his talent for narrative to a fascinating account of the bureacracy of child welfare, the business of bingo, and the swamps of Mississippi politics. The chief players are Sue Hathorn, who needs money for a child advocacy center that works to help child abuse victims rather than "revictimize" them; Robert Malone, owner of the highly lucrative Bingo Depot, who gives Hathorn a $6000 check for her center, and a brace of lawyers, each with a personal agenda for or against the legitimization of the bingo game. Then there is "The Child," an all-too-familiar figure caught in the machinations of legalese and beauracracy after she reluctantly admits to abuse by her step-father. An interesting mix of sociology and political science, this book addresses the problems of juvenile justice, the ethics of gambling, and the state of social welfare. Recommended for general collections.
- Library Journal, Ebba Kraar King, Melbourne P.L., Fla.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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