Eddie Lee Sexton and his wife Estella May had twelve children, all of whom were systematically sexually, physically, and mentally abused. Their children eventually told authorities about rape and sodomy, torture, animal sacrifice, and murder that went on within the family structure. Eddie Lee, patriarch of the dysfunctional family of the century, even had the distinction of being the father and the grandfather of several children bore by his biological daughters.

After eluding authorities for over a year in the mid-nineties, Eddie Lee and Estella May were finally apprehended. Eddie Lee received the death penalty, which was eventually overturned. Estella May’s sentencing was a farce; she only spent a few months in prison.

One of their daughters, Pixie, married a slightly retarded boy named Joey. Pixie had already given birth to two daughters courtesy of her father when she hooked up with Joey in high school. It was the worse mistake Joey would ever make. The Sexton clan routinely beat him for the sheer enjoyment of it, and he eventually paid with his life when he was murdered and buried in a shallow grave near a campground. But he wasn’t there by himself. His biological son with Pixie had already been suffocated to death and buried in the same campground.

Eddie Lee ruled his family with an iron fist. He had a saying—“You get the belt until you’re 13 and after that you get the fist.” The children could do nothing without his permission, and each child was raped or sodomized by him numerous times while they were growing up. Their mother provided no protection; in fact, several of the children subsequently reported that she performed oral sex on them.

Eddie Lee was also a con man. He spent time in prison for robbery in the 1960s, he claimed to have been enlisted in the armed forces, and he lied about various phantom ailments to get disability checks. His most outlandish con was that he was a member of the Futuretrons, a group of aliens who all looked alike. The Futuretrons supposedly had special powers, and Eddie Lee believed that one of his daughters Lana also had this “gift.”

Eddie Lee’s deranged mind seemed to really have no genesis. It’s almost as if he just became an incest-committing freak without rhyme or reason. His wife’s compliance and willing participation are also unexplained.

A more comprehensive explanation regarding what caused the Sextons to commit incest could have been provided by the author. The writing is weak and numerous grammatical errors run rampant throughout the book. The author has a thing for commas, and it tends to disorient the reader. Several times I was forced to go back and reread a passage because the grammatical errors clouded the author’s intended meaning. Many pages are spent detailing how the investigators and Child Services felt as they tried to bring Eddie Lee to justice. Boring. I wanted more information on how the children were psychologically harmed by the abuse they suffered; I wanted something useful, something I could learn something from and feel as if I had a better understanding of incest survivors when I was finished.

House of Secrets is beneficial only in the sense that it reminds you that incest is going on each and every day in this country. Incest knows no economic or geographical boundaries. Unfortunately, I quickly grew bored after the first one hundred pages. The writing is substandard, and that greatly hurts the overall important message that screams to be released.

Read this book to see just how sick people can be. But do not expect a well-researched or well-written account of incest. I ultimately do not recommend this book.


Recommended: No