SUDDEN FURY

When a devout and community-minded couple is found viciously murdered in their own backyard, suspicion initially falls on the eldest of their three adopted sons: at 17, he is an in-patient at a state mental hospital, has a history of violence, and has expressed hostility to toward his parents. Furthermore, hospital records indicate that he had not signed in on the night of the murder.

But appearances are misleading when it comes to this family drawn from real life. As law enforcement officials and counsellors delve deeper into the case, they learn that the church-going parents were not the model mother and father they would have the community believe. Prone to repressive discipline and violent beatings, they were in reality feared by all their sons.

Furthermore, the outwardly shy and obedient second son had been driven to form a secret and powerful bond with his adopted brother, whom he had first met at an orphanage, when both boys were six years old.

Seen principally through the eyes of a family friend, a seasoned attorney, Sudden Fury is a chilling look at a family torn apart by the explosive issue of domestic violence.