Fort Lauderdale, FL 7/29/2009 1:12:23 AM
News / Entertainment

Challenging a Troubled Man's Strength

A Book about Sexual Abuse and a Victim's Struggle to Reconcile His Challenging Past

A terrible, and all too common, fact of today’s world is that children are sexually abused. Not just by strangers, which is horrific enough, but by those who are supposed to guard and cherish them. When the most trusted exploit this dependence, the ultimate effect can only be a long-term disaster in the making.

 In his new book, Burnt Cookies, author Arny Alberts explores the life of such an abused youth. Chilling and edgy, the story is one that makes you think, shudder and yet hope. A disturbing story of memories from different moments in time chronicle the life of a troubled man looking into his past for answers.

A seizure disorder, sexual abuse, therapy, and family-related problems limit and scar him from early life onward. The story bounces back and forth through his teens and into middle age, depicting the slow, sure degradation of his soul. Author Arny Alberts relates how the man appears normal to all around him for decades until a single phone call changes his life forever.

A press conference against the one who sexually abused him as a youth launches a series of unexpected events in his everyday life. A final attempt to confront the abuser years later challenges the man's strength and serenity. Arny Alberts is an average man. You might see him on any street, in any neighborhood of the U.S. midwest. His upbringing focused around faith, family, and sports. Irish Catholic disciplines of work and structure created a humble and non-confrontational character. Alberts has a large, extended family as well as a wife and two children of his own. He coaches youth sports and attends church every Sunday.