In the content creating world which is bent towards crime, murder is always considered the worst. Most cultures and civilisations have always done so, although some may disagree with the concept of all murders being bad, given how throughout history there have always been some lives considered less. However, there is genearlly agreement that murder is the worst, and rape comes a close second in the hierarchy of crimes.

Baby X, by former detective Harry Keeble, does at times strain this concept. He has worked on some of the most horrific cases of child abuse that have been uncovered in recent years, and has flown around the world, spearing no expense to tracking down abusers.

It would appear as though this could be a heroic job, saving kids, where it would be easy to be aggrandise oneself. Keeble however remains with both feet planted firmly on the ground, and details the great difficulties faced by everyone working in child protection due to a chronic underfunding and the cyclical nature or abuse.

Baby X is in fact a well written, needed but ultimately terrible book. If you prefer to dabble in the sunny uplands of life, and turn away from reality then I heartily recommend that you do not read this. However, it is necessary to remind ourselves not just that such awful abuse happens, but that it continues to happen, and for every generation where we do not actively address the problem, we create another generation which will perpetuate the same issue. If it does take a village to raise a child, this village has taken it’s eyes of the ball for too long.

If anything in this post has affected you please visit Childline or Stop It Now!