Denial

by David Belbin

Dan Fordham is a compelling, charismatic teacher in his mid-thirties, adored by many of his students and by his 14-year-old daughter, Caitlin, who lives with him during the week. When Dan is accused of molesting a girl in one of his GCSE classes, nobody really believes it, with the exception of Aaron, a boy in his accuser's form. He corroborates part of 15-year-old Natasha Harris's story. Dan is suspended. Caitlin is crushed and confused. At first she unreservedly believes her father. She collects stories to help discredit Natasha. But why did her mother leave her father five years ago? And why does she sense there is more to the allegation than her father is telling?

Genres: Young Adult, Fiction

182 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Belbin's work is known for breaking boundaries and dealing responsibly with difficult social issues that affect teenagers. He first attained success with a number of books for Scholastic's Point Crime series.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very, very disappointing book. Such a missed opportunity. The writing was mediocre throughout, with the exception of the epilogue, which was terribly written. The final twist was a blast from left field, but in a horrible way. Usually I love it when an author throws a totally unexpected twist at you, but this was terrible because, if the twist *is* totally unexpected, then the writer - I think - has a duty to elaborate on it. There were no hints - unless I am missing some huge - that Dan had sexually abused Caitlin. Sure, he may or may not have slept with one of his 15-year-old students, and that is extremely immoral, but to me there's a bit of a distance between that and repeated abuse of your ten-year-old daughter.

The writer brings it in from left field, and okay...it would have been an excellent twist, had there been another 50-100 pages to deal with the revelation, the background of it and what prompted Caitlin to do it. But no. Because Belbin instead has Caitlin shove her father to the bottom of a flight of stairs immediately after making this revelation, breaking his neck. Um...what? So we have a revelation that one of the main characters is a paedophile, but there is no background or aftermath. He just goes from being a nice guy who may or may not have done something (until this point, Belbin is interestingly ambiguous) terrible to being an alcoholic monster who taunted his daughter over his abuse, prompting her to kill him. There is an epilogue, but it is nowhere near enough to deal with the can of worms he's opened. It's also terribly written. I think that if Belbin had kept the father alive for another section of the story, this would have been a much more deep and intriguing book about power and abuse.

I wanted to give a reason why it deserved 2 stars, but I can't really think of one. Sorry that that sounds so mean, but, it's true. There are no stand out features. I guess the only thing I would say is that it's not bad throughout and kept my interest to a certain extent. I only really reverse one star for the books I hate. I didn't hate this.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in the UK for once, this book deals with a teacher accused of having an affair with a student and that teacher is the Dad of our protagonist. She was just come to live with him after her parents split up and her Mum remarries and has another child. It deals with starting at a new school, parental separation, privacy, boyfriends and sexual relationships and is a real coming of age story. The twist at the end was truly shocking and one I didn't see coming and then ended far too abruptly. Considering what the twist is, I think to leave teenagers with that ending is not enough. Guidance is 15+

[Emmie Must · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. This was really good like the twists kept on coming all the time, you don't trust anyone here. Fast paced read with an ending that never Saw coming and I understand the controversy but it's important to talk about everything Even more difficult topics with this type of endings.

[Zion · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a mess and the plot was just horrible not horribly written just the ending how he raped his own daughter and I just can't seem to understand that she wouldn't believe that he groped Natascha. I would've loved to know more what happend previous and more before the fact she killed him

[cleo! · Rating 3 out of 5]

i mean…. yeah?

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read, but it was let down by the ending.

* Caitlin feels in the way living with her mother, step-father, and new half-sister, so she goes to live with her father. She changes schools, but doesn't tell anyone who her father is because he's the English teacher at her school, and she doesn't want anyone to know that she's his daughter, in case they treat her differently.
* Just after Cait starts school, she starts going out with a boy called Aaron. His best friend Natasha makes tells, Aaron, a teacher, and her mother, that Cait's father sexually assaulted her, and he is suspended from school.
* Cait doesn't really believe that her father did it, but she tries to get information from Aaron and Natasha, partly by talking to them, and partly from reading Aaron's diary and emails.
* Natasha makes a comment to Cait that if she had a conscience she'd feel guilty, and Cait also learns that her father was the reason that everybody found out about Natasha's abortion anyway.
* Natasha realises that Cait read Aaron's diary and tells him, and he breaks up with her. She wasn't overly happy that he didn't tell her that when Natasha had an abortion over the summer, the baby was his.
* Cait uses what she learned to get her father reinstated, and Natasha is forced to move schools.
* Cait bumps into Natasha a few weeks later, and Natasha tells her the truth. She was having an affair with Cait's father over the summer, but he called it off before they went back to school. Natasha tried to rekindle things, and when he refused, she accused him of sexual assault to get back at him. Cait realises that's she made a massive mistake. Then it comes out that Cait was sexually assaulted by her father one summer that they spent together. She told her mother that she was scared of him because he was drunk all the time, but really it was because he was having sex with her every night.
* Cait's father gets drunk and makes a comment that at one time Cait was his girlfriend, and says that every time he had sex with Natasha, he was actually thinking about Cait. Cait tries to get away from him, but accidentally shoves him down the stairs and he breaks his neck and dies.

The questions I had were...
1) If Cait's father scared her so much, why did her mother allow her to go and live with him?
2) If Cait's father kept having sex with her and she hated it, why did she want to live with him???
3) Considering what had happened to her, why did Cait not believe that her father had sexually assaulted Natasha? She obviously knew he liked sex with young girls!

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

i wasn't expecting much when i picked out this book from my school's library but i was pleasantly surprise. Its set in my local area which i thought was interesting. The storyline was like nothing I've ever read before and i was constantly guesting the outcome. I also loved the twist ending although it was very sudden.

[Ilonita50 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its a shocking book, topic is very good and need to be spoken between teenagers. While you will be reading the book, you will be totally in, the book's final climax is so unexpected. I felt sick, and kept thinking about characters for a while.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The end to this book will leave you with a mix of feelings... the book had a MASSIVE unexpected twist at the end which you didn't see coming.

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is sooo..freaky, i felt weird reading it, and totally did not expect the ending.

[Hebe Young · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was ok and really not predictable, which I liked. the storyline and writing style was a little basic though and it lacked development.