Sylvia became the focus of an intense scheme of torture not only by the caretaker but also her children and neighborhood teens.

Their parents were carnies who traveled around and wanted to leave their children with caretakers while they were gone. The book provides a straightforward account of two sisters who were left in the care of a woman who focused intense hatred toward the older one, Sylvia. The House from Hell: The True Story of Gertrude Baniszewski One of America’s Most Notorious Torture Mom by Genova Ortiz is the latest book to be published about the Sylvia Likens murder case that happened in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1965. I read a lot of horror and true crime and other dark things, but this was tough to read – and it really happened! The book is part of a true crime series, and I would be willing to read others, even though it was hard to read the details in this one. It’s hard for me to rate this book because of all the violence and awful torture Sylvia was put through before she finally died. This may have led to the very straightforward way of telling the story, all the horrible torture and all. This book is fairly short and written in a simple style to make it easy for anyone (regardless of reading level) to be able to read this is explained in the introduction. Not only did Gertrude torture Sylvia, but she encouraged and coaxed others, including her children and their friends, to do so, as well. Unfortunately for the sisters, Sylvia and Jenny (particularly Sylvia), no one realized how abusive Gertrude was, and it was ramped up to infinity as she took a dislike to Sylvia. Gertrude Baniszewski was a single mother of seven who took in two teenaged sisters while their parents were travelling around the US for work.

The hell house book