Category: 8/10

In 1997 a six-year-old boy questioned by authorities relayed disturbing stories of abuse. The more he talked, the more people were implicated in his shocking revelations. And he was only the first child to come forward. 

Within a year, in two towns of the Bassa region of Italy, fifteen more children with similar tales were taken from their families and transferred to protected locations. Their parents were accused of belonging to a sect of satanic pedophiles who performed nighttime rituals in cemeteries under the guidance of a well-known local priest, Don Giorgio Govoni. With each child’s confession, the network of monsters they described grew and involved fathers, mothers, brothers, uncles, and acquaintances.  

Except there were no adult witnesses and only circumstantial evidence. No one ever saw or heard anything. What was really happening in the Bassa Modenese? Italian investigative journalist Pablo Trincia returned to the scene of the crimes to find the answer. Together with his colleague Alessia Rafanelli, Trincia spent three years examining court records, interviewing experts and people involved, and visiting the places where the events took place. And the truth he uncovered is as terrifying as the lies. 

“I quickly realized that this was not a story about pedophilia or Satanism,” Trincia explains. “It was much bigger than that. It had to do with mass hysteria, false memories, the justice system, the foster care system and much more.”

Review:

Complex, disturbing, and dark!

All the Lies They Did Not Tell is the inconceivable, eye-opening investigation of one of the most horrifying miscarriages of justice to ever rock the country of Italy that started with the poorly substantiated testimony of torture, sexual abuse, and satanic violence from one young boy, Dario, and which quickly escalated into the removal of a multitude children from their homes, shattered families, imprisonments, suicides, acquittals, and a community forever shattered by fear and scandal.

The writing is detailed and precise. And the novel is an absorbing, compelling tale of one man’s dogged determination to uncover and expose the true story of the satanic panic of the late 1990s, known as “the Devils of the Bassa Modenese.”

Overall, All the Lies They Did Not Tell is a tragic, frightening, exceptionally well-researched novel by Trincia that is a scary reminder that things are not always as they seem and those in authority often coerce, act unprofessionally, make mistakes, see what they want to see, and intentionally or unintentionally, especially when it comes to children, fall prey to confirmation bias.

This book is available now.

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