Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This book is a big lie! Although i knew nothing about this "true account" when i picked it up, as i got deeper into the book I sensed something was missing. Jay's character didn't add up. He struck me as too sane and objective to be crazy, too moral and connected with himself to be so immoral, too mature in his thoughts and writing to be so immature, and FAR TOO HONEST AND EXPRESSIVE WITH HIMSELF to be so dishonest with everyone around him. The fact that he killed himself just didn't add up to me. I'm a psychotherapist who works with suicidal people (adults now but teens in the past) and i just didn't buy it. At first i wondered if Sparks simply changed too much of Jay's identifying information (which even Freud warns against in recounting case studies) to make the story hold, but later i found myself wondering if she had actually re-written the journal herself to fit HER needs (perhaps to sell books, get famous, whatever - or perhaps some more sinister psychological desire to disguise a worthy person's true story). Although i still don't know what actually happened in "Jay's" case, ten minutes of internet research showed me claims that Jay (supposedly really Alden Barrett) was never even into the occult at all! Also, there were claims he was schizophrenic (of which this supposed "journal" gives no indication), and that "Dr." Beatrice Sparks (who should lose her license if this proves true) MADE UP whole sections of the book (more than 50%), weaving in "accounts" of other teenagers she supposedly knew. One thing for which i am grateful about this book is that Sparks is only a mediocre writer. Had she produced a more believable account of "Jay's Journal", i probably never would have become suspicious and taken my suspicions beyond the state of contemplation. I think what is called for here is the publication of "Jay's" actual journal so the reader sort the rest out for him or herself.