Discovering the Club draws on decades of court records, case files, and law enforcement documents to investigate patterns of parental pimping, ritualistic abuse, sex trafficking, and systemic failures that can leave vulnerable victims without protection or justice. Author Cynthia L. Clack talks to Book Glow about the book.

After more than four decades practicing family law, what was the moment that convinced you it was finally time to write Discovering the Club?

I came home from the funeral of a gentleman at my church on July 29, 2023. I was praying and meditating when my Inner Voice told me it was time to start writing the book. I got my Bic pen and notebook paper out and started writing. I named it “A Call for Justice – for Josh & Joy and all the Children Murdered by Sex Trafficking”.

You describe the book as being structured like a jigsaw puzzle, with each case revealing another piece of a larger picture. Why did that format feel like the most honest way to tell this story?

As I worked with clients on my various cases over the years, they didn’t seem to be interconnected with one another. After a few years, certain cases had common elements of abuse, or common patterns of protecting the predators instead of protecting the children. I began asking myself whether there was any connection to a larger organized network.

Your book draws from court transcripts, depositions, CPS records, and other legal documents collected over many years. How did you decide which cases and evidence were essential to include, and how did you balance documentation with protecting those involved?

Although there were many additional cases I worked on that could have been included, I believe that the ones I chose demonstrated the breadth and depth of those disturbing cases where abuse was reported and documented, yet justice did not seem to come about. Children who made outcries were called liars. People who reported crimes to the authorities were ignored and disregarded. Sometimes they were even attacked or intimidated. Those were the ones that made it into the book.

Throughout your career, you’ve represented clients in emotionally charged and high-conflict family law cases. How has that experience shaped the way you listen to children and families navigating the legal system?

I have made a genuine effort to listen carefully to the clients and study the evidence. I hear the children’s words through my clients and through counseling records and forensic interviews. I truly try to approach each case with compassion and patience. I am also a fierce advocate for my clients, so many people on the other side perceive me as “mean” and they label me with ugly names. I work hard and always try to be prepared. I try to keep my caseload manageable so I don’t take on too many cases.

One of the book’s central themes is institutional accountability. What conversations do you hope Discovering the Club sparks among legal professionals, policymakers, and the public?

I hope each individual will look at themselves with honesty and integrity to make sure they are not participating in conduct that injures or ignores the children. Next, we have to brace ourselves with the strength and courage to stand up and stand strong to help the children and those adults who are reporting the abuse. We’ve got to stand up against those who are actively abusing others and those who are protecting the abusers. This conduct of integrity can be very lonely at times. It can be scary. It can be exhausting. But we must do it because these children who are being abused may not have anyone else but YOU. Even if you think you are alone in this battle, please know that there are others who care about these issues. We just have to find one another and join together in our call for justice.

Writing about alleged abuse, trafficking, and systemic failures can be emotionally demanding. What was the most difficult part of revisiting these cases, and what kept you moving forward with the project?

Interestingly, the endless edits seemed to be the hardest part! My editors worked long hours with me as we pulled the stories together to get this book out to the world.

Your legal career has included roles as an attorney, municipal judge, city attorney, professor, and advocate. How have those different perspectives influenced the way you examine complex family law cases?

All of these roles have helped me view situations from various perspectives. They have helped me learn. I am still learning new things every day.

Many readers may be unfamiliar with the challenges surrounding child advocacy and custody litigation. What are some of the biggest misconceptions you hope this book helps address?

I work long and hard hours on each case. Although I don’t specifically address that issue in the book, this is something that many clients don’t comprehend when they begin complex litigation. We usually deal with thousands of pages of documents, reports, transcripts and depositions. This litigation can spread out for months and sometimes years. Television shows and movies depict cases that begin and end in 45 minutes or an hour and a half. That portrayal of quick trials and results is an illusion. The cost of litigation can be extremely expensive and time consuming. When a client has hired a lawyer to represent them, the financial and emotional cost is sometimes overwhelming. For judges and law enforcement officers to ignore these victims and parents who are trying to get justice can leave them with a sense of hopelessness and despair. I hope that the readers understand that we must shine the light and seek justice even against those powerful forces that seem to be insurmountable. We must pay attention and keep going to help the children and those who are seeking justice.

The title, Discovering the Club, is both intriguing and unsettling. Without revealing too much, what does “The Club” represent to you, and why was it the right title for this book?

I use the term “The Club” to refer to those who abuse children and those who protect the predators. It seems to be a secret, organized, and unspoken membership of people who reveal themselves through their actions (and inactions). Sometimes I see examples of ritualistic abuse, parents who sexually abuse their own children, and people who sex traffick the children. I see people in positions of authority and power who participate with the abusers and other times protect them.

When readers finish the final chapter, what do you hope stays with them—not only about the cases you’ve documented, but about the importance of listening, accountability, and the pursuit of justice?

I hope this book represents a beginning point for change, enlightenment, courage, and commitment to integrity. I hope we are better individuals and a better society because of the awareness and commitment to help one another.

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