What if the most dangerous thing in your house wasn’t the dark—
but the meaning your religion taught you to attach to it?
 
Next to Murder is one of the most haunting and personal books in The Devil’s Charity series—a descent into the psychological labyrinth created when a vulnerable child is taught that a single mistake makes him “next to murder,” and that the people who “love” him must punish him to save him.
 
This is not a story about monsters in the basement.
It is a story about systems that turn ordinary people into enforcers of invisible terror.
 
Told through the eyes of a bisexual boy growing up in a high-demand religious environment, Next to Murder exposes how doctrine, shame, and distorted morality can fuse together into a weapon that reshapes a child’s entire sense of self. What begins as a moment of innocent exploration becomes the spark for years of fear, secrecy, and self-destruction—because the system teaches him to believe he is no longer human, but “dangerous.”
 
This book peels back the masks:
 
the mask of “righteous discipline”
the mask of “saving the soul”
the mask of “God’s will”
the mask of family loyalty
 
 
It shows how these masks hide the real machinery:
control disguised as care, cruelty disguised as kindness, and fear disguised as morality.
 
And yet, Next to Murder is not a story of defeat.
It is the story of a child who survives a doctrine designed to break him.
It is the story of reclaiming identity, sexuality, agency, and truth.
It is a reckoning with the past—and a warning for the future.
 
If you have ever grown up in a system that demanded your obedience, your silence, or your shame…
If your childhood was shaped by fear masquerading as love…
If you’ve ever wondered why you spent years apologizing for simply being yourself…
 
This book will speak to you.
 
Next to Murder is not just a memoir.
It is an autopsy of a doctrine.
A testimony of survival.
And a powerful indictment of systems that call themselves holy while quietly destroying the very children they claim to protect.
 
Read this book if you want to understand what happens when a system teaches a child that he is a danger—
and watch how he finally becomes a danger to the system itself.