Like Father, Like Son? is the story of a conflict between a headstrong adolescent named Alex and his domineering, authoritarian father, set in the 1970s.
It's also a story of corruption and cronyism within the British mental health establishment and it's set during a time of transition from the prosperous, but still relatively conservative immediate post-WWII years to the more liberal post-hippie era of the 1970s. Defiant, confrontational, insubordinate, and determined not to be knocked into line, Alex nevertheless becomes a sitting target for the iron-fisted headmaster of an approved school, who resolves to "put the fear of God into him".
By the time he was thrown into his padded cell in the high security wing at the infamous, now defunct North Wales Hospital, the hospital already had a reputation throughout the UK for 'curing' homosexuals, principally through electric shock treatment, said to be administered to the genitals.
How did Alex's own course of treatment go? How did he get along with his two cellmates; one, an ex-gangland mobster, the other a Broadmoor transferee, and both convicted murderers? And, more importantly, how did he ever manage to escape from such a God-forsaken place? That's just one part of the subject matter of this book.
That particular part - incarceration in a mental institution - is subject matter dealt with convincingly in very few books.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, set in roughly the same era, springs to mind. But the biggest difference between novels like that and this story, is that this story is true, right down to the very lines spoken by the characters who feature in it.
There are several reasons I am able to provide such vivid insight into life in two now defunct mental institutions (which were probably very similar to life in other such institutions in the UK), from the point of view of the patient, which would by it's very nature be difficult to come by otherwise:
Firstly, these are the experiences of a 15-year-old boy, and as such made a deep impression on me; probably much deeper than they would have on an older patient. I was easily the youngest patient, or inmate, on both the wards I stayed on.
Secondly, at no time during my incarceration at either of these institutions did I ingest medication of any kind. Most of those unfortunates I lived with were heavily drugged much of the time, particularly on the high-security ward. Being drug-free helped ensure my observations remained crystal clear.
Thirdly, unlike many ex-mental institution patients I no longer care about the stigma related to having been committed to a mental hospital. There are no doubt many ex-patients of mental hospitals with stories to tell, but most would be reticent to let other people even know they had a history of 'mental illness', particularly people like their employers or potential employers. And even among those who are unconcerned with what other people may think of them, time spent in a mental institution is rarely something ex-patients would want to dwell on.
Fourthly, I have a very good memory. It's easy for me to bring events of half a century ago back to mind.
And lastly, I am a writer. This isn't my first book. So, I am confident I can present these experiences in a readable way without too many typos or other errors, unnecessary repetitions, and so on! In other words, I can give the topic the treatment it deserves. Today, some may question the authenticity of this story, but nobody familiar with the places mentioned in this book during this era would.
But a word of warning: This book is also a hard-hitting, no-holds-barred description of life in the post-industrial wasteland of north-west England in the 1970s. As such, there are violent scenes throughout the book, as well as explicit language. If it were otherwise, it would be impossible to tell this story with authenticity.
