A Time for Truth: My Father Jason and My Search for Justice and Healing by Sarah Corbett Lynch – 5⭐

Your Honour

The charge they now accept is voluntary manslaughter. I’ve seen my father’s bloody handprint on the door of his bedroom. There was nothing voluntary about his death. I know in my heart he tried to leave that bedroom. He didn’t choose to leave us; he was taken from us. HE was the victim.

It’s been well over a week since I finished reading this and I’m still reeling to be honest. This book is not an easy read – or in my case listen – and of course that would be the case when the victim of a tragedy is sharing their side of said tragic event. The difference with this case though is multi-faceted, and all of it is heartbreaking.

I think it’s important to highlight here and now that I, in absolutely no way, perceive Tom and Molly Martens as anything other than the killers of an innocent man, and I believe not one word of the lies they have used to try and vilify Jason, and therefore try to justify what they have done. This is not an unbiased review. At. All. I think the whole Martens family are monsters, and I wish them all nothing but ill will.

I know this is harsh, I do try to find the good in people, and it may seem unfair to tar them all with the same brush, but the more I read about this family, and as Sarah’s account of things progressed, it became clear that this family is rotten to its very core. Harsh it may be, but I also think it’s the truth.

Molly Martens had a game plan, and Molly Martens gave not one shit about a single living being who was going to get in her way while she worked toward achieving what she wanted. One of the aspects of this case that has bothered me a lot is people talking about her mental health and bipolar disorder, Molly Martens being bipolar is not why she is a bad person. She is just a bad person who is also bipolar. I think her parents’ unwillingness to accept her condition (this is just an impression I’m getting from the case overall) didn’t help matters, but I also think that she was a compulsive liar who felt entitled to whatever she wanted. And she wanted and felt entitled to Sarah and Jack.

Everything about this case is a nightmare. I thought I knew the case fairly well but Sarah’s account of life with Molly just highlighted how little we really knew about everything. This case is well known in Ireland, I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who wasn’t over the age of 18 at the time it happened who doesn’t know about it. An Irish man and his young family move to the US, and that man ends up being the victim of manslaughter was always going to make to news. From very early on, the Martens account seemed suspicious. I think it was the presence of Tom Martens and as details emerged, the savagery of the attack – savagery is a good word to use ironically here given Tom Martens views on Irish people – started to shine a very different light on this case. And then of course as more details came out and it became very clear very quickly, who the real victims were. 

Jason Corbett was a victim of the Martens.

Jack Corbett-Lynch was a victim of the Martens.

Sarah Corbett-Lynch was a victim of the Martens.

Tom and Molly Martens beat Jason Corbett to death, in a brutal attack, and as if taking away a father (and only biological parent) from these children wasn’t enough, they then spent years trying to take away his good name. They not only accused him of being the perpetrator of domestic abuse, but in a move so disgusting it is beyond comprehension, they also tried to accuse him of murdering his first wife.

I’m sure people in the US who were involved in this case would swear up and down that Tom Martens being involved in the FBI would have no bearing on the outcome of this case. I’m sure they would say that his contacts within law enforcement had nothing to do with he and Molly getting a retrial, and as a result a reduced sentence, they’d say this was only how the law is designed to work in the US. But I think it’s terribly naive to think that it had no impact on the outcome. That and the fact that they are obviously somewhat wealthy and white. Tom Martens has a very high opinion of himself, but he is rotten to his very core, and I hope that any case he was involved in during his career has been carefully scrutinised. After all, a man who is clearly very xenophobic, and is willing to kill for his daughter, I do wonder how impartial he was while working for law enforcement?

I have no doubt in my mind that Molly Martens is so narcissistic that she’d never be able to not read this book. I think Sarah also knows this. I think she wrote this book to tell her story, to tell the world what the Martens were really like, to tell her father’s story and, as a massive fuck you to Molly Martens. I don’t know Sarah Corbett-Lynch, and this means nothing to her, but I am so proud of this young woman. She and her family are amazing, I’m so sorry they’ve had to go through all they’ve been through but what an incredible family they are. Thank goodness Jason gave his children one last gift. The gift of a loving and stable family.

I recommend watching the Netflix documentary before reading this, especially if you aren’t familiar with the case. Tom and Molly Martens make an appearance in the documentary, and they come across as horrendous as you’d imagine, Tom Martens in particular.

Sarah’s book goes into detail that the documentary doesn’t, some of those details are heartbreaking and enraging but I hope getting her story out helps Sarah to continue healing. Thankfully she has an amazing support system.