See also:
"Tyndale House Publishers Knew the Malarkey Book Was a Fraud"
"The boy who didn't come back from heaven: inside a bestseller's 'deception'"

lex Malarkey was gravely injured in an automobile accident at age 6. The impact nearly severed his spinal chord at the neck, leaving him permanently and severely paralyzed. He also suffered a severe, traumatic head injury known as "brain shearing."*
One of the ways Alex dealt with the tedium of hospital life was by re-imagining what had happened to him and inventing stories to fill in the gaps. He also discovered he could get and hold adults' attention by telling his imaginary stories about what he had been through. In his words, "I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention." He states emphatically that he never really believed he had died and visited heaven.
Nor did he expect his tales to be expanded and embellished into a full-length book. Alex's dad, Kevin Malarkey, wrote The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven with the help of a man who was a writer and book agent. Alex was not permitted to sign off on what was attributed to him. When the book was released in 2010, Alex became aware of how his story had been embroidered and exaggerated. Almost immediately, he began trying to set the record straight. On 6 August 2011, he left this comment on the book's FaceBook Fan page: "1 of the most deceptive books ever." Within days the comment was erased, and Alex was blocked from commenting—on a website whose sole purpose was to promote a book ostensibly about Alex's life.
Tyndale's marketing team pressed on anyway. When a Tyndale film crew came to videotape him, Alex told them he did not want to talk about heaven. Although Alex's mom, Beth Malarkey, begged them not to push Alex to talk if he did not want to, they nevertheless coaxed and cajoled him to repeat a few of the tales from the book. Alex later said that event was a turning point. After his experience with the film crew, he did not want to think or hear about his imaginary tales of heaven anymore.
Beth pleaded with senior representatives at Tyndale, saying a grave injustice was being done. The book was filled with significant inaccuracies, exaggerations, and untruths. Alex's story had been deliberately twisted and and spun out of shape. Since Alex's name was on the cover as co-author, she deeply resented the fact that it was published without his input or approval.
A Tyndale editor replied to her concerns by asking for a list of inaccuracies. Beth responded with about 25 pages, listing places where the book seriously distorted the truth or invented details that had no basis in fact whatsoever. She furthermore plainy stated that making those corrections would still not fix the book to her satisfaction.
A Tyndale editor responded, reassuring her that "it would be relatively easy to correct the manuscript in the places [Mrs. Malarkey] mentioned." Given the scope and nature of the changes Beth suggested (and in light of the fact that most of those changes were never made) that promise was either extremely over-optimistic or deliberately misleading. It seems Tyndale already surmised that Beth would prefer the whole project be scrapped.
Indeed, Beth wrote back, plainly stating that even if her corrections were made, the book still would not speak accurately for Alex: "Revisions are not what will restore what has been stolen from my son who continues to suffer."
The editor clearly grasped the gist of what Beth Malarkey was trying to say. The editor wrote back, "Beth, can you tell me what you are asking for to address this? Are you suggesting that we break the contract with Kevin?"
Beth's response made her meaning inescapable: "Can u?? Jan . . .please help..please . . .." She was asking a senior Tyndale editor to halt the project. It did not accurately reflect Alex's testimony. Tyndale had never really given Alex himself a fair opportunity to speak for himself and clarify key points—despite listing his name on the cover as co-author.
The subsequent exchange of correspondence is detailed and voluminous. The thread below is merely a representative sample. It was—or certainly should have been—clear to Tyndale's editors that there were serious credibility problems with the story told in the book. A simple, objective, elementary exercise in fact checking would have easily proved that Beth Malarkey's concerns were justified. Now that the scandal is out in the open, Tyndale's plea of ignorance simply is not credible. They clearly did not want the truth about this book to come out.

* A commenter at Beth Malarkey's blog pointed out that the level of trauma alone should have raised significant concerns about the validity of anything little Alex said at that time.

hat follows is a short string of e-mails between Beth Malarkey and editors at Tyndale House Publishers, beginning with a greatly abbreviated selection of excerpts from her long list of factual inaccuracies in the book. (Beth's entire list of discrepancies is much too long and detailed to give here; so this opening section includes only a few samples to show the kinds of inaccuracies she pointed out. Her words are in blue. The black text, for the most part, is from the book.)

On Apr 23, 2012 4:36 PM, "Jan Long Harris" wrote:

Dear Beth:

Doug and I only had a chance to connect very briefly, but we were both in agreement that it would be relatively easy to correct the manuscript in the places you mentioned. In order to do so, we would need some additional information from you, along with Kevin's approval of the revisions, since our contract is with him.

In order to get all the information we need to make corrections, we could either set up a call with both you and Kevin to go over the changes or we could send you both a list of questions about those sections in the manuscript that you could both respond to. Once we have gathered all the information, we could write up proposed changes for both of you to look over.

I realize that your concern about what you feel are inaccuracies is not the only issue you have with the book, but it is the issue that could be most easily addressed.

Thank you again for sending us your specific concerns about the manuscript. Please let me know your thoughts about the process I've suggested.

Jan

From: beth malarkey
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 4:05 PM
To: Jan Long Harris
Subject: RE: innaccuracies

Jan,

This saddened me. I feel the voice that is the second most important has absolutely no say in this. Revisions are not what will restore what has been stolen from my son who continues to suffer.

I have to somehow tell him about this emai

How can this be about such a powerful thing. How can this be taken from Alex? He is suffering so deeply, has no rights, and is betrayed by so many. And minor on this but yet a factor . . .who is getting the money.

I am sad beyond words . . ..

Beth

On Apr 23, 2012 5:07 PM, "Jan Long Harris" wrote:

Beth, can you tell me what you are asking for to address this? Are you suggesting that we break the contract with Kevin?

Jan

From: beth malarkey
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2012 4:09 PM
To: Jan Long Harris
Subject: RE: innaccuracies

Can u?? Jan . . .please help..please . . ..

--Forwarded message--

From: Jan Long Harris
Date: Mon, Apr 23, 2012 at 6:12 PM
Subject: RE: innaccuracies
To: beth malarkey
Cc: Doug Knox

Beth,

Even if we could make a case for breaking our contract, the book could (and probably would) be back in print with another publisher within a few weeks. So I don't think that would achieve your goal.

Also, I'm sure you can understand that we can't break a contract with an author just because someone else--even if the someone else is the author's spouse--makes accusations about him. We have to give the author, in this case Kevin, a chance to respond.

As far as giving Alex a voice, we would be glad to talk with Alex and hear what he has to say about the book. I offer again to come to your home to talk with you, Kevin and Alex for the purpose of giving all three of you a voice. I know you are concerned that there might be repercussions after such a meeting, but would they be worse than the current situation? At the very least, I think a phone call with you and Kevin is essential.

Jan