A podcaster digs into strange connections between a cult’s mass suicide and the murder of a local beauty queen in this twisty psychological thriller about true crime culture, perfect for fans of Riley Sager and Lisa Jewell. The mass suicide of a cult known as The Flock sent shockwaves through the small rural town of Iola, Michigan. Led by the charismatic Dominic Bragg, The Flock camped at an abandoned bird sanctuary before their sudden and shocking demise. The deaths came just weeks after one of their members, Laurel Tai, a local pageant queen, was abducted. The town turned its blame and fear onto the sole survivor, Claire Kettler–Laurel’s best friend. Burdened by grief and unanswered questions about her friend’s murder and her fellow cult members’ deaths, Claire can’t help but wonder what really happened, especially when the cult leader is nowhere to be found. When podcaster Arlo Stone begins poking around ten years later, determined to uncover the truth about the cult and Laurel’s murder, Claire is propelled back into action. In a desperate attempt to puzzle out the past and keep her secrets from being spilled for the entertainment of thousands of listeners, Claire must dig into a tangle of unanswered questions before time runs out and history repeats itself.
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Only the Guilty Survive by Kate Robards
Claire is the only survivor of a cult called the Flock.... There has always been an air of wonder around her.. How did she survive? Did she do something to the rest of the cult? What really happened to her friends and will remembering help her or hurt her?
Um... OK so I love the idea of a cult. I also understand the logic of having the past and present... Claire POV is the present but not in the past, which is a little weird as far as cohesion to the story but ok.. Let's move past that. Claire cannot remember what happened and how she survived. The story doesn't move very fast but there are some super interesting themes that kept me engaged enough to make the book decent.
I didn't like Claire, which is a huge thumbs down for me, even though I understand the author was going for an unreliable narrator, I find you still have to find a connection to the character and she irritated me a lot. I liked the past better than the present day and the twist was a little uninspiring but there was enough here to entertain anyone who likes a good cult book. 3.75 stars.