andmingmingtoo's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

This book sets itself apart from most other "true crime" by going beyond the who+what+where+when to ask why-- instead of just focusing on one tragedy, this book asks how the setting and history surrounding what happened led to it occurring.
(Also bonus points to this book for making me hyperfixate on mormonism. It's so hard to explain to my friends that I'm having a mormon phase but not in a religious way, it's in a learning about neat history way)

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balconyblackbird's review against another edition

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dark funny informative medium-paced

4.0


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jazzofmine's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad tense medium-paced

5.0

This book earns five ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ stars from me! It’s definitely for someone interested in Mormon history, development of fundamental offshoots of Mormonism and deeper, philosophical thinking about the nature (and dangers) of religion. I would describe this as “gruesome, Mormon true crime” to any potential reader. 

The primary aim of the book is to explore these situations that beg us to ask “How could this happen” with substantial history and development of this religion. The author explores history and provides context in order to show how the LDS organization provided a conducive environment for radical, extremists to be bred and thrive. 

The example of the Lafferty brothers‘ murder of their sister in law and baby niece is reprehensible, but not isolated. And not an accident. 

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_fallinglight_'s review against another edition

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challenging dark informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

4.25


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allys_shelf's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

4.0


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pearlisarobot's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional informative sad tense fast-paced

4.0


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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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challenging informative reflective slow-paced

3.5

    A look into Mormonism, its history, and the current day as of the writing, especially into the Fundamentalist sects, polygamy, and the crimes committed by members. 
    Obviously, Warren Jeffs has been arrested since this writing so that part was out of date, and I wish the book had an updated chapter.
    One annoying thing about this addition is that the "this book is continued on disc x" and "disc x" parts hadn't been removed from the digital audiobook! I'm SURE Random House has the money to take that stuff out. And it ruined the flow of the book. 
     Overall, it was a very informative book that will teach you things you probably don't know. There were things I didn't know, and I've listened to multiple deep-dive podcasts on Mormonism. It was a decent true crime/religion book, and the narrator wasn't bad! 

   Extra ratings: Fluff - NA Heartfelt- 4/5 Helpful-1/5 Horror -NA  Inspiration -0/5 Love aka Romance- NA  Mystery - NA   Predictability - NA  Spice - NA   Suspense - NA   Tear- 4/5 Thrill - NA   Humor-0/5 

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jamiejanae_6's review

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challenging dark informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.25


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tiernanhunter's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative medium-paced

4.5


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jlye's review against another edition

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challenging dark informative sad medium-paced

4.75



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