Reviews

The Followers by Rebecca Wait

livres_de_bloss's review against another edition

4.0

A devastating and emotional story.

Spoiler

I wish we’d learned a bit more about Judith as she reintegrated into society. It was assumed she didn’t reconnect with Megan but she must have gone back to school at one point. It would have been interesting to hear how the other children adjusted to their new lives outside of the cult. It wasn’t clear to me what drove Judith to maintain contact with Stephanie. Stephanie betrayed her in a pretty horrific way and she was so angry… once I knew the backstory, I was rather surprised Judith had stayed in contact. Of course, Stephanie was as much a victim as anything but she was eerily devoted to Nathaniel by the end…

ridgewaygirl's review against another edition

4.0

Stephanie is a single mother, a waitress barely getting by and when the charismatic Nathaniel begins paying attention to her, she's more than willing to move with her daughter Judith to his remote compound and learn to adapt to the religious strictures of his small sect of Christian believers. Judith, on the other hand, longs to return to her friends and is deeply skeptical of the sect's teachings. Small and isolated, Nathaniel's followers are thrown off-kilter by the two new members and things rapidly become unbalanced and then dangerous.

I picked up Rebecca Wait's novel on a whim and for once it worked out for me. Wait has written a book in which the dynamics of a religious cult feel real and plausible. The reader knows from the outset that things go badly wrong, and the finding out of how and why that happens makes for compelling reading. Judith is a wonderful character; as a child she is simultaneously opinionated and uncertain, she just knows that she doesn't want to stay up on the moors. As an adult, she's stuck with what her past has done to her, and with her conflicted feelings. The look at both what draws a person into a religious group like this one, as well as the dynamics of a small, close-knit community are fascinating.

idilkeskino's review against another edition

4.0

This was SO good!!! The pacing was great and the writing was lovely and pretty easy to read. The only thing that bothered me was the nonlinear Storytelling and I just wish that it had been longer. I think a hundred more pages would have been perfect!
Also I love Moses so much

ecbennett's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

erinbirnel's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Sexual assault, Death, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse

holliepop's review

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

melissa1991's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

anniekenway's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I got sucked into this cult world and believed it and felt the tension rising. I like the way she writes and I could picture the setting.

nikmahie's review against another edition

4.75

I love how Rebecca Wait writes, the way she portrays the characters, the way she gives the reader a complete insight. She writes from all the different perspectives, which makes it easy to understand all the different emotions that the characters struggle with. 

I've always been interested in cults, so I might be a little bit biased. But either way, this story was great. Haunting, but beautiful. I felt so many different things at once. While the friendship between Judith and Moses warmed my heart, the relationship between Esther and Thomas crushed it. What a rollercoaster. 

I would recommend.

aizoldyck's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5