Five essential books about cults

Kate Robards is the author of two thriller novels. Her debut novel, The Three Deaths of Willa Stannard, was nominated for the 2024 Simon & Schuster Mary Higgins Clark Award and received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews. Her second novel, Only the Guilty Survive, has just hit the booskstores.

[My Book, The Movie: The Three Deaths of Willa Stannard; The Page 69 Test: The Three Deaths of Willa Stannard; Q&A with Kate Robards]

Robards studied journalism and advertising at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Currently, she works in communications at a nonprofit organization.

When she isn’t writing her next book, Robards is spending time with her children, gardening, reading, or tackling a new sewing project. She lives outside Chicago with her family.

At CrimeReads the author tagged five books

shedding light on the spectrum of cult dynamics—from the seductive allure of communal living to the chilling influence of charismatic leaders. They explore the psychological mechanisms behind indoctrination, the haunting aftermath of cult experiences, and the enduring questions of guilt and blame that permeate such narratives.

One title on the list:

Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor’s Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple – Deborah Layton

Seductive Poison is a firsthand account of what happened in Jonestown, written by survivor Deborah Layton. Layton takes the reader on a journey from her early years to her indoctrination into Jim Jones’s People’s Temple and her eventual defection from the community in Guyana. Layton was one of Jones’s high-level members, a trusted member of his inner circle. Her honest, vivid memoir is a fascinating exploration into the shadowy world he built and the lies he told his followers, but importantly, it’s relatable. You can understand how she was seduced by Jones; Layton breaks down the barrier between “that could never happen to me” and “I can see how that could happen to anyone.” She details her escape from the jungle commune, leaving her mother, brother, and friends, shortly before the infamous Jonestown massacre in 1978. I drew from Layton’s accounts of her experiences when crafting the character of Lollie in Only the Guilty Survive. Like Layton, Lollie has become disillusioned with the leader she has followed for years and must plot how she can safely escape her home and leave her found family behind.

Read about another book on the list.

--Marshal Zeringue