Friday, May 30, 2025

Five books about cults

As a forensic scientist at the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, New York Times bestselling author Lisa Black analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, and blood as well as other forms of trace evidence. Now she is a Certified Crime Scene Analyst and Certified Latent Print Examiner and for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida. Black is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts. She has testified in court as an expert witness and served as a consultant for CourtTV.

She is the author of the Locard Institute series and of the highly acclaimed Gardiner & Renner series, for which she was nominated for the Sue Grafton Memorial Award. Her books have been translated into six languages.

Black's latest title in the Locard Institute series is Not Who We Expected.

[The Page 69 Test: That Darkness; My Book, The Movie: Unpunished; The Page 69 Test: Unpunished; My Book, The Movie: Perish; The Page 69 Test: Perish; The Page 69 Test: Suffer the Children; Writers Read: Lisa Black (July 2020); The Page 69 Test: Every Kind of Wicked; Q&A with Lisa Black; My Book, The Movie: What Harms You; The Page 69 Test: What Harms You; My Book, The Movie: The Deepest Kill; My Book, The Movie: Not Who We Expected; The Page 69 Test: Not Who We Expected]

At The Strand Magazine Black tagged five books that made her want to write about a cult, including:
Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, & the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

Lawrence Wright investigates Scientology through over 200 interviews and extensive research. He explores its origins with founder L. Ron Hubbard and successor David Miscavige, the church’s tactics to recruit celebrities, and its unique and often uncomfortable practices.
Read about another entry on the list.

Also see Kate Robards's five essential books about cults, Janice Hallett's five top books on cults, Melanie Abrams's seven novels about crimes in communes, cults, & other alternative communities, Joanna Hershon's seven darkly fascinating books about cults, Claire McGlasson's top ten books about cults, and Sam Jordison's top ten books on cults and religious extremists.

--Marshal Zeringue