Everyone's heard of Jim Jones and the "koolaid" (it was actually the knockoff Flavor Aid), but this tells the whole story. I was riveted the whole book.
What a tragedy that a man whose organisation began by genuinely trying to do good things for society disintegrated into the cult it became. I also learned that he was recording during the time they began the final poisoning. It's online. I skimmed through it, but hearing the babies screaming in the background as they died horrific deaths was too much, and I turned it off very quickly. (Cyanide is a horrible way to go, and the passive obedience of the Jonestown residents bringing their infants to pour poison into their mouths is terrifying.)
In the 1950s, a young Indianapolis minister named Jim Jones preached a curious blend of the gospel and Marxism. His congregation was racially integrated, and he was a much-lauded leader in the contemporary civil rights movement. In this riveting narrative, Jeff Guinn examines Jones's life, from his extramarital affairs, drug use, and fraudulent faith healing to the fraught decision to move almost a thousand of his followers to a settlement in the jungles of Guyana in South America. Guinn provides stunning new details of the events leading to the fatal day in November, 1978 when more than nine hundred people…
This read was a continuation of my trend to apparently read through the Kate Quinn oeuvre one book a year, several years behind publication.
I liked Rose Code fine but this was back to Alice/Huntress levels of Intense Reader Engagement on my part.
I have seldom wanted a character to die more than Dirtbag Surgeon Alexei, who I have to admit, from a writer standpoint, is BRILLIANTLY crafted to be the Absolute Worst in Villainy, ie, he's not a Stalin or a Hitler, but the kind of foe women have to deal with a l l t h e t i m e.
I shipped Kostya and Mila from the minute he entered the picture, so there was also a lot of JUST KISS energy going on. Not-Dirtbag Alexei was great, I loved him too, but. BUT.
Anyway, highly recommend.
The brand-new historical novel based on a true story from the bestselling author of The Rose Code and The Alice Network
In the snowbound city of Kiev, aspiring historian Mila Pavlichenko's life revolves around her young son - until Hitler's invasion of Russia changes everything. Suddenly, she and her friends must take up arms to save their country from the Fuhrer's destruction.
Handed a rifle, Mila discovers a gift - and months of blood, sweat and tears turn the young woman into a deadly sniper: the most lethal hunter of Nazis.
Yet success is bittersweet. Mila is torn from the…
I was under the impression this book was a gratuitous gore fest, so I've never read it. Finally decided to give it a try, and was I ever shocked to find that it's an amazing book, beautifully written, giving humanity to the victims and insight into the twisted minds of the unrepentant killers. 10/10, will probably read again.
The chilling true crime 'non-fiction novel' that made Truman Capote's name, In Cold Blood is a seminal work of modern prose, a remarkable synthesis of journalistic skill and powerfully evocative narrative published in Penguin Modern Classics.
Controversial and compelling, In Cold Blood reconstructs the murder in 1959 of a Kansas farmer, his wife and both their children. Truman Capote's comprehensive study of the killings and subsequent investigation explores the circumstances surrounding this terrible crime and the effect it had on those involved. At the centre of his study are the amoral young killers Perry Smith and Dick Hickcock, who, vividly…
Oregon, 1927: Twelve-year-old Louise Pearson wants to fly. Her mother doesn’t think it’s ladylike; her best friend George Graham doesn’t think it’s safe.
But Louise doesn’t feel safe on the ground. Her mother seems to be holding her at arm’s length. George is preoccupied with a religious identity crisis. Worst of all, terrifying anonymous notes keep popping up where Louise least expects them.
Charles Lindbergh’s celebrated crossing of the Atlantic provides some much-needed distraction for a while, but as the summer goes on and the notes grow more threatening, Louise knows she needs to figure out who is targeting her… before her worst nightmares become reality.
