Cult Following - Review

Author: J.W. Ocker

Genre: Nonfiction

Format: Hardback

Pages: 272

J.W. Ocker is one of my favorite authors at the moment. I enjoyed his first two books (Cursed Objects and United States of Cryptids). So when I heard he had a new book coming out I smashed the keyboard to add it to my TBR, and when Quirk Book offered me a copy right before publishing day, I jumped at the chance.

One of my favorite genres is true crime, followed by my weird nonfiction books. Cult Following falls into both categories. It's a bit of true crime because most of these cults are hinky, and a lot weird because most of these cults, well I'm still confused about how anyone would follow them. It just seems so out there.

Yet here we are.

I will say I only knew maybe four of these cults, some only the bare facts, or one moment in their history. The rest of this book was completely new information to me. This makes books like this a lot more fun because I'm not reading about the same groups repeatedly. It made this even more of a roller coaster ride because that's exactly what it is.

A roller coaster ride. This went from one extreme to the next. Ocker starts us off nice and slow with some crazy cults but benign. Dangerous but not that dangerous, and that was about as chill as this book was. Because after that it was all downhill and each chapter jumped from one extreme to the next. 

Like after a couple of chapters I needed to take a break because holy crap. Holy crap. This was not something I could marathon through because I needed a break with something happy and shiny. Because holy crap. This was one of those books where you read something so extreme that you need to share it. Bless my roommate for dealing with me just unloading this book on her.

Holy crap.

I will say you can tell how much research and time that Ocker put into this. Thankfully the chapters are short, Ocker sticking to the pertinent information for each cult. Though he didn't hold back any punches, and thankfully his own opinion in places. Because honestly that little bit of humor was needed to break up the crazy.

This was an amazing read, and I'm so excited to add it to my J.W. Ocker collection. Cult Following was a wild ride cover to cover. If you are a true crime lover or an avid nonfiction fan, this one is for you! I cannot recommend these Ocker's books enough, he's three for three for me!

HAPPY READING!!