I honestly did not expect to like this book as much I did. The storytelling in this is so deftly done that it'll keep you guessing till the very end. Minnow Bly is a brilliant narrator. She's brash and a liar and she doesn't hide the fact from the reader. In the end, I feel, just like Dr. Wilson, the reader needs to earn her trust as well. The whole book is her story of being in a cult, escaping some very very traumatic events and learning to make sense of herself and her beliefs.

There are some very heavy topics in this book that are rarely handled with the sensitivity that Stephanie Oakes does in this novel. All of the characters are so well written that in the beginning, I didn't think that they would get the justification hat they deserved. All of the events were all also crafted to allow Minnow to grow and helped keep the focus on her. And I initially thought a romantic subplot would be out of place in this kind of novel but it really wasn't. Because that subplot also lends itself to Minnow's character development outside of her partner.

This is fast-paced, gut-wrenching and raw and I am glad I picked it up because it was completely worth the read.