When She Returned

Not a super intense page turner but it had my attention the whole way through. It’s a good mystery book, leaving a good cliffhanger to want more at the end. Worth the read, it pulled me away from the not-so-great books I have been reading.

This book was pretty good. The writing of the characters was a little “goody goody” in a way. Perfect 16 yr old daughter who doesn’t do anything wrong, good father who is super loving & caring and thoughtful and the newer wife Meredith who was incredibly patient, supportive, loving and kind even after she gets pushed aside. That was really my only complaint. It was too Leave It To Beaver feeling. Not as realistic. Especially for Meredith. What happened to the first wife, Kate is a little more believable. Kate escaped the cult Love International that she had been a disciple of for 11 years. She left her husband Scott - whose she’s known since she was 9 yrs old, and her daughter who was only 5. She was a journalist getting back into the swing of working again. One day she was requested by Love International to do a story on them to prove they were an asset to the small CA community and not a cult poaching college students to do their bidding. When she first arrives at their building to interview the head guy Ray, she is somewhat nervous. Ray can sense that and immediately turns the interview around on her leaving her with little to no info for an article. He invites her to attend one of their worship days and she is impressed. There were members of all backgrounds and she felt empowered by the preaching Ray did. She then meets him on a regular basis and begins going away on their weekend prayer excursion’s. She asks her husband to attend as families are welcome but he is not interested. She is beginning to feel differently, more detached from her husband and daughter and regular life and begins to believe she is meant for a higher spiritual purpose. One day she’s there the next she’s gone, only to return 11 years later looking nothing like the woman her family recognized and with a newborn baby. She’s kept in the hospital as she’s extremely malnourished as is the baby. The hard part is they bring her back to live in the house that was once hers but is now Meredith’s. She stays in the guest room. Mind you she doesn’t seem at all interested in Scott. No love lost there for her. Meredith is the only one not emotionally attached to Kate so she can notice things that the others can’t. She tries so hard to get Kate to be comfortable with her, she helps in any way she can only to go completely unnoticed by her husband. She’s beginning to believe she should leave Scott and her stepdaughter so they can resume life with Kate. However, Kate never seems interested her old life, she’s only interested in her daughter Abbie. Abbie loves having her mom back and creating a bond with her. The thing is, her mom may have fled the cult but the cult didn’t flee her. She gets caught making sneaky phone calls in the middle of the night but won’t say to whom. Meredith tries to tell her husband what she caught Kate doing but he blows off Meredith’s suspicions thinking she’s being too controlling of “poor Kate”. Who would a person whose been in a cult in the backwoods somewhere be calling?? What Kate went through to be brainwashed was disturbing to say the least. It truly reminded me of the masses of people today who are obsessed with identity politics and protesting causes that have nothing to do with their lives. At any rate this book kept me interested. Wish the end would’ve been more it felt undone. One more chapter of an update, especially of the cult leader and Kate would’ve been satisfying.

Ok i will start this off by saying I do not recommend listening to this book. The narrator skipped words and even whole sentences. It was very irritating.But when I read the book I was very interested even my 13 year old son was interested in this book.The twists were kind of predictable but still a good book

Spoiler Alert: Although I have read every day for years, this is the first time I have reviewed a book. I think that speaks to the power of this story. Not only was this story well-written and developed, which made it engrossing, but it also taught me about cults and their powers over their members. Had Scott, Meredith and especially Abbi been able to read Kate’s experiences in being targeted, brainwashed and isolated from society like I was, I think we would have had a very different ending, which I felt was necessary for this book to be a success. The family put Abbi in a very dangerous situation without Kate being properly treated and deprogrammed. Maybe the result that the family had to isolate themselves from Kate for their safety until she could be rehabilitated would have been the same, but the anger, disgust and penal outcome would not have been the same. The outcome in the book could be the very reason most cult members stay—fear of not being safe and protected outside the cult. Would we expect a drug addict to have a few weeks of police questioning and discussions to make him break his drug habits and begin functioning wisely and safely again? Of course not. Kate took a tremendous risk breaking free and did not get what she needed from society. What she did to Abby at 5 and 16 “voluntarily” was horrendous, but should she have been vilified by society and her family without the understanding and help she needed? Sadly, I think this book fails to adequately answer the overriding thematic question: Was Kate as much a victim as her husband and daughter? And if so, how do we treat those victims?

A different story to the norm, I think the ending could have been better, but overall enjoyable and believable. Scary that things like this could happen in real life.

If you’re wanting something that will keep you reading this is it! If you’re needing to get back into reading this will do the trick. Very good book!

This was such a great read! The end was a complete surprise! Will share this book with everyone! MUST READ

This is a high 4 stars for me. Definitely a fascinating story with twists and turns. A little predictable still if you’re used to these kinds of books but for me it didn’t take away from the enjoyment or overall story.I wish that I would have seen more at the end of the characters.

This was such a good book! A really fast read for me and it was interesting and original!! I truly enjoyed it.

Nunca tive interesse em seitas e sei pouco sobre o assunto, mas a maneira como a autora aborda o tema através da personagem que se torna uma "discípula" me pareceu bem escrita e realista. fiquei muito chocada com a descrição mas achei tudo bastante convincente. foi a parte da história que mais me interessou embora o enredo da volta dela para casa seja bastante fácil e agradável de ler. foi um page-turner que me deixou vidrada do começo ao fim e o tipo de livro que nao esquecerei com facilidade. recomendo

En verdad que es una lástima. No sabía que el tema principal sería sobre cultos, nunca antes había leído un libro con esta temática pero sí he leído noticias de la vida real de gente que es secuestrada o que se va por voluntad propia y regresan con severos traumas, he leído sobre las atrocidades que se cometen y la verdad, es un tema que me intriga pero que a la vez me da un coraje y asco.La historia comenzó bien, durante la primera mitad del libro realmente estaba intrigada y con cada capítulo que finalizaba me quedaba con ganas de leer más pero para la segunda mitad, la historia perdió su esencia.Los personajes no me causaron gran impacto, excepto por Abbi y Meredith, que aunque no son perfectas, son las únicas que mejor me agradaron.La parte "psicológica" por así decirlo estuvo bien, pero el desarrollo de los acontecimientos fueron demasiado predecibles desde el principio, las acciones de cada personaje sobre todo Scott y Kate fueron de lo peor.

This book is really good- the story is so intense that you just keep reading to find out what happens next.Was not expecting the end and it really surprised me. Did not want the book to finish :)All the books I have read so far from Lucinda Berry this one is the best!

Incredible to witness the power of brainwashing in a cult does. Truly enjoyed reading this psychological thriller and this story by LB. She’s an amazing author.