Author: Jeff Guinn
Published: 2017
Language: English
Pages: 544
Rating: 3/5
Summary:
This is the comprehensive and tragic story of the preacher Jim Jones, who was responsible for the Jonestown Massacre which took the lives of over 900 people.
Review:
Anyone interested in true crime and cults are bound to be fascinated by this story, as am I, and this book offers a thorough and intense look at the whole case.
It's obvious when you're reading this that this is an incredibly well-researched book. We're taken through everything from Jones' parents and his childhood, through his establishment of his church, his mental deterioration and increasing paranoia, and eventually the move to Guyana and the tragedy of how it all ended. You get to take a close look at Jones and all the people surrounding him, which is fascinating.
The author manages to stay fairly objective through a lot of the book, which I think is a good thing, as it leaves the reader to make up their own mind, but there are parts of this that perhaps suffer a bit for it as well. There are also parts in the middle, involving local politics, finances and such, that I found a bit dry and uninteresting. It actually took me quite a long time to finish this book because there are parts in the middle that feel really slow.
It's a fairly long book, but it really delves into everything that has to do with this case, so if you're interested in it and don't mind spending a bit of time making your way through this, I'd definitely recommend it.
You can read more about it on Goodreads
