“But that’s the thing. When you’re in the struggle, there is no possible end—it’s just a never-ending loop of unattainable demands. When you’re living it, you can’t see which way is up. And after you leave, it feels like you’re lost, like someone led you into the depths of a labyrinth without a map, and then abandoned you to find your way out.”
This is a book for anyone who has ever said “I would never be tricked into joining a cult” and wondered how on earth could anyone be ever dragged into a cult willingly. Those Who Prey is, in a few words, a book that explains everything about cults, from a victim’s perspective.
Making use of a straightforward, almost aseptic prose, Jennifer Moffett does not beat about the bush with her story. Straight to the point, the author is quite determined to disclose the inner workings of cults: how they lure people in, how they manipulate victims into believing everything they say, and even how their practices, years later, can still affect the people who manage to escape and return to their normal lives.
In order to do so, Moffett establishes a very clear opposition between two subtle structural elements of the novel: the epigraphs at the end of every chapter and the narrative voice. The former consists on small sentences that describe the steps and techniques cults follow in order to recruit and manipulate new members; thus, through these small pieces of information, the reader is able to pinpoint the mechanisms that The Kingdom follows when trying to trick Emily, the protagonist. The narration, however, is told from Emily’s first-person voice, and that is where the contrast is created. By putting the two together, the reader understands how visible, yet subtle the recruiting process of cults is. They are tricky, manipulative, and appear to be innocent enough to go unnoticed…unless you know what is going on, that is. Moffett’s narrative structure is definitely brilliant, and a true eye-opener for those who dismiss how insidiously powerful manipulation is.
Another very particular characteristic within the structure itself of the novel are the fragments of “Interviews for Emily X” an article released sometime after the events told in the narration. Thus, the author makes the most of foreshadowing to create an utterly enthralling pace; by giving away the smallest pieces of information just at the right times. This tension is kept brilliantly throughout most of the novel, but, sadly, as the buildup was so strong, once the storyline reaches its climax, its grip just…deflates. The plot goes a bit in circles, making the reader lose their focus, and the explanations given about the cult are just not enough. For the most part of the narration, the author plays with the tension between the creepy and the disturbing, leading the reader to believe the members of the cult to be total monsters. For instance, these will definitely be quite triggering for most, but the author includes veiled homophobic or slut-shamming remarks, as well as some cases of eating-disorder encouragement. These are extremely elusive, yet they raise the alarm on the reader’s mind; showcasing the threatening aura behind The Kingdom just subtly enough to fear for the main character’s wellbeing once she uncovers the madness behind an apparently peaceful religious group. As a result, as the reader expects the worse-case scenario, the last devious actions of The Kingdom almost feel as if they do not correlate with the previous actions of its members. In addition, the final explanations seem a bit lacking, as if there were much more to uncover about the leaders of The Kingdom and their motivations that are not explained in enough depth for readers to fully understand their hidden motivations.
In any case, Moffett does a great job at portraying how subtly cults work their way into people’s lives. Gaslighting, grooming, and a thousand examples of emotional manipulation are displayed in Those Who Prey, and the novel becomes a great exercise in identifying these behaviours. Undoubtedly, this piece of literature is a very illustrative example of how cults take advantage of lonely people, who just want a place to belong. They trick these innocent people into doing whatever they need them to do and, as soon as they stop being useful, they discard them, as they never truly cared about their wellbeing. Furthermore, Those Who Prey pays especial attention to the arduous recovery process of a cult victim. As mentioned in the beginning of this review, there is no doubt that Jennifer Moffett did an incredibly meticulous research for the writing of the novel, and it pays up beautifully. The result is an astonishing, almost didactic guide on cults, psychological manipulation, and emotional survival.
Those Who Prey is definitely a great novel for those who enjoy a good mystery, where foreshadowing plays the main role in the narration of the story. Dive head first into Jennifer Moffett’s gripping tale of manipulation and try and see whether you’d be strong-willed enough to avoid the mind games of The Kingdom. The answer might definitely surprise you. We personally believe that no one is safe. Not even sweet, innocent Emily X.
Those Who Prey is available from Amazon, Book Depository, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore, as of November 10th 2020.
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Synopsis | Goodreads
Sadie meets The Girls in this riveting debut psychological thriller about a lonely college freshman seduced into joining a cult—and her desperate attempt to escape before it’s too late.
College life isn’t what Emily expected.
She expected to spend freshman year strolling through the ivy-covered campus with new friends, finally feeling like she belonged. Instead, she walks the campus alone, still not having found her place or her people so far away from home.
But then the Kingdom finds her.
The Kingdom, an exclusive on-campus group, offers everything Emily expected of college and more: acceptance, friends, a potential boyfriend, and a chance to spend the summer in Italy on a mission trip. But the trip is not what she thought it would be. Emily and the others are stripped of their passports and money. They’re cut off from their families back home. The Kingdom’s practices become increasingly manipulative and dangerous.
And someone ends up dead.
At times unsettling and always riveting, Those Who Prey looks at the allure of cult life, while questioning just how far we’re willing to go to find where we belong.
