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zarasecker23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Trigger warnings: rape, abuse (all kinds), humiliation including public digs at people’s weight, sleep deprivation, suicide, animal cruelty.
This is Mariette Lindstein’s debut novel and she doesn’t disappoint. I wasn’t aware when I started this book that it’s part of a series but you can be assured that I will be reading the other books. The author drew inspiration for this book from her own personal experience of being a Scientologist and what she found herself doing in order to get out. She was quoted as saying: “Nothing in the book is true but everything is true in a way. It is all inspired by truth.” If you read her bio where she describes what she encountered as a Scientologist and what she had to do to escape you can certainly see elements of these experiences within the books pages.
This is a fiction book about a girl who found herself stuck in a cult that she didn’t realise was one when she first saw it. The book opens with the scene of a girl (no mention of her name at this stage) escaping the cult. After this opening we have another story (written in italics) the purpose of which becomes clear later in the book. Both of these things caused me to keep reading because I was really intrigued as to where the story was going and what it was going to do. Even though this was a big book (544 pages) it only took me two days to read - I really couldn’t put it down, nor did I want to.
Fog Island is literally separate from the mainland and only accessible by ferry, and throughout particular times of the year it is totally enclosed by fog. When this happens the manor where the cult is run from becomes invisible. The story starts off with Sofia (the female main character), visiting the manor to see if what the group ViaTerra (they’re all about organic food etc), is about. The leader Oswald draws her in by enticing her to help setup up a library in the manor for people to use. Once she’s there she starts to discover that her instincts are telling her something is not right but it took a while for her to actually acknowledge this and act on it. In chapter 8 (so not many chapters in) we start to see the leader’s manipulation of his staff. From here it only gets worse, way worse.
Sofia and Simon (the gardner) are probably my most favourite characters in this book. Sofia was a strong, determined, gutsy, and brave girl in my opinion. Some may think Sofia was a bit subservient in how she came across but I found her to be very crafty. She was trying to find out what was actually going in the cult and taking serious risks that could cost her life if she wasn’t careful about it to find out what was happening. Simon the gardner may have also come across as a bit weak even not caring but it was thanks to his help that Sofia managed to work out an escape plan without Oswald getting wind of it. He was quite happy to wait his time out in the cult until the walls of it came down which he knew they would eventually, and he believed that Sofia was the one to do it.
Oswald on the hand I hated with every fibre of my being. Mariette’s depiction of him was so good it was as if he was right there in your face. Oswald was extremely manipulative, never took responsibility for his actions (everything that went wrong was everyone else’s fault not his). He was super paranoid and ‘lead’ with fear and humiliation. He also raped a minor (a 14 year old girl) and inflicted all kinds of abuse on his staff such as sleep deprivation, physical/mental/emotional/psychological/sexual abuse. I really wonder if he was a psychopath.
This is a great book, and as much as I want to read the next one in the series (which I have at home right now), I found I needed a bit of a break first. I do recommend it but please beware of the trigger warnings.
This is Mariette Lindstein’s debut novel and she doesn’t disappoint. I wasn’t aware when I started this book that it’s part of a series but you can be assured that I will be reading the other books. The author drew inspiration for this book from her own personal experience of being a Scientologist and what she found herself doing in order to get out. She was quoted as saying: “Nothing in the book is true but everything is true in a way. It is all inspired by truth.” If you read her bio where she describes what she encountered as a Scientologist and what she had to do to escape you can certainly see elements of these experiences within the books pages.
This is a fiction book about a girl who found herself stuck in a cult that she didn’t realise was one when she first saw it. The book opens with the scene of a girl (no mention of her name at this stage) escaping the cult. After this opening we have another story (written in italics) the purpose of which becomes clear later in the book. Both of these things caused me to keep reading because I was really intrigued as to where the story was going and what it was going to do. Even though this was a big book (544 pages) it only took me two days to read - I really couldn’t put it down, nor did I want to.
Fog Island is literally separate from the mainland and only accessible by ferry, and throughout particular times of the year it is totally enclosed by fog. When this happens the manor where the cult is run from becomes invisible. The story starts off with Sofia (the female main character), visiting the manor to see if what the group ViaTerra (they’re all about organic food etc), is about. The leader Oswald draws her in by enticing her to help setup up a library in the manor for people to use. Once she’s there she starts to discover that her instincts are telling her something is not right but it took a while for her to actually acknowledge this and act on it. In chapter 8 (so not many chapters in) we start to see the leader’s manipulation of his staff. From here it only gets worse, way worse.
Sofia and Simon (the gardner) are probably my most favourite characters in this book. Sofia was a strong, determined, gutsy, and brave girl in my opinion. Some may think Sofia was a bit subservient in how she came across but I found her to be very crafty. She was trying to find out what was actually going in the cult and taking serious risks that could cost her life if she wasn’t careful about it to find out what was happening. Simon the gardner may have also come across as a bit weak even not caring but it was thanks to his help that Sofia managed to work out an escape plan without Oswald getting wind of it. He was quite happy to wait his time out in the cult until the walls of it came down which he knew they would eventually, and he believed that Sofia was the one to do it.
Oswald on the hand I hated with every fibre of my being. Mariette’s depiction of him was so good it was as if he was right there in your face. Oswald was extremely manipulative, never took responsibility for his actions (everything that went wrong was everyone else’s fault not his). He was super paranoid and ‘lead’ with fear and humiliation. He also raped a minor (a 14 year old girl) and inflicted all kinds of abuse on his staff such as sleep deprivation, physical/mental/emotional/psychological/sexual abuse. I really wonder if he was a psychopath.
This is a great book, and as much as I want to read the next one in the series (which I have at home right now), I found I needed a bit of a break first. I do recommend it but please beware of the trigger warnings.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Suicide attempt, and Sexual harassment