Killer Cults

by James J. Boyle

Describes the inner workings and infamous feats of the most dangerous cults in existence, including the Manson Family, the People's Temple, and Luc Jouret and the Solar Temple. Original.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Religion, Cults

280 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Diane in Australia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick, interesting read about 11 different cults, their leaders, and their members. Some more well known than others. I have included the table of contents, with names in parentheses, and number of pages devoted to each cult, for your reference. There are 10 black-and-white photos.

1. Summer of Love (Charlie Manson & the Manson Family) 29 pages / 2 photos
2. Dad Knows Best (Jim Jones & the Peoples Temple) 37 pages / 2 photos
3. Gordon Kahl (& the Posse Comitatus) 22 pages / 1 photo
4. Palace of Gold (Keith Ham & the Hare Krishna) 20 pages / 1 photo
5. Come and Get Us! (Vincent Leaphart & MOVE) 28 pages / 1 photo
6. Blood Atonement (Jeffrey Don Lundgren & the Lundgren Cult) 29 pages / 1 photo
7. El Padrino (Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo) 25 pages / 1 photo
8. Yahweh (Hulon Mitchell Jr & the Yahwehs) 19 pages
9. King of the Israelites (Roch Theriault & the Ant Hill Kids) 19 pages
10. Ranch Apocalypse (Vernon Wayne Howell & the Davidians) 26 pages
11. Circle of Fire (Luc Jouret & the Solar Temple) 22 pages / 1 photo

3 Stars = I liked the book. I'm glad I read it.

[Fishface · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun one, as books about killer cults go. Quite a few cases in here I never heard of, and the author included a few others that came and went so quickly in the news that I'd forgotten about them in the intervening years. The book needed a thorough copyediting but that did not distract from the overall effect.

[Crystal M · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the very first page of this book the author denounces SRA as satanic panic I almost didn’t continue reading after that. I ultimately chose to ignore his idiotic statement regarding SRA and continue on. The book covers the Manson family, Jones town, order of the solar temple, hare krishna and many more. There were at least 4-5 I had not heard of. there was definitely some gory parts that made me squirm. The book was not overly detailed but is a good one to start with if you haven’t read about many cults.

[Slayermel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting read. James J. Boyle takes you inside the twisted thinking of 11 different cult leaders. He gives you the stories behind the rise and fall of the leaders and their Cults. I only gave it 3 stars as I found some parts of the book repetitive and there where quite a few typos.

1. Charles Manson and the Manson "Family"
2. Jim Jones and the "People's Temple" in Jonestown
3. Gordon Kahl and the "Posse Comitatus"
4. Keith Ham aka Kirtanananda Swami Bhaktipada and the "Hare Krishna"
5. Vincent Leaphart aka John Africa and the "MOVE" organization
6. Jeffrey Don Lundgren and the "Lundgren Cult"
7. Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo aka El Padrino
8. Hulon Mitchell, Jr aka Yahweh Ben Yahweh and the "Yahwehs"
9. Roch Theriault aka King of the Israelites and the "Ant Hill Kids"
10. Vernon Wayne Howell and the "Davidians"
11. Luc Jouret and the "Solar Temple"

[Mydonna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Each account in this book is pretty condensed. What I mean by that is... Each account described you will most likely find books written that describe these "Cults".
I did find several "Cults" that I was not familiar with inside this book. Learned some new information. (that was obviously pulled from one or two newspapers)

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good introduction into the world of cults.

[Alesha · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lots of spelling errors and seemed very repetitive with the information. Seems like most of the cults in this book were mainly apocalypse type cults where all the leaders claimed prophets of God and and could offer salvation through mass suicide or murder. Seemed like of a few of the cults were very into the last name Isreal, which got to be annoying to read. Also it seemed like a lot of the cult leaders changed their names to biblical names of whatever religion they seemed to follow. A lot of these cult leaders also are pedophiles because they slept with girls younger than 15 and usually they really weird and disgusting sexual fetishes. They all seemed deeply disturbed and obviously found of A LOT o moronic idiots to follow their so called God given visions. It just seems like most cults are focused on religion or breaking off from a religion and forming their own based on the book of Revelations. All in all it was kind of a dull and repetitive read, especially if you have read about most of these cults, like the Manson Family, Jim Jones, and Kuresh with his Branch Davidians.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

So how do you rate a book about twisted minds? I found it very fascinating how people blindly followed others; others who were sick and miserable. I had to wonder what exactly those cult leaders possessed that their followers did as they were told. And what little or no minds the followers must've had to do as they were told without question.

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting book
Starting from the beginning it featured stories of early cults that existed in ancient tribes all the way to the well known cults such as the peoples temple, the seige at waco and such. Highly recommend if you are interested in true crime and cult history

[Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

The part on JimmyJones is facinating!