THOSE WHO PREY

A college freshman becomes the victim of a worldwide cult.

With a dead mother, a busy father, and an unrelatable stepfamily, Emily leaves Mississippi for a fresh start in college up north. Instead, her first year at Boston University in 1994 is lonely. So when she meets Josh and his charismatic friends in a coffee shop, she eagerly accepts their invitations to social events with the Kingdom even as they proceed to control her time and even her thoughts. In the first section of this debut, chapter headings spell out the steps the Kingdom uses to expand their membership in order to show Emily’s brainwashing. Once it’s clear that she’s imbedded in the cult, the story quickly shifts in tone, becoming a psychological thriller. Selected by a Kingdom leader and encouraged by her crush on Josh, Emily accepts a so-called internship to travel with cult members to Italy. The novel’s psychological strengths resonate here, as Emily experiences hunger, fear, strict rules, and even scarier tactics intended to keep her in line and recruit more members. But when she begins to question the Kingdom’s motives and consider leaving, large plot jumps move the story forward but quell the thriller intrigue. A concluding author’s note discusses real cults that swept college campuses in the 1990s. Characters follow a White default.

Engaging but not enthralling.