finished reading

I loved the format of this book:  transcripts of email, snail mail, podcasts, text messages, WhatsApp messages, a YA book, and so forth.  Guessing who is reliable and who is leaving a trail of lies was also fun.  Ultimately, it's a book about book writing and researching.  The main character is true-crime writer, Amanda Bailey who is investigating a cult led by charismatic Gabriel Angelis.  But because nothing is ever as easy as it could be, Amanda's nemesis Oliver Menzies is also writing a book about the cult.  What follows is an intricate race to research and craft the best story and how charm and manipulation can interfere with rational thinking.  Both Amanda and Oliver's obsession with the story created an intensity that kept me listening.

I've always been a fan of epistolatory books and this was well done in audio format.  I was never bored and never rolled my eyes.

From the publisher:

A new novel from the “clever and inventive” (The Washington Post) internationally bestselling author of The Twyford Code and The Appeal about a true crime journalist who revives a long-buried case about a cult—and finds herself too close to the story.

Everyone knows the story of the Alperton Angels: the cult who brainwashed a teenage girl into believing her baby was the anti-Christ. When the girl came to her senses and called the police, the Angels committed suicide and mother and baby disappeared.

Now, true crime author Amanda Bailey is looking to revive her career by writing a book on the case. The Alperton baby has turned eighteen; finding them will be the true-crime scoop of the year. But rival author Oliver Menzies is just as smart, better connected, and also on the baby’s trail.

As Amanda and Oliver are forced to collaborate, they realize that the truth about the Angels is much darker and stranger than they’d ever imagined, and in pursuit of the story they risk becoming part of it.

#52BookClub prompt 47: "I think it was blue"