My review is posted here on Pumpjack Press.
https://www.pumpjackpress.com/book-reviews/2022/2/8/book-review-dragged-into-the-light-by-tony-russo

3.5 "bonkers, crackers, quackers" stars !!

Thanx to Netgalley, the author and IPBA for an ecopy. This was released May 2021. I am providing my honest review.

Holy Shite ! This was a most interesting read about a murder, a suicide, ruined lives, internet prophets and Truthers with a whole host of conspiracy theories including reptilians, demons, orgies, end of times, orgone, truthers, etc etc. The fringiest of the Evangelicals and the chaos that has ensued under all of our noses....the main focus is on Sherry Shriner and her disparate disciples.

I was absolutely hooked from the get go. I liked the podcast feel and the quick paced action. The prose was crisp and clear and I went along for this most interesting yet horrific ride. There is not an iota of neutrality in this telling as the author makes his feelings and interpretations clearly known to the reader.

What prevented this from achieving 4 star or 4.5 star status was that I really wish he had consulted clearly with a psychological expert in this area as I found the author's armchair theories on the motivations of these people quite lacklustre and at times inaccurate....

All in all this scared the bejezus out of me and made for some riveting reading !

When I saw this book, the name Sherry Shriner sounded familiar. So of course I wanted to read it, plus I'm fascinated with cults. What a crazy story this is. This happening blows my mind.

I thought Tony Russo did a great job at researching this topic! This book was so well informed.

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* how have i never heard of this case?!?! will be watching the episode for sure! just wow! would reread for sure.

"--people we think of as conspiracy nuts pity our ignorance, gullibility, and blind acceptance of the world as it appears."

Some of us dream in technicolor, some others don't dream at all.

I'd never heard this story or of this particular cult before, but I had, of course, heard of the Christian doomsday belief with Lucifer here on Earth.

Interestingly, it is the exact same premise as with the show Supernatural, which has an absolutely massive pop culture fan base. A war between angels and demons here on Earth. Lucifer in the flesh. Possession.

However, it was really the author's perspective that I found the most interesting. They are intelligent and definitive in their own beliefs, much like the people they write about.

There is a lot of hurtful language used throughout this book. It seems all alternative thinkers have been plopped into the same barrel of "crazy".

What we definitely can agree on however, is the dangerous and destructive power obsessive beliefs and paranoia can yield.

The text is very clean and the author is a genuinely talented writer. Even though we occupy different perspectives about the nature of reality, or at least the possibility of it, I still found I didn't want to put it down.

"We can agree to disagree about whether or not there’s a God, but we can’t agree to disagree about whether or not I am possessed by an evil spirit -- If you say I’m possessed, we don’t have a difference of opinion. We’re occupying two realities."

I thought I had heard it all regarding Sherry Shriner, but boy was I wrong?! This book was a wild ride and I loved every minute of it. Throughly documented and easy to follow, yet I could not put it down.

This story is full-on bonkers... so I have obviously read, listened, and watched everything about it. Of the many ways I've ingested this story, Russo's book isn't my absolute favorite. He enters the story through two central characters, but as he widens his lens, it felt a little chaotic. I missed the focus of the beginning. All in all, if you can't get enough of the Sherry Shriner story, this is a great addition to the lexicon.

Feeling very haphazardly written, Dragged into the Light fails to offer much new to what was covered in VICE TV's 'Devil You Know' regarding the same topic and featuring the author. It's a shame not only because the subject matter is interesting, but also because Tony Russo himself seems admirably passionate about it. There is likely also an element of the lack of clarity in regards to the real events translating to this book, where the lack of clarity allows for it to feel hollow and wanting. Nonetheless, as a labor of love it's admirable.

Dragged into the Light is a true crime book in which journalist Tony Russo delves into the parinoid and manipulative world of the Shrinanites, who followed leader Sherry Shriner, and looks at a suicide and a murder linked to the online cult.

At first glance Shrinenites are bizarre. They believe that there is a plan by aliens, who are lizards, to take over the earth. These aliens are bombarding those chosen by God to defend the earth, with evil energies which can only be combatted by doing exactly what Sherry tells you and placing orgone (essentially resin ornaments) around places and people under attack. What’s more the lizards have already taken over some prominent people and their plan is underway.

So far, so wacky, but while people with these beliefs are low hanging fruit for even the most hopeless of armchair comedians Russo uncovers a story which is pitiable more than anything else. What Russo firmly does is place the outcomes of the cult, within a cultural context of the crumbling American empire, and the death of the public service ideal. By doing this he makes the scared, isolated lives the cult members live much more a symptom of the modern worlds lack of connection, community and shared values, rather than the punchline of a joke.

While I am sure that some people will always want to laugh at these people – because hey, if we took it seriously we might feel compelled to actually do something about the problems that which are at the genesis of these weird beliefs – Russo makes the effort to get to know them, to understand who they are and why they fell for Sherry Shriner, daughter of God.

The real downside of this book is that Shriner died before Russo was able to try and interview her. Part of me wonders if he did get an interview would it be useful enough to help our understanding, to parse her motivation for the blatant and nasty manipulation she doled out in guise of “help”. I’m not sure it would. Cult leaders by the time they come to the wider public’s attention have generally gone so far down the path of the myths they have built around themselves that they are totally divorced from reality. While it’s hard to tell if Sherry really did believe her own hype, it is difficult to ignore the amount of work that goes into not just starting a cult, but building and maintaining a following – would anyone really put in all that effort if they did not believe what they say? I suspect any interview with Sherry would have been disjointed, bizarre and most of all, angry. I would however have liked to hear more from those who knew Sherry before she became a cult leader, who could shed some light on what made her tick, and possibly what deep insecurity set her on the path to cult leadership.

I don’t think this is the last we will hear about the Shrinenites, as the needs which drive people towards cults will not have died with Sherry, but will look for something or someone else to cling to. As we’ve seen before, sometimes when it comes to beliefs, a leaders death is just the start.

I found this book very interesting. I have heard things in passing about people who believed the elite were replaced by reptiles but had never learned enough about it to put it all together. I was enthralled for most of the book just absorbing all this absurd information but sometimes got lost with all the people involved in the chaos.

I found myself feeling a little defensive at the generalized statements the author made about Christians as I myself identify as a Christian and feel very uncomfortable being grouped with the people mentioned in this book as they don't follow some of the very basic things I would associate with followers of Jesus. I also found some of the generalized statements about religion in general and the correlation to the events that happened on January 6, 2021 are a precarious reach in some cases.

As far as the structure of the book, I think true crime readers will love it for the most part though the middle of the book strays a bit away from the main case in an attempt to describe how the suspect and victim have arrived to the mental state they are in at the time of the killing. I almost feel like this could have been two companion books.

All that being said, I did enjoy reading this book and learning about new things, even as scary as they might be.

This a very relevant look into conspiracy theories, not dissimilar to Qanon, although here it focuses on a particular brand of bizarre conspiracies. It was fascinating at times- particularly delving in to the psychology behind the mindset that falls into such a negative way of thinking, but I mostly found it too heavy and dark due to the nature of the subject matter. It felt like going down the rabbit hole of internet madness and conspiracies which can be compulsive reading but can also be mentally draining and a little too depressing to be jumping into during a normal day. I was craving some lightness while reading this. It’s a navigation into an obnoxious truthers mindset that is crippled by insecurity, fear, and paranoia. I thought the psychological insights were interesting and would have liked a deeper look at this.

I came into this book with a fairly limited knowledge of Sherry Shriner, the Ohio housewife who passed away in January 2021, and her cult. I was certainly interested to see Tony Russo's POV and to read some great investigative journalism, something that I think vice can often be hit and miss for.

If you are unfamiliar with this cult, the followers basically believe that they are an army of God, preparing to fight a war of Armageddon. They believe that the government, Satan, Demons, and many people they consider to be part of the New world order are actually alien reptiles. Yes, I'm serious. I do think this book is excellently put together, very well compiled, and well theorized. However, it does step into the sensational territory at times and can certainly become repetitive. I also found the author's personal commentary to at times feel overly insertive and as though he could have been less involved. I would have appreciated a more straightforward delivery.

All in all, if you're somebody with an interest in cults, I think this could be a great book to take a look at. However, I do wish the author would have included less of his own personal information and personal biases. The sensationalism of the story stands on its own well enough without his additions.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The writing is good and engaging. The content is just strange, though. I'm not sure what I expected, but I was totally unfamiliar with this story before I dived into the book. And the characters - or I should say their beliefs - are strange. Yet, as the author points out, "everyone thinks they have a good reason for doing what they do or believing what they believe." And that's true here.
The book's story centers around Sherry Shriner, an internet preacher and rural Ohio housewife spreading hate, paranoia and doomsday prophecy. Her followers dedicate their lives to pleasing her and trying to protect themselves from reptilian rulers. Several people (Kelly, Steve) began to disagree with her, and their change of heart led to tragic results.
While the author is thorough and did plenty of research to make sense of the stories he tells, his personal commentary throughout the book is annoying. It felt like I was reading a transcript of a podcast, not a book.
Also, I would have probably enjoyed the book more if I knew about the story beforehand.
Trigger warning: abuse, violence, suicide, cult

What a wild ride! A well researched, unbiased and fair account of cults, lizard people, conspiracy theories and murder. I was hooked by this book and could not put it down!

"The truth doesn't exist anymore. Everyone lives in heir own realities. The trick is simply finding a reality that best suits you."

In this book, journalist Tony Russo gives us a detailed account of the diabolical cult called the Alien-Reptile Cult, led by Sherry Shriner, an Ohio housewife who passed away on January 2021. She was a conspiracy theorist who had a lot of devotees where some of them believe that they are Angels in the Flesh and orgone warriors.

I have not heard of this cult until I came across this book. It was an eye-opening one for sure and the first chapter which begins with the death of one of her followers - Steven Mineo - was really intense.

So, the followers believe that they are orgone warriors and army of God preparing themselves for the War of Armageddon. They are constantly fighting against the evil of the world including satan, his demons, New World Order, the government who are actually alien reptilian shapeshifters, and other beliefs which left me flabbergasted.

I think this was a really well-researched book with a wealth of interesting information. I appreciate that there were pics too! However, I find that the writing to be rather repetitive. The first few chapters could have been shorter or condensed into one bigger chapter. The information tend to overlap, hence I feel that I kept reading the same thing over and over.

In a nutshell, despite the repetitiveness of some of the content, this was still an informative read if you have zero idea about this cult.

Pub. Date: May 25th, 2021

**Thank you IBPA, author Tony Russo, and NetGalley for this gifted copy to read and review.***

This book is a deep dive into conspiracy theorist/cult leader Sherry Shriner and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of two of her followers. Although I was not familiar with Shriner prior to learning about this book. this book brings so much light to the intense impact falling doing the conspiracy theory or religious cult rabbit hole brings to the lives of those in the rabbit hole and their family and friends. It was a perfect blend of true crime and a look at the thought patterns of those hooked into conspiracies and cults.

Until I came upon this book I had never heard of Sherry Shriner or any of the events depicted within it. It was a very interesting true crime story and helped to give some incite into how deeply engaged in all the conspiracy theories and pseudo versions of religion too many people have become nowadays, helping to explain all the problems with anti-vaxxers and the insurrectionists of 1/6.
The verbiage itself was pretty solid and mostly moved the narrative along at a nice rate. The book had the makings of a great true crime story, but unfortunately some writing choices held it back from being great. The story starts out intriguingly, playing out the beginnings of the two biggest victims in the story, but just as it begins to get to the nitty-gritty, suddenly the narrative swings to background on Shriner, feeling like something was left out or it was just plunked down in the wrong place. The books remains a bit shaky for awhile with sections not feeling like they're playing out organically for a few chapters before its course is set right again.
On top of that, the author diverges from relaying the tale to discuss his feelings or his beliefs as to what happened. In a couple of parts, he even goes into his own background and younger days, things that really have no place in this kind of book. Instead, this true crime novel devolves into feeling too much like the transcript of a podcast. This is not the first recent true crime book I've found this happening in, and it's not a good trend. The best true crime books have a certain footprint or cadence to them. This book strayed too much from that style for my liking. 3.5/5*

Okay, I admit: I read the book 'Dragged Into the Light' by Tony Russo in two and a half days. It is a hair-raising, tizzy, cliff-hanging journalistic exploration of the pseudo-religious online cult by Sherry Shriner. The mix of Christianity, New World Order, reptilians aka vampires aka clones allowed an Ohio housewife to thrive on others' vulnerability for decades. Sherry Shriner supported the people's beliefs in the world's imminent end when only the chosen would survive. Of course, Sherry was the supreme commander of the orgone army. Any competitor for a throne was outcasted and ostracized.

In his book, Tony Russo tries to summarize the available information about Sherry and her followers. How do people simultaneously combine our reality and the world of conspiracy theories? What happens when the unreal world crumbles? Who is responsible for the lives lost because of the cult? Such and many similar questions scream for an answer from the book's pages. Some are answered, some are not.

Compelling in its vividness, the book, nevertheless, is marked by explicit sensationalism. Every heading, it seems, jumped straight from the yellow pages, thus neutralizing the hard work behind the research. I couldn't put the book away, yet, I kept wondering when the objective analysis would begin. Psychologists, social psychologists, or scientists whose specialty is religious sects; where is their viewpoint? That's the book's main flaw. The author feels sympathy toward the victims. He explored psychological depths beyond his journalistic competence and, predictably, can't present insightful commentary.

Unless there is a list of helplines at the end of the book (or a TV show), I can't fully believe in a creator's compassion.

I can't recommend the book to people with mental health problems and those with a high level of empathy. The repetitive descriptions of the dangers the Shrinerites believe in can be unnerving. I experienced that. I had nightmares two nights in a row.

Summarizing my controversial attitude toward Tony Russo's book, I would still recommend it to a mass reader as an eye-opening look behind the curtain of 'religion.'

As I googled orgone, I found a Facebook post with a call to collect money. The world's end is approaching, so Satan sent snakes to the UK, and the English orgone warriors needed help. It's still happening. Right now. Behind the closed doors.

I have never heard of this Sherry Shriner or really the "truther" Christian movement. I was shocked, amazed, and wonderstruck that anyone would believe the things that Sherry Shriner said.
The author made a great point about trying to imagine believing in the things that these people believe (reptilians, super soldiers, the new world order) and then imagine finding out they aren't real.
SO I applaud the author of trying to verify and ALWAYS giving them the opportunity to explore all the areas of belief or disbelief.
I don't know if Steven was murdered or had an assisted suicide. I think that the author does a great job in seeing the distress that Steven was going through and letting the reader decide for themselves.

This book, I wanted to laugh, but its too sad. I remember the author stating, just think of all of the fear and anger that goes into believing CONSTANTLY that you are under attack.

This book is a must read for anyone interested in further study of "truthers".

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me this ARC for this honest review.