I’ve been following this case from the beginning so I knew I wanted to read this book.
These people were far more bizarre than I ever could have imagined. I had the same idea that the author did in asking the question which came first, the chicken or the egg…

Lori Vallow clearly had narcissistic, manipulative tendencies way before meeting Chad Daybell. And Chad Daybell was batshit crazy and manipulative way before he met Lori. My conclusion is that they were perfect for each other in that they fed each other’s narcissistic needs.

I appreciated the background for the main players because it gave a lot of context. Lori came from somewhat absent parents, in the Mormon Church. Family values seemed somewhat lacking. Her brother, Alex Cox, had such a huge part in most of her and Chad’s crimes and I can’t believe he just did lori’s bidding. It’s somewhat implied that he was in desperate need of self esteem and approval and got that amply from chad and lori.

The parts about the crimes are absolutely heinous but that’s to be expected. John Glatt has quickly become one of my favorite true crime writers due to his attention to detail.

Thanks to the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Absolutely fascinating and utterly bizarre, I could not put this book down. The story focuses on a woman lured into a religious cult, with tragic results. A great addition to the true crime genre.

Doomsday Mother was every bit as riveting as I thought it would be. This is a disturbing case- so bizarre and unthinkable. A spiralling and dangerous combination of egos and delusion; the chosen ones and the end days. How many people did she destroy? John Glatt takes it beyond the attention-grabbing headlines, offering the full story and further bringing to light this complex tale of lunacy, destruction, and murder. I had not been aware of how many layers there were to this desperately sad case. It made for gripping reading. 5 stars.

John Glatt is one of my favorite authors in my guilty secret genre of true crime. His book The Perfect Father (the horrifying story of Chris Watts, who murdered his wife and two little girls), published in 2020, got five stars from me and Golden Boy (the story of member of the Manhattan elite Tommy Gilbert, who sent his mother out to buy food while he shot his father in the head), published in 2021, was a solid four stars. So I was happy to receive a copy of The Doomsday Mother from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review.

Not surprisingly, this very thorough and detailed account of the truly sad case of Lori Vallow and her fifth(!) husband, Chad Daybell, is just over the top as it follows Lori from her childhood through all her marriages, including stories about her family (including her “hit man” brother Alex and her two murdered children. If it were fiction, no one would believe it. How did Lori go from a bright, beautiful, loving wife and mother to a totally delusional cult member who would stop at nothing to be with Chad Daybell? Lori believed every word he said, as ”...he revealed to her the secret spiritual powers she possessed that he alone could unleash.”

The basic story is that while married to her fourth husband Charles Vallow, Lori (who was a lifelong Mormon) met a man she idolized: Chad Daybell. At the time, both were married but when they met it was “...as if a lightning bolt hit both of them.” Lori’s initially mainstream LDS beliefs “evolved” and soon she was “…going to the Mormon temple for hours every day to pray and hear the spirit voices from beyond the veil that were now guiding her.” Chad, whose whole existence revolved around preparing for the end times and Second Coming of Jesus, developed a reputation as an LDS author and speaker. His “…followers were mesmerized as he spoke about his thirty-one previous lives on different planets…he’d been, among others, Martin Luther and Methusela.”

And people BELIEVED him. He and Lori seemd to truly believe they were “...chosen by God to lead a select group of 144,000 suls who would usher in the end-times and the Second Coming Of Jesus Christ…Jesus knew it was their mission to be the head of the 144,000”…and that a

“…vital part of their mission was to rid the world of evil spirits, or zombies…”

Chad really seemed like a doofus who was “...fired from his job…because of his increasingly radical ideology.” His wife, Tammy, stuck with him, even as he “...decided to move…to Rexburg, Idaho, convinced that it was one of the sacred places…he did not bother to tell Tammy.” His life wasn’t going great before he met Lori, but “…he saw a way out of his stagnant life–but first he had to get rid of the (two spouses and Lori’s two kids) Charles Vallow, Tylee, J.J., and Tammy…”. At the same time, “Lori decided that she wanted nothing further to do with Charles or the kids, as she has “a more important mission to carry out…”

Lori had two brothers, Adam and Alex. Adam worried about her, particularly when “She told Adam that she…no longer needed to eat or go to the bathroom…she was now a god, busy gathering the 144,000…” Meanwhile, Alex, who was VERY close to Lori, wasn’t ever doing well on his own: Alex was “…living in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, where he’d found a job emptying Porta Potties.” After acting as Lori’s hit man to get rid of Charles, Alex also moved to Idaho and was definitely involved in the murders of Tylee and J.J. whose bodies were found buried on Chad’s property, while Tammy died in her sleep (yeah, right).

I’m not a believer, but I don’t think that’s why I hated these people. I was disgusted with them, and hope that both Chad and Lori get what’s coming to them. Although she is undergoing psychiatric treatment after being unfit to stand trial, I hope she comes around long enough to stand trial. In the meantime, podcasts have covered the story, and surely a miniseries or movie will come along. Some people, including Lori’s sister Summer, are more generous than I. Summer feels bad for Lori, saying that “…this person’s been good her whole life, and then made this error in judgment and got sucked into the vortex of this man.” I call B.S. on that! Lori Vallow is a monster. The truly puzzling thing is that no one stood up and said “ARE YOU F-ING CRAZY?” There were SO many signs that pointed to trouble for Tylee and J.J.

True crime fans, along with anyone who wants to know about this specific case will appreciate the thorough work that went into this book. Five stars.

The disappearances of Tylee Ryan and her brother J.J. Vallow, and later the discovery of their bodies, made national headlines in late 2019 and in 2020.  What made these tragic deaths even more disturbing were the actions (or rather lack thereof) of their mother, Lori Vallow.  After suddenly moving (some say fleeing) to Hawaii after the disappearances, Vallow's refusal to cooperate with investigators began to raise suspicions.  In 2021, she and her new husband, Chad Daybell, were charged with the murders of the two children and one other person.      What would lead a mother down this road?  Author  John Glatt has done some extensive research and gives us Lori's backstory, from her childhood to her obsession with Chad Daybell and his books predicting the coming apocalypse.  This is a disturbing, at times even eerie, look at religious cults, mental illness, and mysterious deaths.  For true crimes fans like myself, this is a must-read.

The Doomsday Mother
by John Glatt
Pub Date: January 18, 2022
St. Martin's Press
Bestselling author and journalist John Glatt takes readers deeper into the devastating story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell in an attempt to unravel the lethal relationship of this doomsday couple.
Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC. I cannot recommend it and I am not buying it for our library. It was dry was the beginning, going through Lori and Chad’s lives. She had some issues; I lost count of how many kids she had and adopted, and Chad is her fifth husband. Chad also has five children, Lori’s family history is full of unstable people, many siblings, and they had too many friends/followers to count. These people were all important to the plot (and quite a few ended up dead), so by the end, I didn’t mind going through all of the relationships to see how everything correlated. The case isn't over yet. I'm not sure what the rush to get this published was. I thought maybe I missed their sentences in pandemic and election news, but sentencing hasn’t happened; they are both still incarcerated pending further legal action. 3 stars

The Doomsday Mother by John Glatt is a superb read with an engrossing plot and vibrant characters. Well worth the read!

I have been fascinated by the Vallow - Daybell's murders and was excited to read The Doomsday Mother: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and the End of an American Family. I was not disappointed. I learned so much about this evil couple and even more intrigued with this case. Five stars.

If you thought, as I did, that you knew a great deal about this convoluted case involving the disappearance and murder of two children, the murder of two husbands and one wife, and the disturbing doomsday cult that drew Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell together, this revelatory book is a must-read.

Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell's first meeting was like gasoline and fire, a perfect storm of religious fervor and the belief that they were destined to be together and deliver the select 144,000 after the apocalyptic end of the world in July of 2020. Author John Glatt provides details I have not read elsewhere. He met and interviewed numerous people from both Lori and Chad's life (and he names names) as well as law enforcement officers. Also, his interviews with family members and family background provides a solid foundation for understanding just how Lori and Chad ended up believing their hybrid religious fantasy.

The book is very enlightening and I appreciated Glatt's solid research and careful analysis of this case. 4.5 stars and I highly recommend this book.

Lori Vallow, aka the Doomsday Mother, has fascinated me ever since her story became mainstream news. I live in North Carolina so it took a lot longer for the news to reach over here but this was very well-written and gave a perfect play by play plus the necessary background information. Well done.

I've read a lot of true crime books over many decades, but I've never read one as disturbing as this case. Its written very well and the timeline is told in a logical manner that flows through out the book. The research is exceptional. Because the book ends before the trial, you will have to look that part up yourself, but thats interesting to do in itself.

I'm assuming there will be pictures in the printed copy. Would have been nice to have some here, but again, it's quite easy to Google.

I'm definitely going to be looking for more of Mr. Glatt's books.

When I was a little girl, I remember seeing true crime books in the check-out lane at the grocery. They tended to be quick recaps of the known information of a crime--the literary equivalent of a Dateline or 48 Hours episode.

"The Doomsday Mother" fits somewhat in that genre. It's clearly meant to summarize the details of the story of the murders of the many victims of Vallow and Daybell. The author does contribute original research, it appears, as well as relying on second hand sources. But given the tight lid on the state's evidence, the author can't pull much in the way of new information for the readers.

What's iffier: I confess I was put off from the start by the tendency to refer to Lori Vallow's looks. This is right from the prologue: "Lori, a strikingly beautiful forty-six-year-old blonde, wore large sunglasses, a blue swimsuit, and a beige cover-up. Chad, five years older, sported a baggy blue T-shirt, beach shorts, and flip-flops. They were an odd-looking couple, with Lori appearing somewhat out of place with her dumpy new husband..." We hear many times throughout the text about how beautiful or attractive Lori is. While this may have been one of the reasons men turned to her, her looks, including the color of her hair (do we ever hear about Chad's hair?) really have little to do with the actual murders here. (And frankly using an adjective as a noun here drives me bonkers. What does it mean to be a "blonde"? Why not a blond haired *person*? Why do we even care about the color of her hair?) (There are about 10 references to Lori being beautiful in the text, and 5 to her being a "blonde," to give you an idea.)

In addition to cutting down the references to Lori's looks, I'd rather the author took a harder line on concluding what actually happened here. At points the evidence seems to show Lori Vallow had taken leave of her reality well before she met Chad Daybell; at other times, the author implies Chad Daybell was manipulating her (as well as others.)

That said, if you just want to get a sense of what happened (to the best of our knowledge) in the Daybell-Vallow murders, "The Doomsday Mother" does provide that. It may not be breaking new grounds in literature or providing a new lens on the case, but the book does, like the books on those grocery store shelves, serve a purpose that it fulfills.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Extremely well-written and meticulously researched true crime about the Vallow-Daybell case.

Most have heard about the lengthy investigation as it has featured on the news during the last two years. Many podcasts and documentaries have also focused on this couple who are accused of conspiracy to commit multiple murders in order to fulfill their psychotic belief that they are gods killing the zombies as the end of the world looms. Unfortunately, the trials of each has been postponed due to various complications such as the pandemic restrictions as well as Lori apparently deemed incompetent and having to undergo psychiatric evaluation that obviously needs to result in some serious treatment. So, though the author has presented a detailed timeline and brought together all of the pertinent information, there is not a conclusion at this point.

Throughout the entire book I was struck by the looming specter of evil. These two psychopathic narcissists need a judgment day of their own. I cannot believe that it took so much effort to bring the pair to the point of finally being arrested and held accountable or that the children were missing that long before action was taken to find them. I am looking forward to both trials and continue to follow the situation avidly. Too many deaths for their to be true justice for any of their victims and of course the ongoing drama with family revelations and protestations of support makes me shake my head in disgust. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell have capital punishment on the table and I think many are ready for them to have this resolved as their attorneys mess around and the endless delays in the proceedings.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this e-book ARC to read, review, and recommend to any other fans of true crime.

Have you followed this story? Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell have been the focus of a few Dateline episodes and they’ve been all over the news.

In The Doomsday Mother, author John Glatt takes us deep within this tragic and upsetting story. I like true crime and always seek out good books about crimes but when the crime involved children, it’s hard to read. And this story is very hard to wrap my head around. I will never understand a parent who harms their child in any way.

As with all of the authors books, the research is excellent and the book is filled with details. This one is not to be missed!

At first, the residents of Kauai Beach Resort took little notice of their new neighbors. The glamorous blonde and her tall husband fit the image of the ritzy gated community. The couple seemed to keep to themselves—until the police knocked on their door with a search warrant. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell had fled to Hawaii in the midst of being investigated for the disappearance of Lori’s children back in Idaho—Tylee and JJ—who hadn’t been seen alive in five months.

For years, Lori Vallow had been devoted to her children and her Mormon faith. But when her path crossed with Chad Daybell, a religious zealot who taught his followers how to prepare for the end-times, the tumultuous relationship transformed her into someone unrecognizable. As authorities searched for Lori’s children, they uncovered more suspicious deaths with links to both Lori and Chad, including the death of Lori’s third and fourth husbands, her brother, and Chad’s wife. In June 2020, the gruesome remains of JJ and Tylee were discovered on Chad’s property, and the newlyweds were arrested and charged with murder. And in a shocking development, horrifying statements revealed that the couple’s fanatical beliefs had convinced them the children had become zombies–a belief that may have led to their deaths.

Out now!

wow what a interesting mother. What made this book more interesting is that I'm part of that religion. I don't remember hearing this case at all. I was even in Rexburg in 2019 . So to read about a mother mad decent into following this guy who that he was a prophet. I can't believe that she murdered her own kids and believed that she was chosen. Chad was a piece of work and I don't recall hearing of him or reading his books. I can't believe that he murdered his own wife to marry Lori. I can't believe that she had been married for 5 times and maybe murdered her other ex husbands.

I received an ARC of, The Doomsday Mother, by John Glatt. Lori and Chad are not good people, wives/husbands/children/ end up dead. This is a well written book about such tragedy. How people were gotten rid of so easily, and no regret or remorse.

The Doomsday Mother is an excellent, detailed true crime novel about the twisted tale of Lori Vallow, accused of murdering her own children. The case has a lot of twists to it and is still ongoing today. The book is very readable, well-researched, and intriguing. Highly recommended!

Very interesting read. I could not put this one down all night! Thanks to publisher and NetGalley for chance to read this book.

Overall: An interesting and accessible read that is really heartbreaking when you realize the whole thing is true.

Pros:
Writing Style. This was super accessible and easy to follow.
The Story. I know this is going to sound odd at first, but bear with me. The reason people are interested in this, see my why section, is the story. If the story was not compelling to read it would not be an interesting read.

Cons:
Repetition. Obviously, as with all nonfiction you run the risk of repeating yourself when telling the story. This tends to do this a bit during key parts.

I can't really explain how I missed this saga as it was all unfolding but have since heard bits and pieces in subsequent podcasts. This really laid the whole sordid business out nicely. While it did start a bit slow, once the pace picked up I couldn't put it down. This truly bizarre series of murders made for one wild ride.