Wow! Just wow. I don't read a lot of true crime but t man, did this one get me wanting to read more. Incredibly well written, informative and while being heinous, it wasn't graphic. No details leaving me with nightmares. Definitely leaves me questioning the truth.

You know how they say that fact is sometimes stranger than fiction?
Well, that covers this book, for sure.

It's really hard to believe that people go down these rabbit holes and even harder to believe that they can all but get away with it claiming mental health issues.

On the whole, this book is a little too stuffed full for my liking, kinda...over written? But, I listened to the end and would say it deserves 3 full stars for the amount of work put into writing it.

I want to thank the author, NetGalley and Tantor Audio for providing me the opportunity to listen to this new book for my honest review.

Lori coxes whole life was aiming towards the terrible. With a selfish superficial mom and a successful but oddly opinionated dad and a brother who wanted her sexually, I don’t think she stood a chance. She grew up in Southern California and was raised in the LDS Mormon church with her two brothers and two sisters. Out of all five children only one seems to have come out normal. Lori cock was married five times and gave birth to two children her son Colby and daughter Tylie. After her marriage to Joe Ryan, Tylie’s dad. She married Charles Valloe and they adopted his nephews autistic son JJ. Everyone who met Laurie , said she was kind and a great mother. So how did the primary school mom of the year wind up being responsible for three murders? Two of them were her children Tylie and JJ. All this would happen after she met a doomsday prep her and an advocate for the delusional Chad Dayville. He was a Podcaster, an author and in his own mind thought he was a God. Lori was fascinated with them and when they met at a prepper event it all went downhill from there. This book was so captivating. From the beginning your hooked and don’t want to press pause until the end. Lorie told more than one person above him for seeing the death of her husband and his wife and yet no one thought it suspicious. It really is a book a big bunch of Looney Tunes most of whom are related. Even though Chad had five kids, none of them were in the dooms day cult. It was mostly Laurie and her family and if if he said they were a zombie or dark spirit then they had to go. Unfortunately that is why she killed her two children. She said they were zombies. If you love true crime I highly recommend this book. I saw a few review that talked about the narrator and how he was not American and this story was that in America. This is a non-fiction books about true crime in this story was covered by people all over the world I thought he did a fabulous job and highly recommend this audiobook and the narrator. I received this audiobook from NetGalley Shelf and the publisher, But I am leaving this review voluntarily. Please forgive any grammatical or punctuation errors . I am blind and dictate my review and anyone who uses dictation knows and loves to make you sound stupid. All opinions are my own though.

Though I’ve heard most of this story in the news this book fills in all the other gaps. Yes this story is very dry and all about the faces, but that’s expected from a book like this.

Prior to reading this book, I already knew quite a lot about the Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell case, as I have followed the story via the news, YouTube, and social media. I went into reading this book with caution, as I know that some who try to tell the story lean away from the facts and the evidence in an attempt to dramatise what is already a horribly dramatic case with no need for added shock-value.

Nevertheless, I was surprised by the high quality of this book. The author refrains from embellishing the story, in favour of providing an objective overview backed up by evidence. His use of language is balanced and fact-driven, making it clear when anecdotal claims are made.

The author lays out the story in an accessible format, separating the elements into sections, then linking them together in a way that allows the reader to follow the timeline with ease.

The level of detail the book provides is impressive. Having followed and researched this case extensively, I was surprised to learn of many details and viewpoints of which I was previously unaware.

It should go without saying that this book is a difficult read in terms of the subject matter. Trigger warnings for murder, violence, abuse, gore/graphic descriptions, cults, and religious extremism to name just a few. It's definitely a "reader discretion is advised" book.

I would recommend this book for anyone who would like to delve deeper into this case and/or to gain a better understanding of the full timeline and history. The only thing I would like to have seen is a bit more focus on Tylee and JJ, but I understand that this book is more focused on the perpetrators rather than the victims.

I received a free copy of this audiobook from the publisher via NetGalley.

“The bodies are starting to pile up” -Dateline
The Doomsday Mother is a true crime novel about a crime almost everyone has heard about. This is my second book by John Glatt and I really enjoyed it. It completely blows my mind how crazy these two people got and no one saw it coming.
This book is a behind the scenes of everyone. Their family backgrounds, all her marriages, and any other crazy thing that came up along the way. I love the way John Glatt writes and highly recommend it if your a true crime fan.
I chose to listen to this book on audio and enjoyed Shaun Grindell narrating this. This was 8 hours and 38 minutes.
Thanks Tantor Audio via NetGalley.

This was a mixed listen. I thoroughly enjoyed the information shared about this case. There was so much I learned from it and appreciate the deep dive by the journalist. If I read this, I’d be super pleased. However the reader wasn’t a good fit for this. The narrator gave off that this was just an ordinary fiction story opposed to a true crime read if that makes sense.

Having watched and read a lot this case I did learn so much more about this case and the many many people who failed these children the biggest being their mother. Ugh these are awful people and I’m scared they will get off because they are nuts!
You are not a seer because you said your wife would die then you kill her and say see I was right?!?! That is the kind of whacko stuff Chad would say. And that Lori could kill her children thinking they were zombies when there were people that would have taken them and they would have been safe from her that’s the heartbreaking part is there were people who would take them and she never had to see them again. How awful for those kids knowing at the end who was killing them.

This is a tough story these poor kids and the adults that are dead because of these two awful people. The culty things they both believed and how 2 delusional people can come together and form and even bigger delusion and leave a wake of bodies. I will be watching the follow up of this case and hope these two never ever see the light of day. This is a hard book to read because what happened to these kids is tough to hear. I feel like there were chances that were missed but hindsight is 20/20 and the only people to blame for all the deaths are Lori and Chad.

Narration was by Shaun Grindell was well done.

This was laid out well and those that like true crime will like this.

4 stars

I received this book from the publisher Tantor Audio and NetGalley for a fair and honest review.

Wow! What a great true crime story. Cults, multiple marriages, " missing " children, and, murder. You might think you know the story due to either 20/20 or Dateline but you don't know half of it. A must read for any true crime lover.

I was very disappointed in this book. I feel like if something was published it should feature new information that has not been available. However, this was not the case. In addition, the narrator sounded like he was reading bullets from a PowerPoint presentation. It was not engaging at all.

I was fascinated by this case when it was national news so a chance to have an insiders perspective was something I wasn’t going to pass up. And this read like a 3 part episode of Law & Order SVU and I am here for it! It took me a few to get all the characters straight in my head, but once I did it was go time!
Lori Vallow was a devout member of the church of Latter Day Saints and gets taken into a doomsday cult by the leader, Chad Daybell. The problem was, they both had families standing in their way of being able to be together. I got taken in by the cult, murder for hire and the denial that anything was wrong and their very extensive lifestyle that they were living all the while covering up what was really going on.
The narrator would not have been my first choice to tell this story because he kind of delivers it like he’s telling the news or something-just kind of matter of fact and not much emotion brought to it. However, being a relatively quick story, I won’t hold it against the author.
Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my review.
Publication date: January 18, 2022

The book itself was great! I loved the story, the content, and was fascinated the entire time. The narrator, however, was hard to listen to. At the end of every sentence he sounded as though he was asking the reader a question. After a while this became frustrating and hard to listen to. I did end up speeding the audio and that helped immensely. I think I would have enjoyed this more had I read it instead of listened to it (strictly because of the narrator)

Wow. Okay, first, I am surprised I had no previous knowledge of this case. I live in eastern Washington state so not that far away, but then, I don't own a tv and rarely watch the news online so I guess not that surprising? It amazes me that people can still be duped into following leaders with so "out there" ideas and be willing to kill their own family in the name of religion. This story is difficult to believe and yet, not. I listened to the audiobook and it was difficult at times to not get lost with the number of people involved and a bit of time hopping in the storyline. There were a few times I wasn't sure who was being discussed. If you're a fan of true crime and able to listen while not distracted, I'd say give this one a go.

Thank you to Tantor Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I am not a huge true crime reader. I tend to struggle with the genre, but this case, with its cultish link, was particularly of interest to me. I feel a great deal of frustration with it all, which only heightened as I took in the details via audiobook, but that is not a reflection of the book itself.

One of my struggles with true crime is that I’ve often found the material dry, but that was not true of The Doomsday Mother. I felt the author presented the information in an engaging fashion that kept me hooked all the way through.

My other issue is the emotional component of the actual crimes. Tragic fiction is generally something I’m able to handle, but nonfiction is so much harder. The author didn’t dig particularly deep into the emotions of this case, although the crimes are quite upsetting. I did find it difficult not to put myself in the place of the victims, whether they were those who had died or those who were left behind to grieve the loss and process their pain and confusion.

Although it looks like John Glatt tackles a lot of deeply distressing subjects, I’ll likely read another one of his books in the future, provided I feel I can handle the content. I felt I learned a lot from The Doomsday Mother, which is a strong statement about Glatt’s writing style and his ability to keep me invested.

I am immensely grateful to Tantor Audio and St. Martin’s Press for my audio review copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

The Doomsday Mother is due for publication on January 18, 2022.

This was an okay true crime book. I liked that we learned about both Lori and Chad's lives prior leading up to the crime, as that always helps to get a more whole view of the how and why of what led them to a point where they were murder children. Besides their background, I don't feel like I learned anything new about this case with this book, so I am not sure it was worth the time I spent listening to it. I do think it would be a good read for someone who is interested in true crime and doesn't know anything about this case yet.

John Glatt is one of my favourite true crime writers. I was really excited about his upcoming book about this case. which was a heartbreaking and a wild one. Unfortunately, I had to stop listening at 56% of the audiobook. I really do not understand the structure of the book. It was confusing, fragmented, and was just a a lot of information on who did what, said what, which sounded more like a soap opera, rather than giving any relevant information regarding the case. I just do not understand why this book was written like that.

The narration just didn't work for me either. Instead of reading the book, I do not know why the narrator narrated the book like reading the news. It felt cold and distant, and I couldn't bear listening to a narration that way until the end.

Pub Date: Jan 18, 2022

***Thank you Tantor Audio and NetGalley for this gifted listening copy. All opinions expressed are my own.***

We all watched and listened as this story unfolded on the news. A honeymooning couple in Hawaii suspected of harming the bride’s children (who haven’t been seen in months), a religious zealot and a trail of bodies tell a terrifying tale of greed and insanity. Police approached Lori Vallow and her husband. Chad Daybell in Hawaii, looking for Vallow’s two young children, Tylee and JJ. The couple remain silent as authorities continue their search for the missing children back in Idaho, where they eventually discover the children’s remains on land owned by Chad. They also link the deaths of Vallow’s third and fourth husbands, her brother and Chad’s wife to the murderous duo. The reason for the murders? Vallow and Daybell, both Mormons, claimed that the children had to be destroyed because they were zombies. This is a difficult story to listen to, it’s impossible to fathom a mother murdering her own children, but listeners get a front row seat to this story and can make up their own minds – were Vallow and Daybell really mentally ill or were they using mental illness as an excuse to cover up their desire for a new life, sans responsibility

I only made it through a bit of this and then I gave up. It just felt cheap and exploitive, without really a narrative arch or interesting writing.

Thank you for the opportunity to listen to this audiobook. This was a very twisted, dark, and wild story.
I had not heard of this case until starting the novel and I can't believe this was going on in court during the pandemic. This story broke my heart for the poor families involved indirectly with this doomsday cult. Lori was so in her head and wrapped up in Chad's ideas that she was so devoted to him and would do anything for them. I found it was difficult to listen to in some parts because of the gruesome events. But also, I found it hard to follow the story as there was very many characters involved. Overall, I did enjoy the audiobook and was happy to review.

Thanks again.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this audiobook.

This story is WILD. It reads like an absurd three-part episode of Law & Order SVU. But this is real life! Lori Vallow is a devout member of the LDS church who becomes sucked into a doomsday sect (cult!) of the faith, led by Chad Daybell. Unfortunately, several people had to die in order for them to be together, including her husband, two kids, and Chad's wife.

I was completely sucked into this tale of cults and murder-for-hire-- I listened to it in only a few hours. My one complaint about this story is that it sometimes felt fragmented. I had a hard time keeping up with the huge cast of characters, and I think part of this was due to the writing style. That being said, I still rolled with the punches and took this for the story this was.

One thing that was.... weird... about this audiobook is that it's set in Hawaii, Idaho, and Arizona, but the narrator has a British accent. That really threw me off sometimes since it just doesn't make sense. The narrator also uses a cadence and tone that's sort of like a special news report at 9, but for an ENTIRE audiobook. The creative choices were strange? But I did still overall enjoy the audiobook for the story itsef.