Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this book for review.

This was an interesting look at the creator behind Go Ask Alice, Jay's Journal, and more. I knew a bit about these books and the author, Beatrice Sparks, but I had never read them. While I was in high school, I saw one student, in my school of around 1600 students, carrying around a copy of Alice. I've also studied moral panics as part of my sociology major. Not much of this book was surprising to me, but the research was interesting.

One note on the research, I disagree with the decision to exclude a more extensive notes/citations section. I don't really care if the information is findable, or that you signed a contract that requires you to tell the truth, I still want you to tell me where you found the information. Especially in a book like this, a fact-checking mission meant to disprove lies, I want to see the work. Emerson cites American Kingpin by Nick Bilton as inspiration. That book also has a minimal bibliography so maybe that's where this decision stemmed from. I just think in a fact-checking book like this, sources should be more readily provided, especially if you start the book promising you'll show your work on the citations.

Besides that, I generally enjoyed the writing. It felt a bit overwritten at times but it was quite engaging in it's style. I definitely enjoyed the later half of the book more, when the book shifts away from recounting the real stories behind Sparks' books and towards showing how Sparks lied. The short chapters and their titles and dates seemed to be intended to mimic the style of the Sparks' diaries. I think this added an interesting style to the book. The writing does seem to lean into some of the drama of the story. Some of this made the writing more engaging but some of it felt a bit overwrought.

If you like more objective nonfiction, you probably won't like this. It places itself in the head of characters, including the ones who died. Emerson does explain where he pulled that information from but it certainly effects the tone of the book. I don't mind this style of nonfiction but it is something to know going in.

This is a very interesting examination of this author, her books, and the real stories behind them. I think this book will be interesting to people even if they haven't read any of Sparks' books.

Unmask Alice is an excellent book for any reader looking to understand more about the War on Drugs and the Satanic Panic that took hold of America in the second half of the twentieth century. Emerson unmasks the deceiving character of Beatrice Sparks, following the ways this unknown Mormon woman was able to infiltrate policy decisions at the federal level. Her quest for fame is only overshadowed by the hurt and misjustice she put real victims families through. As a young person who had not heard of the original Alice book, Emerson shed light on the ways that the stretched and created a narrative that sold books and created a sensationalism unmatched in her contemporary literature for young adults. Emerson takes a life of lies and deceit and explains as much of the truth as is possible to locate. Incredible attention to detail and organized in a way that keeps readers invested in the story, Emerson has a real winner in Unmask Alice.

Back in the early 1990s, as a preteen, I read many of the popular books that were available. Sweet Valley High, Judy Blume, and V. C. Andrews (why?) were some of the more memorable. I also remember reading a book called Go Ask Alice, which was supposed to be the true story of a girl’s descent into the horrible world of drug addiction.

As it turns out, things are not always what they seem. In Unmask Alice, author Rick Emerson reveals the true story behind the famous book. Beatrice Sparks, the “editor” of Go Ask Alice and numerous other “diaries” is shown to be a master of deception.

Tied in with the background of the drug culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s and the later Satanic Panic of the 1980s, Emerson deftly illustrates how Sparks drew from the culture of the time in her work and then, ultimately, how her work shaped the culture.

This book was a page turner for me. I would recommend Unmask Alice to those interested in books about books and pop culture phenomena.

Even if I didn't grew up in the USA Ask Alice was a sort of best seller in my teens and this book was very interesting as it talks about the author behind the book.
I wasn't a fan of the book then and I'm very bewildered now. The author did a good job and this was an informative read
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

This was quite interesting, although I had never read the book in question and had no idea of the kind of impact it had at the time. I thought this was a worthwhile story that could at times feel quite long winded. I would have liked to delve a little deeper into the psychology of Sparks. Thanks to Netgalley for the arc.

Go Ask Alice was a sensation when it was released. Jay’s Journal was too. Most kids read at least one of the two in school, and this work gives plenty of information about how it came to be. Highly recommend to anyone who’s read one or both of these works. Thank you for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This was a well thought out well researched look into a forbidden book that this wayward catholic girl studied more than her Bible. I knew Alice wasn't really Alice, I didn't know she was a loathsome Mormon Charlatan who made her money on the backs of suffering families and sensationalism. Fascinating read!

The story this book tells is BANANAS. Beatrice Sparks (note: she is not Dr. Sparks, not Dr. B, not Dr. Sparks, PhD - SHE IS NOT A DOCTOR OF ANYTHING, except maybe long cons and delusions) “edited” Go Ask Alice, the YA book that millions of people have read, which is supposedly based on the real diary of a (spoiler: dead by the end) teenage drug addict.

She followed the massive success of Alice with Jay’s Journal, which was “edited” from the journal of an actual boy named Alden Barrett who died by suicide in 1971. The story behind Jay’s Journal is heartbreaking: Alden’s grieving mom gave Sparks his journal hoping it could maybe help other kids, and instead “Dr. B” made up a whole bunch of horrific shit about Alden being into witchcraft, basically ruined his already hurting family’s lives, and helped set off the Satanic Panic. Well done, Sparksy.

There is so much more to this bonkers story (Art Linkletter?), and Emerson breaks it down in a highly-readable, super entertaining format. I highly recommend you go read it yourself to get the full story behind the YA classic. (And for the love of whatever, stop giving Go Ask Alice to kids as "truth" - I had my 13 year old read it, and she was laughing at how terrible and fake it was. Go figure.)

The premise of this nonfiction work was fascinating but the author kept inserting himself unnecessarily in the narrative, which was annoying.

An interesting insight into the author behind all those “diaries” which served to satisfy our prurient tendencies as kids.

The first time I read Go Ask Alice I knew it was fake, but I still was amazed by it. It was insane, almost laughably over the top. I have read enough 70s era YA to know how youth was portrayed to see how this was groundbreaking but my lord.

Go Ask Alice and later Jay's Journal turned parent's world upside down. They weren't about to sleep knowing that danger was around every corner, or behind every grocery store. Unmask Alice is the story behind the story. The truth of the lies and frankly, it's worse. B. Sparks was a terrible and awful person who was a con artists who abused a families trust in order to advance her own career. Lives were damaged and destroyed.

This is an excellent and well researched look behind the curtain of the book that scandalized the parents of America.

Thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

As a teenager growing up in the late 90s, I had definitely read both Go Ask Alice and Jay's Journal. At the time I had thought both of them to be disturbing as they gave me a glimpse inside a world unknown to me. Now 25+ years later I was excited when I saw Rick Emerson's Unmask Alice and knew I had to read it.

To be completely honest I had never heard anything about Go Ask Alice or Jay's Journal after reading them so was unaware of the controversy surrounding their authenticity. I was shocked to discover their author Beatrice Sparks was a con artist, who basically fabricated the stories! It's amazing that no one, her editor or publisher made sure that the dairies she had someone acquired were in fact true, to be fair some of them were real but she embellished them so much that they should now be considered fiction novels.

This was an insightful book to read. I appreciated that Rick Emerson took the time to write this book and tell the world the truth about Beatrice Sparks. I do feel that the book was a bit slow at times and could have been laid out in a different order.

Thank you to NetGalley and BenBella Books for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

My heart breaks for the families Beatrice Sparks harmed during her intentional lies. I grew up reading her books and the characters’ lives truly touched me so learning they were all a falsehood constructed by a woman intent in becoming famous at any cost was difficult to accept. I’m grateful for the truth finally being revealed and for it being presented concisely and with heavy backstory. If you were also duped by Go Ask Alice, Jay’s Journal, or any of her other fabrications, this is a good read.

I stumbled upon this as a "read now" on NetGalley and I thought the premise was interesting; I think some of Go Ask Alice was shared during my school days, and I didn't know the story behind the hack author who wrote these "diaries".

I did not like the author's seeming advocacy for legalization of marijuana and psychedelics (LSD, psilocybin etc.) throughout the first third of the album. I will keep my personal opinions out of it, but I wasn't looking to read someone's political opinions. I'm an adult and I appreciate pro/con arguments, but this was more like "I'm right these aren't dangerous drugs etc.". I have a personal and nuanced opinion on this and this book's purpose is not to convince people of what is correct. This lacked couth.

What I did appreciate was the picking apart of Go Ask Alice. Now, I went ahead and read Alice in its whole before getting too far into the book so that I could have an understanding of the subject material. Ultimately I thought that any rational human older than 14 could see right through that "true story". Emerson goes a step further in poking holes in the plot and the nonsensical nature of the drugs that Alice experiments with.

We then learn (as I knew) that Go Ask Alice was written by a Mormon with heavily conservative values- a woman named Beatrice Sparks whose past is a bit mythical itself. She claims to have gotten her degrees at Brigham Young, yet Brigham Young's archives say she went to UCLA! It's a mess. She is supposedly a psychiatrist treating troubled teens.

The second portion of the novel is dedicated to another "diary" written by Sparks called Jay's Journal.

This is disgusting. Sparks takes the story of a young man named Arden who lives in a Mormon town- perfect for Beatrice Sparks to ingratiate herself into; he has some issues to say the least. He desires to marry his high school sweetheart who he's deeply in love with, as it goes with his religion he does not want to become intimate with her until their marriage. Essentially things begin to go awry for Arden and tragically he takes his own life.

With her "talent" Sparks takes this story and turns it into a "diary" about Satanic rituals leading Arden to take his own life. This is abhorrent and tragic to say the least. I can't even think about how his family felt. They apparently considered suing, but felt they were good people who were "above" taking legal action. It's terrible.

The third and shortest part of the story deals with whether "Alice" is based on a real young teenager. The author had to do some research here but the answer seems to be "kind of". Names are changed naturally, but there was a young lady with some characteristics that Sparks came into contact with at Brigham Young. Interestingly, unlike Alice, this woman is alive and well as is her friend who was concerned about her. Yet we do not know for sure. There are incongruencies in the story.

Emerson also brings in some government related developments throughout the late 60s-early 90s, but to me that wasn't the core of the story. Ultimately this book is about a horrific person, Beatrice Sparks, who lied and cheated her way to wealth. She wrote many other "diaries" that sold fairly well, mostly based on lies. She used scare tactics instead of science and true case studies to thrust fear into the hearts of mainly parents, but probably children as well. Clearly there's some bias on the author's part but one can do a quick enough internet search to see all of this.

This wasn't the most thrilling read, but it was worthwhile as a book documentary.

~J

I remember reading "Go Ask Alice" as a middle schooler. I'm pretty sure most people my age did. But I also remember thinking, there's just no way this was real. Apparently, I was correct. The entire book was made up by some lonely old woman who wanted attention and preyed on real peoples' problems. Just. Icky. This book was definitely an eye opener and taught me quite a bit that I didn't know. If you've ever had your doubts about those "Go Ask Alice" esque books, I suggest checking this one out!

I read "Go Ask Alice" during my high school years and honestly never really thought about the inconsistencies with the timeline or the stories told in the "diary." I just accepted it as a harrowing story of a girl who lost herself to drugs like so many others had before and after her. So when I received an advance copy of this book (without reading the description), I was shocked to learn that the story was really all just a scam. Not completely, no. It was loosely based on a daughter's suicide that her father swore was related to LSD. But the diary entries themselves were faked. In my teenage mind I never would have guessed that. But what the original book did do for me, was scare me away from hard drugs. I didn't want to find myself in the same position as the main character. I saw how easy it was to go from having everything to having nothing and that was enough to stop me from ever trying a drug offered to me.

Thank you NetGalley for gifting me an advance reader copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinions and review.

Ambition. A diary. And an author who's fraudulent influence swept the nation away. Rick Emerson does a fantastic job introducing our leading lady: Beatrice Sparks, and road-mapping Sparks' manipulations and actions by giving us dates and times through the book, in true diary-fashion. Emerson is quick to call out Sparks' missteps, while also developing her into a relatable and fallible human - she was a tenacious, brilliant, entrepreneur willing to do whatever (and use whomever) to bring about her fame and success.

Pause, let me take a moment to recognize NetGalley and The Bluestocking Bookshop for the amazing opportunity to review this book ahead of its release!

Although nonfiction is not my favorite genre, I devoured this e-read while pursuing the intense history surrounding "Go Ask Alice". The book in question is one I recall fondly from my adolescence... and I needed to know how this ended. I am at a bit of a loss, upon finding out Alice's story is actually fiction and how negatively this title impacted the country and its viewpoints on drugs and mental health care. I feel conned and icky. This feels like a gross abuse and manipulation of publication power; although hindsight is always 20/20. Amidst the current turmoil surrounding free speech and fact-checking, the information in this book does not bode well for the publishing industry nor the government (surprise, surprise.)

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. I lived in the Midwest, a very small town wherein drugs had not yet become a thing and hippies were something exotic “ but not in our town! “
I first heard about GO ASK ALICE when it was the Movie of the Week.
It scared the bejesus out of me. I was never going to use drugs or be like that girl, and that turned out to be true.
But, my whole adult life I believed it was a real story, just like Jay, another story looked at in this book.
And now I find that it was not a diary of a real person, rather a story written by a woman and then perpetuated by lies . This changed many things that happened during those years: a war on drugs that was based on misrepresentation, child psychologists that used this as a jumping point for their own success. Even law enforcement quoted this book as if the contents were gospel.
The woman that wrote these books and many others of the same theme was at best starved for attention, at worst a conwoman. Did it help people? Probably. Did it hurt people? Absolutely.
This is a great exploration into the origins of this book and the people that helped her and also the people that were hurt by her.
I highly recommend.

This book was somewhat interesting. Thus, the 3 stars. But it was all over the place and sometimes I didn’t always know where I was or what I was reading. Thus, the three stars. It’s about a very popular book in the 1970’s that most believed was nonfiction. A true diary of a 16 year old girl who committed suicide. Also about a true diary of a boy around the same age who a few years later (I hope I got that right, sometimes like I said, I didn’t know where I was) that committed suicide as well. The author of these books was supposed to be a PhD in psychology. Was supposed to be on the up and up, but this book is trying to prove she wasn’t because there’s no evidence proving any of it. I wanted to read it because I thought it would be interesting and it was but a little jumpy here and there. Sometimes a little hard to follow. But I know pretty much what the author was trying to do. He was trying to show that this author who was supposed to be a doctor and said she was, but no proof to corroborate that. She took these two troubled teen’s diaries or journals and added to them with supposed lies, blown up stories that were no where near they’re entries. The boy’s family was torn to pieces because of the book that was put out called Jay’s Journal. This is mostly what the book is about. It’s trying to prove and show that what was passed off as something true was not at all. I have never heard of either one of these supposedly nonfiction books. I haven’t an opinion about it one way or another, but Rick Emerson has a good case, with this writing, showing that Beatrice Sparks writings weren’t truthful or on the up and up. Thank you to #NetGalley the publishers, and the author for the opportunity to read and review #UnmaskAlice with my honest thoughts and opinions.

Unmask Alice tracks the career of the author behind Go Ask Alice and several other books based on the diaries of troubled teens. I am vaguely familiar with Go Ask Alice--I remember seeing it in the YA section of my local bookstore. I am also aware of the general contours of the book's infamy: most importantly, that its extremely melodramatic plot was largely faked. I was surprised to learn of the role Go Ask Alice played in the development of the War on Drugs. The strength of Unmask Alice lies in its tracing of Alice's afterlives, both in the YA genre and, most astoundingly, in the larger culture.

Emerson weaves an extremely readable narrative, tracking Beatrice Sparks' career as a writer and fraudster. I had to remind myself to unclench my jaw as I read through her web of lies. The most compelling section was the narrative of a teenager who died by suicide, whose journal became the basis of Jay's Journal, and the devastation the book's publication wreaked on his family. This section also leads into the most timely reportage, explaining the role of Jay's Journal played in stirring the moral crisis behind the Satanic Panic. This analysis shows the most far-reaching effects of these books at the center of Sparks' web of lies. This was a very interesting read.