Thank you Netgalley and Secant Publishing for this advance listener copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was great. I am fascinated by cults and lost a friend to the Qanon conspiracy theory, so this story hit home. I thought it was well researched and well told. The subject matter was a bit disturbing, but it always is when you're reading true crime. I had never heard of Sherry Shriner before this, but I've been looking into her and she's a fascinating person. Crazy as h*ll, but fascinating none the less.

The whole story was a wild ride. Highly recommended quick read here. Great for anyone who's interested in cults and conspiracy theories.

The audio was great. Four enthusiastic stars.

I came across this book on Netgalley. I never heard of the true crime story before that. It's hard for me to wrap my head around people getting sucked in to internet scams and conspiracy theories. I guess I live in my own little world. The story bounced around a lot and at some points it was hard to follow.

Author: Tony Russo
Genre: True Crime, Non-fiction, Religion & Spirituality (cult)
Published: 02 March 2022
Version: Audiobook, narrated by the author.
Content warnings: cults, murder, suicide, mentions of pedophilia

Rating: 3 / 5 stars

Dragged Into the Light is about the cult leader and false prophet, Sherry Shriner, who attracted thousands with conspiracy theories about the New World Order, shape shifting reptilian overlords who are Lucifer’s demons, and end times Bible prophecy. Sherry played on the fears of her members, and convinced them that using Orgone would save people’s lives (like placing Orgone around a football stadium prevented everyone in the stadium from dying when the power went out). Unfortunately, people also lost their lives due to the cult.

I was drawn toward this book because I had recently heard of Sherry Shriner on the podcast “The Opportunist”, hosted by Hannah Smith. I decided I wanted to see if Tony Russo had found other information about Shriner, and he did provide more. I think in total listening to both the podcast and book gave me a more well rounded idea of who Shriner was, and just how deep her influence went. Russo had personal accounts from different people than Smith had, which was good to hear. Russo focused his investigation on the people who had fallen out of Shriner’s good graces, and whether or not they still believed Shriner’s teachings after she ostracized them, and the other cult members ridiculed them.

If you’re interested in cults, true crime, and mind control, I think you could like this book. But I would recommend reading instead of listening.

My one complaint about listening to the audiobook is that Russo quoted many people in his writings, including reading comments off Facebook posts, but unlike traditional audiobook narrators who change their voice per character, Russo didn’t change his voice at all. It got very confusing who was talking to whom in these Facebook posts and text messages because he didn’t change his voice or say who was talking. It was also confusing when he was changing from quoting someone to when he was just narrating his own words about Shriner.

Thank you Netgalley for access to the audiobook.

I have recently gotten into true crime so I was excited to listen to the audiobook. I didn't enjoy the presentation of the material, however. I would have preferred a fact-based presentation rather than having the author present his cynical views of organized religion and conservatives in the narrative. I usually find in non-fiction that I don't enjoy a book where an author presents their journey in discovering the events unless he or she was directly involved in the original events.

Wow, I love true crime and crazy. This audiobook has that as well as internet trolling, obsessed followers of a zealot/troll/marketer. I'm always amazed when masses of people will believe in someone out of fear and invest their money, time, and, yes, sometimes their lives for the cause. The author/narrator is a podcaster so I think it's funny when he does the "voices" of the petty trolling people. Thank you NetGalley and Secant Publishing for awarding me the opportunity to review this audiobook. Interesting story.

Sherrie Shriner was an Internet call leader. Her and her followers believed that not only were aliens here but that they were replacing movie stars and politicians with the reptile Shapeshifter‘s. She claim to be the sister of Jesus and said she remembered playing with Jesus and Satan when they were little long before time began and her followers believed all of it. When a member named Marianne said she saw another members wife Shapeshifting on the streets of Manhattan, He was kicked out of the cult and ostracized. With something tragic would happen to one of their members Sherry Shriner would plane to have prophesies that or at the very least knew it was going to happen. So when a member name Steven wife posted a pic of beef tartar, Sherry immediately said she was a blood sucking Shapeshifter and of course they were ostracize it made fun of told they were going to hell and when Stephen was shot dead by his wife, Sherry claimed to have prophesied it. There is way more to this interesting true crime book then just what I have put above. The things in this book is mine blowing it made me shake my head and wonder where did these people come from? It affirms the old outage truth is stranger than fiction. I enjoyed learning about this coat and highly recommend this book. I found the author was just as positive on his beliefs as the cult members were on theme’s, Put the last future chapters of the book when he wraps it up gave me a whole new respect for the author. I loved it you’re a true crime fan or a fan of the strange and weird you will love this story. I was given this book by net galley and I am leaving this review voluntarily. Please forgive all grammatical or punctuation errors , I am blind and dictate my review but all opinions are my own.

Fascinating look inside Sherry Shriner's cult. Shiner was famous among her followers for her bizarre prophecies and speeches regarding reptilian shapeshifters, the New World Order, and other terrifying "end-days" events. Russo did a great job digging into the details of some of the defectors of Shriner's cult - in particular, two former Shriner believers who ended up dead. Suicide? Murder? Who would be the murderer?

Russo also digs into the motivations, mental impressions, and contradictory beliefs of the Shrinerites. I appreciated how he tried to put himself in their shoes and spell out their reasoning to people like me who simply can't understand how someone could plausibly believe the ludicrous things Shriner claimed. Most books about cults simply tell the story of the cults, but Russo's journalism bridges the gap.

While the narration was generally average, I couldn't stop listening to this book to find out whether these Shrinerites would ever see the *actual* truth.

Thanks to NetGalley and Secant Publishing for an advance copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

I had a difficult time getting into this audiobook. The presentation of the book was more along the lines of a podcast, If you like podcasts, this book is for you.

I lost interest early and by chapter 7 had no clue who the characters were. I think the audio version was very dry, the book version would likely be a better choice.

The idea of learning about the conspiracy theories that have infiltrated the American landscape drew me to this book, Dragged into the Light.

Lizard aliens running the world? Witches? A living queen of heaven who is also Jesus' sister? Huh? It is mindboggling that people like Sherry Shriner can amass a large following yet still remain unknown. If conspiracy theories and cults fascinate you, this one is a must.

WOW. what a wild ride - Tony clearly did his research. This was a quite fascinating cult story. I find it crazy that there are people out there that believe those things but then again, I'm sure there are things I believe in that others would find "crazy" too soooo *woman shrug* The satisfying part of reading about cults and cult leaders is when they are brought to justice for the pains they've caused. I wouldn't say I got that closure here but that's the story and not the writing.