While I'm not an expert on cults, it's clear from this book that Robards conducted thorough research. The dynamics of The Flock are intricately portrayed, showing why members joined and how they were controlled. I appreciated the respectful approach to depicting the people involved.

Despite multiple perspectives, the storyline flows smoothly. I especially enjoyed the portrayal of Claire, the main character, whose struggles with PTSD and emotional conflicts are handled with depth and sensitivity.

Was this a groundbreaking thriller? No, not really. But I love a good cult plotline and this one kept me guessing.

"Only the Guilty Survive" was an enjoyable cult thriller. The cult itself was interesting, and I liked the different perspectives. The twist came out of nowhere, and I'm not sure if it's in a good way. The storytelling was very good, and I liked how the author built the characters. I would definitely read more from her.

Only The Guilty Survive by Kate Robards

An intense journey into the depths of a cult and its members. What makes it possible? How do we go from being a daughter, a friend, a wife; to a cult member caught in a web of lies?

Kate Robards presents us with a highly sensitive topic and it’s is certainly well explored. This is not only a story of a cult leader and it’s Flock, this is the path that every one of them, including the leader; took to get there.

In general terms, as it’s explained in the novel, cult leader lies, manipulates, exploits and deceits its followers. They study their vulnerabilities, body language and simply explore those dark areas to present them with new ideas of awakening and transcendence.

Some of them come from dark places, running away from a past no longer serves their purpose of living; while others may come from complex families trying to find a new meaning to their lives. It doesn’t really matter the case, as they both get trapped in a web specially designed to get them and make them believe that each one of them actually chose that life.

This novel explores the psyche of the cult leader as well, which I found extremely useful and well written. As the reader gets a peek inside Don’s mind, we learn about his past, about his own demons and his dreams of grandiosity.

It is my belief that it does not matter if the leader is mentally ill, if only wants money and power or if he simply wants his name written on the news, they are real people. Like you and me. They live among us and they take us and our loved ones.

As it happened with one of the members of the Flock, she got brainwashed, love bombed, suffered from isolation and was starved or joined fasting to purify herself. But she got there and stayed there. So, what’s going on with the world outside that a complete and charismatic person can come and change our set of values and principles and take us away from our families and friends? What is going so wrong that in order to escape our realities we drink sand instead of water?

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for this free ALC in exchange for an honest review.

For a novel that seemed to have taken a lot of inspiration from real life events with the cults, this was a little too far from the mark for me. It was clear that the author had watched a lot of documentaries or listened to a lot of podcasts and had amalgamated different aspects of different cults to create Dom's Flock. This left a ragged, unfinished feel to it all that removed a level of engagement for me.

The characters were very two-dimensional and the buzz words used did little to pull the reader in.

Unfortunately, this could have been a 5 star had the author actually created a succinct, well rounded cult rather than the patchwork one the story is centred around.

Very fast paced. The characters draw you in immediately. Love love love! Can’t wait to read more from this author. The twist kept me guessing!

10 years after a mass suicide at a cult , the lone survivor struggles to remember what happened. This was an interesting mystery told in multiple voices, but the ending left me completely unsatisfied.. I did like the narrator, though.
I was given an ARC of Only the Lonely Survive by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

#onlytheguiltysurvive
#katerobards
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#dreamscapeaudio

Only the Guilty Survive by Kate Robards is an electrifying psychological thriller that expertly weaves together true crime intrigue with dark, small-town secrets.
The story is centered around the mysterious mass suicide of the Flock, a cult led by the enigmatic Dominic Bragg, which left the town of Iola, Michigan, reeling in shock. Robards brilliantly sets the stage with the chilling details of the cult’s demise, especially the haunting connection to the abduction and murder of Laurel Tai, a local beauty queen. The tension only deepens with the presence of Claire Kettler, the sole survivor and best friend of Laurel, who has been living in the shadow of these horrific events for a decade.
Robards excels in creating complex, flawed characters. The arrival of Arlo Stone, a tenacious podcaster determined to uncover the truth, adds a fresh layer of suspense. As Arlo starts digging into the past, the narrative takes on a pulse-pounding intensity, driving Claire to confront her darkest memories and secrets.
The novel is filled with twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end. Robards plays with the reader’s expectations, unraveling the mystery piece by piece while maintaining an atmosphere of dread and anticipation. The dual timelines, shifting between the present investigation and the events leading up to the cult’s demise, are seamlessly intertwined, adding depth to the story and making the final revelations all the more shocking.

This was such an addictive and compelling read! I loved diving into the cult’s final days, and I thought the book was set up so well with the flashes from the past, present, insiders, and outsiders. The suspense was chilling with each new surprise uncovered, and I was kept on my toes the whole time. Robards is now an instant buy author in my books.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

✨Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, Dreamscape Media, and Netgalley for the gifted digital and audio versions of this book✨

2.5⭐️

This one was just not for me. I really wanted to love it because I am so interested in cults, and I’ve watched countless documentaries. Specifically about Jonestown, and the author does mention that Dom is supposed to be trying to imitate Jim Jones, but The Flock and what ends up happening is too similar to Peoples Temple. And The Flock didn’t even appear to have an actual goal in mind. The author just threw around cult phrases like “transcend” and “vibrate on a new plane” without putting any meaning to anything Dom was trying to accomplish as the leader of his cult. It just didn’t make any sense to me.

Neither of the main characters were likable, and they were both one dimensional. There really wasn’t any character development or emotion behind either of them. It left the story hollow.

And this may just be me, but I am a native Michigander. I’m pretty familiar with our geography. The author mentions the setting an unusual amount throughout the book. And she seems to have made up Iola, but was also making references to towns and landmarks that are real in Michigan. Why not just use a real town? She mentioned Lapeer a handful of times, and Lapeer is a town in mid Michigan, not in the UP as Iola is described. It just bothered me the whole time. 😅

The narrators were both okay, but the narrator for Claire’s POV always sounded like she was out of breath.

Overall, this book was just a miss. I wanted to love it, but I just couldn’t.

Claire is the only survivor of a cult called the The Flock. She tries to live a quiet life in the aftermath of the group’s mass suicide at the Bird Haven. A podcaster enters town to reopen the events and circumstances surrounding the group. Claire begins her own investigation to find out why she was the only one left alive. The ending left some things to be desired.

Thank you to Kate Robards, NetGalley and Dreamscape for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Only the Guilty Survive by Kate Robards


Claire is the only survivor of a cult called the Flock…. There has always been an air of wonder around her.. How did she survive? Did she do something to the rest of the cult? What really happened to her friends and will remembering help her or hurt her?

Um… OK so I love the idea of a cult. I also understand the logic of having the past and present… Claire POV is the present but not in the past, which is a little weird as far as cohesion to the story but ok.. Let’s move past that. Claire cannot remember what happened and how she survived. The story doesn’t move very fast but there are some super interesting themes that kept me engaged enough to make the book decent.

I didn’t like Claire, which is a huge thumbs down for me, even though I understand the author was going for an unreliable narrator, I find you still have to find a connection to the character and she irritated me a lot. I liked the past better than the present day and the twist was a little uninspiring but there was enough here to entertain anyone who likes a good cult book. 3.75 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own.

This was a decent novel. I thought the first quarter of this book was really good. However, I started to lose interest about halfway through. Nothing really wrong that made me lose interest, I just happen to be a big mood reader. Overall. I thought the book was good and I'm glad that I continued to read/listen even after I started to lose interest. This book ended up being a creepy, yet enjoyable thriller. I did enjoy all the narrators as well and didn't really dislike any of their voices. I am going to definitely keep an eye out for more books written by Kate Robards!

Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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For a cult book, it wasn't bad. I don't usually pick up cult books as I dislike them and think they are overused, but how could I say no to this cover? The end felt a bit rushed and jumbled, and I feel like finding out the 'killer' wasn't even a big deal.

Cult culture…the synopsis immediately grabbed my attention. I was hoping for a focus on the nitty gritty dark spaces of what exactly pulls people into cults. This book had a lot of potential to do so and the main character was setup with a very dependent persona that allowed her to be easily pulled in, but her unreliability as a narrator was irksome. Also, when we started to gain Dominic’s perspective he really fell flat to me.
Claire had a difficult relationship with her family and it led her to seek solace in a bird haven/cult under the leadership of Dominic Bragg. Dominic is a man with a very ulterior motive and is seeking to become THE cult leader that everyone will talk about. Fast forward after the possible murder/suicide of the entire flock, except Claire, and we have a burgeoning podcast special set to reveal who really is responsible.
The plot begins nicely, but it quickly starts to flip around and becomes hard to follow. Claire is written in as unreliable which isn’t too problematic, but the issue is that none of the other narrators are reliable either. The ending came together as a bit farfetched for me, but the audio production was well done and I was able to follow along and finish the story.

I love a good cult story and this one did not disappoint! I could tell from the begging in the way it was written Kate did a lot of research for this book.
I think a story like this is best told through multiple perspectives and I am so glad that she wrote it this way. I also love a thriller so to have these two themes together was a perfect mix!

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time reading as the suspense in not only the plot but the characters builds. It was a perfect combination of both a slow burn and perfect suspense. At moments I wanted more action but I think that is just a personal choice, The pacing through this story thought time periods and POV's was very interesting and a good way to tell a story like this that impacted so many. I will say I liked the past time lines better than the current present day and I wanted more from present day.

The themes of survivors guilt and other issues like these are interesting to look at in a cult thriller.

The cover is stunning and really draws the eye.

This was a really good read, it was very engaging in a narrator voice really carried on the story. I really enjoyed this book and we look forward to more work from this author.

I wanted to enjoy this book so much more than I actually did. I listened to the audiobook and I think the narrator did a good job with trying to bring the story to life. I struggled the most with the main character Claire. She fell flat and all of her relationships felt abusive and she seemed forever stuck a young adult pulled in by a narcissist. The ending had me pretty frustrated honestly. I thought there were some huge leaps in deductions and some clues that were missed by Claire. I liked Lolly’s character, but it was hard to get too invested when you knew what happens to her. The story had a lot of potential, I just wanted a little more. Claire joined a cult when she was a freshman of college, the bird haven. She left the cult after all of the members committed suicide and the leader disappeared. The story is told from a few different perspectives in both the past and present. One member had been murdered just before the mass suicide and Claire was the only survivor. No one ever solved the murder and Claire’s memories were scattered and she was told trying to regain them could do her damage. No one believed Claire’s excuse of not remembering what had happened and the town hated her, but it has faded with time. Until a podcaster came to town to revive interest in the story and try to solve the case. Overall I gave this one 2.5 stars rounded up.

I enjoyed the book. It was my first cult book. It was entertaining but I wasn't a fan of the ending and who the perp was. A bit of it seemed out of left field and for shock value.... some of the actions some characters made seemed very unlike them.
The audiobook made it easier to enjoy. I will say there were plotholes and the MC, Claire, was extremely... Basic? I enjoyed the portrayal of PTSD and felt like that made sense but that was about the extent I felt connected to the character.
I felt like overall, it was a bit anticlimactic. It's weird because I still enjoyed the book but it didn't hit like I was hoping it would. The podcast aspect was underutilized or just shouldn't have been a part of the plot. Overall I don't feel like my time was wasted though.

On the surface, this book is about a cult survivor trying to regain some of her memories and understand her role in the demise of the cult. There are flashbacks to the past, but not in the POV of the main character, but from a different victim. There is a lot of repetition of some items, but a lot of missing information to make the story make sense and come together. It doesn’t help that Claire wasn’t particularly likable, her behavior in the past and the current confusing, erratic, irrational. NO one felt particularly relatable. The “twist” was not satisfying and the entire ending did not help the story. I will say, the narrator was a pleasure to listen to and I think I enjoyed the book more because it was an audiobook than if I had been reading a visual copy. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to provide my honest review.