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.

********


If you are interested in seeing more of my reviews and other content feel free to connect with me here <3:

https://linktr.ee/bookreviewsbyjules (links to my Instagram, Goodreads, TikTok, Storygraph, My blog and Substack newsletter, etc)

If you are a publisher or author who has questions about my reviews (as well as questions about my stats, reach or engagement), please free to email me. I am also open to requests for book reviews from authors or publishers. Thank you again for taking time to read my review, and I hope you have a wonderful day!

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.

I got really involved in listening to the story. I am getting very interested in the whole cult trope right now and I like the way it got married with the podcaster. I like the back and forth as well between the two women.

I liked the narration it suited the story.
Loved the cover.

Claire is the lone survivor of a cult called The Flock that had lived at an abandoned bird sanctuary in Iola, Michigan. After the murder of her best friend and fellow member of The Flock, Laurel, Claire withdrew from the group, only to wake up one day to find the members dead and the leader, Dominic, missing. Claire was never able to forgive herself for what happened and neither does the town of Iola where she still lives. Now, a podcaster has come to town to try to reveal what really happened to Laurel and it's dragging up memories that Claire thought she would never recover. The story is told in alternating points of view with Claire in the present still dealing with the fallout and trying to remember what happened when she was with The Flock and Laurel and Dominic in the past recounting the final days of The Flock. My main critique was that the book could get a bit repetitive at times when talking about mind control, especially talking about love bombing. I'm also not certain if this type of language would have been common for the time period. That being said, I did enjoy the story, especially Laurel's parts. This book will appeal to those who enjoy stories written like true crime or stories about true crime podcasts.

Only the Guilty Survive is a fascinating look at the inner workings of a cult and the people that want to defect from them. Told from the point of view of several members of the cult - and with the help of a podcast in production - a murder from long ago is solved, bringing peace to many.

The cover art is gorgeous, narration was beautiful, and the story was all-encompassing. As someone who loves true crime it really worked for me, and I would definitely recommend! I have to admit - I did not see the killer coming. Did not except them to be who they were nor did I guess their involvement. Usually I have that nailed earlier than the final pages of the book! Well done.

Thanks for the audio ARC!

I was excited by the premise of this one but ended up not loving it. I felt no connection with the main character and was irritated by her at times. I enjoyed the past/present timeline but that was one of the only redeeming qualities for me. The audiobook narration wasn't bad, though.

This book felt so chaotic that I don't really understand what happened.

The book had such promise. The name was catchy, the cover was beautiful and the premise was intriguing. However, it felt difficult to know which POV was who or when and it felt like the answers came from a completely random place.

Cults have always been intriguing and the premise is interesting but I feel like the execution could have been better. I didn't like Claire at all (or Laurel) and I feel like I should have been relieved she survived and been willing her to find the answers. Instead I just wanted to reach the end to see if things progressed well.

Thank you to Dreamscape Media and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I really enjoyed this small town story about a cult.. Loved how it was told in past and present.. The narrators totally delivered and kept me interested..

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape for the advance reader copy..

Told in multiple POVs, Claire, the surviving cult member, Laurel (Lollie), the murdered beauty queen, and the cult leader Dom, who's currently on the run.

I love the cover and enjoyed the small-town setting. However, the pacing was slow and boring in places.

I was rooting for Claire; she deserved better. I liked how suspicion was cast on multiple characters; it was intriguing. The reveal of the bad guy was anticlimactic. The book was okay.

Thanks to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the ALC.

ARC audiobook provided in exchange for an honest review.

I truly enjoyed the multicast narration on this book! It gave the characters more depth and clarity in my head to have them all voiced by different people. This book was really intriguing to me, as I’ve always found the idea of cults and the type of people that join them interesting. I also liked how the whole story went between the past and present and parts were told through a podcast. I would recommend to anyone who likes fiction books about cults and mysteries!