Only the Guilty Survive
Kate Robards
The Flock was a cult. Claire joined when she a teen. She was the only survivor when The Flock committed suicide. The citizens of the small-town suspect Claire had something to do with the deaths of the members of the Flock. Claire does not what happened the day of the suicide nor does she know why she is alive, and they are not. She continually asks herself, why did they leave her behind? She still feels a sense of loyalty to, Dom, the leader of the Flock. A true crime podcaster stirs the pot by asking questions about the 10-year-old crime. She questions Claire’s role in the murder of Laurel, a member of the Flock and a beauty pageant queen.
It was hard to have sympathy for Claire. She seems to be in a cycle of sadistic and manipulating relationships. It seems to be a never-ending progression and she seems to crave that type of relationship. The plot of Only the Guilty Survive was choppy and at times contradictory; the plot has a lot of filler. If the book had been as well written as the synopsis this would be a five star book.
Thank you NetGalley for providing a review copy of this book.

I love cult books so this one was an automatic request for me, unfortunately this was really not for me. The FMC is highly unsufferable, the story is repetitive and just not at all intriguing. The POV's just weren't original and the plot just didn't work at all. It just did not make sense in the end.

Podcasts, investigations, multiple POVs in various time periods and walks you through how a single person survived the cult while 14 others perished. Claire, the only survivor of Dominic Bragg-cult leader, doesn’t remember much of what happened during her time in the cult, “the Flock”. She pivots between current time and ten years prior when she walked away from her family and joined The Flock in Bird Haven. All of her repressed past comes to life when a podcaster comes to town to investigate what happened a decade prior. Though she had attempted to stay out of the limelight, this new energy and interest in the case uncovers secrets and exposes what really happened while under the influence of “Dom”. As her past and present merge together, Claire starts looking for anything that can connect the dots and explain how one of her friends from Bird Haven was murdered. The premise of the book is good although the presentation is a bit lack luster. Needed more of a catch to engage the reader and have them excited about where the plot line is going.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books, the author and NetGalley.

Thank you to the author and publisher for this audiobook ARC!
Who doesn't love a culty thriller?! I was invested in this story from the beginning, and my interest never left.
This book was written in a multi-POV structure, and has the character depth any reader will love. Although this book wasn't a 5-star change your brain chemistry type of read, I very much enjoyed this book! Highly recommend.

This book was tracking to be a four star read for me until the end. As previously mentioned, I'm a big fan of the podcast in the mystery story set up that they had going and I was really enjoying the switching POVs. Going back and forth and getting the POV of the dead girl before she died was really interesting, particularly as she tried to navigate getting herself out of the cult. But as we got closer and closer to the end I was starting to worry about how they were going to tie it up because it didn't feel like it was wrapping up at all. I was really disappointed with the ending, enough so that this almost could have been a two star read just from how out of nowhere it seemed. It felt like Kate Robards really just ran out of steam and slapped and ending on it and was done.

Thanks NetGalley for providing me with an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

TW for abuse, cults, and familial trauma.

This book was a wild ride. I enjoyed the ride, I'd recommend the ride, I don't know that I'd want to re-read it? Think adult version of The Honeys meets a murder mystery thriller. It was a well-written book with characters that were relatable telling the story. It calls out abusive behavior that you might think isn't if you grew up with it, but also talks about the indoctrination that can happen when the wrong people are trusted.

This book did a great job of immersing you in the story, even when it switched narrators which is impressive to me.

Definitely recommend to those who like thrillers, psychological thrillers, and mystery.

Thank you so much to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the audio arc. All opinions are my own.

I was really excited for this book, and the narrators did a great job bringing this story to life. Claire is the sole survivor of a cult ended by a mass suicide, which she discovered. It has been 10 years, she's gone through therapy, is married, and works part-time at the library. A man doing a podcast comes in one day and Claire decides its time to try to figure out what happened.

The pacing of this story is great, with the trade off of Claire in current time, and flash backs to one Flock member, and the leader.

Having grown up in a cult myself, I am familiar with the intricacies and psychological dynamics involved. Unfortunately, this book was a tedious and disappointing read.

The author fails to capture the true essence of cult operations, focusing instead on dry, repetitive anecdotes that lack depth and authenticity. The writing style is monotonous, making it a struggle to stay engaged. It felt like the author had no real understanding or firsthand experience with cults, resulting in a superficial and unconvincing narrative.

I was expecting a compelling, well-researched account that could shed light on the complexities of cults, but this book did not deliver. It was a waste of time and I would not recommend it to anyone seeking a genuine understanding of the subject.

Beautiful cover and the plot was promising. I found the characters a little drab and the book a little slow moving. I did think the bones were good but I kept waiting for the book to really pick up and have more intensity than it did. There were moments that I thought were done well, but I kept wanting more, and sadly more times than not I felt it fell a little flat. The depth to characters was ok, the back and forth between points of view was good, and the ending did make sense but again did lack a little something. I don’t regret reading the book as I think it was fine, but just wasn’t great.

I would like to thank Kate Robards, NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this audiobook.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I also have the written copy of this book as well to review.
This was an interesting book told both in the past and the present from three POV’s.
I enjoyed the narrators and I think most of the book was well written.
Characters were interesting and the view into the life of a cult and its members I found to be fairly interesting and accurate based on some true crime books I’ve read before.
I didn’t love the ending but otherwise an all around decent book.

Only the Guilty Survive had me hooked from the first page. I picked it up because of the gorgeous cover and am so glad that I did.

As a true crime fan, it was interesting to see the inner workings of cult leader Dom’s mind and how he was influenced by others before him like Charles Manson and Jim Jones.

I thought author Kate Robards did a great job weaving Claire’s narrative today with Lollie’s view of the past. The pacing of the story was good but I still have a lot of questions after the ending though which is why this isn’t a five-star for me. The last couple of chapters felt like they were rushed and there are a few pieces of the story left unresolved.

All three narrators were fantastic. They did a great job of getting into each character’s POV and really conveyed the desperation, loneliness and question for answers that each one felt.

Thank you to NetGalley, Dreamscape Media, and Kate Robards for an early review copy. These are my honest thoughts.

Claire was a former member of a cult named The Flock when her best friend was murdered and everyone in the flock dies rather by suicide or murder no one knows. Not even Claire she has spent years after trying to remember those final days. Why is she still alive and who killed her best friend? With the 10 year anniversary of Lollie death comes up so does a podcaster trying to figure out what really happened.

There were parts of this book that didn't make sense and parts that didn't add up for me. As we unravel the past and present I think we left a lot of answers un answered and the ending just made me go... wait what and just felt like all the thoughts and actions Claire had throughout the book mean nothing.

I was hoping since it was real like/podcast it would be parts in podcast formats like a few others I've read but it was just all told in one format. So it didn't feel like 2 stories going at once.

Thank you to NetGalley for this audio ARC in exchange for an honest opinion.

A well plotted cult story, Only the Guilty Survive follows Claire, the only survivor of a cult that committed mass suicide.

Years after the tumultuous end of the cult called The Flock, Claire is trying to live her life. She has a therapist, a quite library job and the support of her parents since she didn't move far from town. A podcaster comes to town and suddenly the memories that Claire cannot recall threaten to emerge. Why did she survive? What happened to the leader?

Robards creates the perfect balance of flashbacks to cult life to Claire's current half of a life. It is easy to understand how and why the Flock worked and feel for the members. If you like a cult novel, this is for you!
#dreamscape #katerobards #onlytheguiltysurvive #podcastnovel #cultnovel
#BethHicks #LeanneWoodward #GrahamHalstead

This was unsettling and creepy, a perfect read/listen for spooky season! I'm definitely going to keep this one in my back pocket for a book club we host at my library, Death and Donuts.

4/5

I was really interested in reading this book when I first read the synopsis. I didn’t like it as much as I hoped I would. It was interesting, but it was very repetitive and that got old. I enjoyed the narration.

This book is an interesting one. I don't read many thrillers with cult tropes, and now I think I would explore that sub-genre more. While it's maddening to listen to, it's a challenge in compassion and different than other thrillers I've read.

I think this was great on audio. I think it may have been slow if I read a physical copy. I'm glad there was a full cast and labeled chapters for the different characters and timelines.

This may be a good fit if you enjoy:
- books about the inner workings of cults
- whodunnits with multiple perspectives and timelines
- books with investigative/podcast elements
- quick, full-cast audiobooks

My critiques would be
- I think Dominic's (the cult leader) character could have been ramped up a bit to the level of despicable or a flawed person that readers feel for even though he sucks.
- The reveal was unexpected which is good thing, yet I wanted more. It felt a little out of nowhere.
- The ending could have been jaw dropping, but when I rewound the audio to revisit some details, it didn't feel as exciting. I think there was some potential there.

Rating: I liked it! (3)

The perfect mix of creepy and disturbing and could be taken from the 6 o'clock news. It will keep you up at night...

I listened to the audiobook and the narrators were great. The premise was very interesting but it was so repetitive that I found my attention drifting. Parts of it were very interesting and I’m sure some will love it but unfortunately it wasn’t the book for me.

2.5 stars, rounded up to 3

That was certainly… a book 😅

I don’t like to leave bad reviews, but I was unfortunately disappointed by this audiobook.

The book was slow and repetitive, which really sucks because I was so excited to listen to this audiobook based on the description.

There were so many characters introduced, and I didn’t find any of them likeable.

I listened until the very end, hoping everything would be wrapped up nicely and I’d be left with that “okay, wow, it all made sense” feeling. Unfortunately, I was just left wondering WTF I read… and not in a good way.

Thank you to NetGalley and dreamscape media for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.

Claire is the only survivor of a doomsday cult (The Flock) that fell apart when one of the members (Lauren/Lolly) was murdered and the cult came under public scrutiny. She still lives in the small college town where she grew up and everyone hates her, and now a podcaster is investigating the cult and Lolly's death, so Claire is back in the spotlight and trying to remember/figure out what exactly happened to her cult pals.

No spoilers, so I'm going to be extremely vague here and say I did not enjoy this book. Claire was extremely difficult to root for, the plot was extremely repetitive and slow, and the eventual explanation for what happened didn't make sense.

I was hoping for something along the lines of Listen for the Lie because of the small town + podcast + dead friend + is she a survivor or a perpetrator? (with a bonus cult!) and this was not it. I do think readers who enjoyed A History of Wild Places might like this (?) more than I did.