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When the Moon Turns to Blood: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times
Inspired by Jon Krakauer’sUnder the Banner of Heavenand Jess Walter’sEvery Knee Shall Bow,WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD exploresmodern-daysurvivalism and end-times extremism through the story of Lori Vallow and her husband, grave digger turneddoomsdaynovelist, Chad Daybell.
When police in Rexburg, Idaho perform a wellness check onsevenJ.J. Vallow and his sister, seventeen-year-old Tylee Ryan, both children are nowhere to be found. Their mother, Lori, gives a phony explanation, and when officers return the following day with a search warrant, she, too, is gone. As the police begin to close in, Vallow and Daybell’s larger web begins to unravel.
Vallow’s case is sinuously complex, and the accused Black Widow turns out to have had bodies piling up around her.
WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD tells a fascinating story of murder, paranoia, and disinformation, and exploresthesuchincreasingly relevantquestion:"What happens whenbelieving the world is ending goestoo far?"
When police in Rexburg, Idaho perform a wellness check onsevenJ.J. Vallow and his sister, seventeen-year-old Tylee Ryan, both children are nowhere to be found. Their mother, Lori, gives a phony explanation, and when officers return the following day with a search warrant, she, too, is gone. As the police begin to close in, Vallow and Daybell’s larger web begins to unravel.
Vallow’s case is sinuously complex, and the accused Black Widow turns out to have had bodies piling up around her.
WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD tells a fascinating story of murder, paranoia, and disinformation, and exploresthesuchincreasingly relevantquestion:"What happens whenbelieving the world is ending goestoo far?"
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 21, 2022
277 people are currently reading
5,771 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 343 reviews
June 13, 2022
What? What did I just read...how did this crap happen?! And wtf is wrong with people?! I love a good true crime novel, so I did enjoy this in a absolutely disgusted and infuriated kind of way. It is intense and really darn disturbing. Interesting, yes. Twisted, he's. Skin crawling, yes. Good one for disturbing true crime fans.
March 7, 2023
Verging to 4.5 territory... I think if you are looking for a straight up true crime account of this case, you will likely not be very satisfied by this one. It's very focused on the religious and cultural milieu that incubated the beliefs that turned deadly in these families' lives. However, as a religion nerd and a weirdly focused follower of all things Mormonism (though a nevermo myself), this was right up my alley. Helped me connect some of the doctrinal dots in their background and was really skilled at making those concepts accessible
July 3, 2022
Going into this book, it’s important to note that it’s not strictly a true crime novel. You might get the idea that it is, given that the subscript of the title starts off with the names of the now-infamous names of accused murderers Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell (neither have stood trial yet–they will stand trial together in a death penalty case starting in January 2023), but this book is as much a history, theology, and sociology lesson as it is a true crime story. I’m sure that after the trial has played out we will see a glut of true crime books about this case, but Sotille has jumped into the fray early by covering who Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow were, where they came from, what they believed, how they came to believe the things they did, and to cover all the players in their lives from their births up until their arrests.
In order to understand Daybell and Vallow, Sotille determined readers needed to understand the entire history of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (including all their splinter groups and controversies of differing kinds), cults of all shapes and sizes, the Book of Revelations (at length), Doomsday Preppers, and more. Woven into these dense lessons is the tale of how two people, both Mormon but raised on different fringes of the LDS doctrine, eventually wove their way through weird and self-centered lives until the day Lori Vallow sought out Chad Daybell at a book signing and captivated him with her beauty and charisma. From there, these two people become a perfect storm of power and influence over others that ultimately leads to self-delusion, mental instability, and criminal activity.
I felt myself kind of drifting away from the book during the denser parts, especially the very long section on the history of the Mormon Church, but that could be due to my own membership in the same church during my late teens (spoiler: I got excommunicated) and have a bias against a lot of their practices (also, I know a lot of the information the author was communicating). It was also a lot of information to be communicating in a dense block like that when a reader maybe wasn’t expecting a primer on the LDS church. But, as a reader, I can see where knowing that history was necessary to understanding both Vallow and Daybell. Their belief system played a huge role in who they were, who they became, and what they ended up doing.
In general, it’s a decent read if you want to know the background of the Vallow and Daybell case. If you are looking for strictly true crime, I’d wait until the trial is over and all the information has come to light.
Thanks to Hachette Book Group and Twelve Books for sending me a finished copy of this book!
In order to understand Daybell and Vallow, Sotille determined readers needed to understand the entire history of the Church of Latter-Day Saints (including all their splinter groups and controversies of differing kinds), cults of all shapes and sizes, the Book of Revelations (at length), Doomsday Preppers, and more. Woven into these dense lessons is the tale of how two people, both Mormon but raised on different fringes of the LDS doctrine, eventually wove their way through weird and self-centered lives until the day Lori Vallow sought out Chad Daybell at a book signing and captivated him with her beauty and charisma. From there, these two people become a perfect storm of power and influence over others that ultimately leads to self-delusion, mental instability, and criminal activity.
I felt myself kind of drifting away from the book during the denser parts, especially the very long section on the history of the Mormon Church, but that could be due to my own membership in the same church during my late teens (spoiler: I got excommunicated) and have a bias against a lot of their practices (also, I know a lot of the information the author was communicating). It was also a lot of information to be communicating in a dense block like that when a reader maybe wasn’t expecting a primer on the LDS church. But, as a reader, I can see where knowing that history was necessary to understanding both Vallow and Daybell. Their belief system played a huge role in who they were, who they became, and what they ended up doing.
In general, it’s a decent read if you want to know the background of the Vallow and Daybell case. If you are looking for strictly true crime, I’d wait until the trial is over and all the information has come to light.
Thanks to Hachette Book Group and Twelve Books for sending me a finished copy of this book!
November 14, 2022
4.0 stars
This book has a heavy focus on the LDS splinter doomsday preppers, which I found personally most interesting. There is actually not a lot of focus on the case itself, likely because this was written before the trial. I would most recommend this readers interested in how people get pulled into religious cults.
This book has a heavy focus on the LDS splinter doomsday preppers, which I found personally most interesting. There is actually not a lot of focus on the case itself, likely because this was written before the trial. I would most recommend this readers interested in how people get pulled into religious cults.
April 19, 2023
This took me a while to read but I was enthralled by it. It’s one of the best “true crime� books I’ve ever read. I’ll be recommending this for years to come. Despite it being just slightly dated since the trial is happening now it doesn’t necessarily feel that way, since this focuses solely on Mormonism, FLDS, LDS, and everything on the outskirts. Really, really brilliant writing. I learned so much. If you’re at all interested, read this book.
June 10, 2022
In the parlance of Psychiatry, the technical term for the disorder afflicting Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell is "batshit crazy". I'm not a psychologist, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night. After reading When the Moon Turns to Blood, I'm still not sure if these two are legitimately mentally ill or if they're just grifters. Honestly, it might be both. Both (and especially Chad) behave like grifters, preying on damaged, insecure people and making them believe that they are somehow special. I'm also not 100% if Lori was conned by Chad or the other way around. Both of them are charismatic and have a deep knowledge of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints which enabled them to fool a lot of people into believing their craziness. The problem with these type of people is that they start to believe their own rhetoric, and they always get caught because people start turning up dead. It's even sadder when they end up killing their own children and involving them in their twisted games like these two.
The major flaw in this book is that the trials for both Chad and Lori are forthcoming so much of the detail often revealed in these types of cases is still sealed or yet to be provided through testimony. Leah Sottile probably should have waited for the trials to finish before publishing, but I guess this way she has a follow-up to write somewhere down the line. If nothing else, this book is a pretty great reference point but there are a lot of questions still left unanswered. Why did they kill the children? Did they kill the children? When the Moon Turns to Blood presents a lot of damning evidence against Chad and Lori, but a lot of it is circumstantial. I'm sure a lot more will come out in court, but again, that isn't expected to even start until 2023. If there was more complete information, I probably would have given this book 4 or 5 stars instead of 3.
Sottile is a good writer and there is a lot of information here. I've heard some complaints that there was "too much information", but that's what a book is. There is a lot of back story and information on the LDS church, but it's actually necessary for the reader to understand the larger context of what Lori and Chad Daybell have done. If you don't want all of that info, you don't want a book, you want a Wikipedia article, You can't really get where all of these people are coming from unless you have the background of their beliefs. The LDS church is probably going to get a lot of the backlash from all of this, but that's really not fair. There are evil people in every religion and every church. Somebody probably should have noticed the amount of crazy coming out of Chad and Lori before the kids died and done something, but these days there's so much of this stuff, who can really police it? This type of thing is really more of an indictment of human beings than of religion or a particular church.
I would recommend this book if you've seen the story on the news and want to learn more. Or, maybe you're like me and had never heard about it, but like reading about nutty people and the nutty things they do. It's well written and full of information. I'll definitely be following the trial after reading When the Moon Turns to Blood. A very big THANK YOU to Netgalley and Twelve Books for providing me with an ARC of the book.
The major flaw in this book is that the trials for both Chad and Lori are forthcoming so much of the detail often revealed in these types of cases is still sealed or yet to be provided through testimony. Leah Sottile probably should have waited for the trials to finish before publishing, but I guess this way she has a follow-up to write somewhere down the line. If nothing else, this book is a pretty great reference point but there are a lot of questions still left unanswered. Why did they kill the children? Did they kill the children? When the Moon Turns to Blood presents a lot of damning evidence against Chad and Lori, but a lot of it is circumstantial. I'm sure a lot more will come out in court, but again, that isn't expected to even start until 2023. If there was more complete information, I probably would have given this book 4 or 5 stars instead of 3.
Sottile is a good writer and there is a lot of information here. I've heard some complaints that there was "too much information", but that's what a book is. There is a lot of back story and information on the LDS church, but it's actually necessary for the reader to understand the larger context of what Lori and Chad Daybell have done. If you don't want all of that info, you don't want a book, you want a Wikipedia article, You can't really get where all of these people are coming from unless you have the background of their beliefs. The LDS church is probably going to get a lot of the backlash from all of this, but that's really not fair. There are evil people in every religion and every church. Somebody probably should have noticed the amount of crazy coming out of Chad and Lori before the kids died and done something, but these days there's so much of this stuff, who can really police it? This type of thing is really more of an indictment of human beings than of religion or a particular church.
I would recommend this book if you've seen the story on the news and want to learn more. Or, maybe you're like me and had never heard about it, but like reading about nutty people and the nutty things they do. It's well written and full of information. I'll definitely be following the trial after reading When the Moon Turns to Blood. A very big THANK YOU to Netgalley and Twelve Books for providing me with an ARC of the book.
May 20, 2024
What the fuuuuuuuu�.
As a nevermo who for some reason had gone down the rabbit hole of learning about fringe LDS high control groups, I was fascinated when this story broke. But even with all my weird niche knowledge the details of this book are still mind blowing. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are both LDS members with fringe prepper beliefs who sucked in several other preppers. As their beliefs get more bizarre and further away from mainstream LDS, people around them conveniently start dropping like flies, including (devastatingly) Lori’s own children.
In my opinion this book does successfully what Krakauer’s book Under the Banner of Heaven failed at* - draw a line from belief systems and family systems to violence and murder. The one flaw in this book is that it was released before the trials had been concluded - but since Daybell’s trial is still ongoing in 2024 I suppose she felt like it was publish in 2022 or never.
*yes I hated Krakauer’s book and found it condescending, boring, meandering, and unable to do its one goal of explaining how we got from beliefs to murder. I wrote a scorching review on Amazon which TO THIS DAY gets angry comments. Sorry not sorry.
As a nevermo who for some reason had gone down the rabbit hole of learning about fringe LDS high control groups, I was fascinated when this story broke. But even with all my weird niche knowledge the details of this book are still mind blowing. Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are both LDS members with fringe prepper beliefs who sucked in several other preppers. As their beliefs get more bizarre and further away from mainstream LDS, people around them conveniently start dropping like flies, including (devastatingly) Lori’s own children.
In my opinion this book does successfully what Krakauer’s book Under the Banner of Heaven failed at* - draw a line from belief systems and family systems to violence and murder. The one flaw in this book is that it was released before the trials had been concluded - but since Daybell’s trial is still ongoing in 2024 I suppose she felt like it was publish in 2022 or never.
*yes I hated Krakauer’s book and found it condescending, boring, meandering, and unable to do its one goal of explaining how we got from beliefs to murder. I wrote a scorching review on Amazon which TO THIS DAY gets angry comments. Sorry not sorry.
November 29, 2022
‘When the Moon Turns to Blood� by Leah Sottile is shocking! Not because it ‘tells all� about the murders of two young children by their Mormon parents (the murder trial of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell in Idaho has yet to happen as I write this review, and the other possible murder of one of Lori’s ex-husbands and of Chad’s wife, which may have occurred, is apparently not going to any trial). But I am absolutely amazed by the details of the craziness of religious believers who are entirely focused 24/7 on the supposedly soon-to-happen Apocalypse.
Sottile explains what biographical information she ferreted out through interviews, police/court reports and news articles about the couple, their friends, the manner of their ability to influence gullible people, and their past. Along the way she also researched believers of many various faiths who cannot move past the idea the Apocalypse is coming soon, like maybe in an hour or in a second from now. Since Vallow and Daybell are Mormons, most of the book is about Mormon-faith offshoots, especially those the parents of the dead children were involved in.
Some of the people involved in these Mormon-based faiths were excommunicated by the Mormon church because some of their beliefs were not officially sanctioned. These believers of unsanctioned beliefs are often very sad, and angry, that their messages from God, received in dreams or visions, are not accepted by their churches and other people.
For instance, Lori began believing she was a goddess, and she and her best friends thought they could control the weather and murder people through prayers to God. God would smite their enemies! Many in Lori’s particular circle of Mormons believed Lori could tell if someone had a light soul or a dark one. Ominously, Lori thought her daughter, sixteen-year-old Tyee Ryan (Lori married five times), had a dark soul. Later, she became worried that her disabled son, seven-year-old JJ Vallow, had become dark after being light for quite a while. How does the author, and now us readers, know what Lori thought? She left a trail of what she was thinking through emails and texts, which were introduced in preliminary court appearances.
The most amazing part of Lori’s story, imho, is that she and Chad were well-respected by most in their community despite that their beliefs were known, at least in outline form. Chad was an author of Mormon Apocalyptic fiction, sold in local bookstores, and also in some religious bookstores around the United States. He went on book tours and gave speeches which were well attended. On occasion. Some people thought neither one of them had all cylinders firing, but most never thought they were evil or mean or particularly bizarre. They looked, talked and acted completely normal, especially Lori. She was a winner of beauty pageants, with blond hair and blue eyes and a perfect figure. She had appeared on television’s long running game show, Wheel of Fortune, winning $17,000. As for what they constantly talked about, the oncoming Apocalypse and prepping, well, so do millions of others. There are many believers in Apocalyptic prophecies.
I have copied the book blurb below because it is accurate:
”WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD examinesthe culture of end times paranoia and a trail of mysterious deaths surrounding former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her husband, grave digger turneddoomsdaynovelist, Chad Daybell.
When police in Rexburg, Idaho perform a wellness check onsevenJ.J. Vallow and his sister, sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan, both children are nowhere to be found. Their mother, Lori Vallow, gives a phony explanation, and when officers return the following day with a search warrant, she, too, is gone. As the police begin to close in, a larger web of mystery, murder, fanaticism and deceit begins to unravel.
Vallow’s case is sinuously complex. As investigators prod further, they find the accused Black Widow has an unusual number of bodies piling up around her.
WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD tells a gripping story of extreme beliefs, snake oil prophets, and explores the question: if it feels like the world is ending, how are people supposed to act?�
People who are extremely religious often sound insane to most people, including to members of their own family. How is one to know if such a person is dangerous? Maybe when their closest loved ones and ex’s disappear, either never to be seen again or their bodies are discovered months later.
I have included the source of the quote, “When the moon turns to blood�:
The Holy Bible, Joel 2:28-32
�28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.�
I can’t help wondering if many Apocalyptic believers and religious preppers will murder everyone around them just before the Apocalypse! Or what believers convince themselves is a pre-Apocalyptic event. After all, from the example of many many actual past frights in real history of what believers fear is an imminent Apocalypse, we have all seen the fearful insanity of believers who think the world is really coming to an end.
Many Apocalypse believers have visions and feelings they think come straight from God, and they want to defend God, stay on his good side, spread the word, share their joy. Disbelievers make them angry, very angry. And maybe disbelievers, or their own children, are threatening believers� personal upgrade after supposedly being chosen by God to survive gloriously after the Apocalypse. And disbelievers clearly must be infected by Satan, or so believers believe, so disbelievers must be killed, or so some believers think, instead of leaving it to God. What makes Mormons particularly susceptible to these fears is these off-the-wall beliefs are naturally concluded from what the Mormon religion, and other Apocalyptic religions, teach. Especially by folks with a lot of anxiety and psychological or life problems. The author, in an epilogue, shares some personal thoughts and guesses by psychology experts about religious fervor and believers. After all, not all believers are crazy, right? Right?
I’ve often been shunned by believers by all faiths when they learn I am an atheist. After reading this book, I’m wondering if it should be me doing the shunning!
The book includes a Notes section.
Sottile explains what biographical information she ferreted out through interviews, police/court reports and news articles about the couple, their friends, the manner of their ability to influence gullible people, and their past. Along the way she also researched believers of many various faiths who cannot move past the idea the Apocalypse is coming soon, like maybe in an hour or in a second from now. Since Vallow and Daybell are Mormons, most of the book is about Mormon-faith offshoots, especially those the parents of the dead children were involved in.
Some of the people involved in these Mormon-based faiths were excommunicated by the Mormon church because some of their beliefs were not officially sanctioned. These believers of unsanctioned beliefs are often very sad, and angry, that their messages from God, received in dreams or visions, are not accepted by their churches and other people.
For instance, Lori began believing she was a goddess, and she and her best friends thought they could control the weather and murder people through prayers to God. God would smite their enemies! Many in Lori’s particular circle of Mormons believed Lori could tell if someone had a light soul or a dark one. Ominously, Lori thought her daughter, sixteen-year-old Tyee Ryan (Lori married five times), had a dark soul. Later, she became worried that her disabled son, seven-year-old JJ Vallow, had become dark after being light for quite a while. How does the author, and now us readers, know what Lori thought? She left a trail of what she was thinking through emails and texts, which were introduced in preliminary court appearances.
The most amazing part of Lori’s story, imho, is that she and Chad were well-respected by most in their community despite that their beliefs were known, at least in outline form. Chad was an author of Mormon Apocalyptic fiction, sold in local bookstores, and also in some religious bookstores around the United States. He went on book tours and gave speeches which were well attended. On occasion. Some people thought neither one of them had all cylinders firing, but most never thought they were evil or mean or particularly bizarre. They looked, talked and acted completely normal, especially Lori. She was a winner of beauty pageants, with blond hair and blue eyes and a perfect figure. She had appeared on television’s long running game show, Wheel of Fortune, winning $17,000. As for what they constantly talked about, the oncoming Apocalypse and prepping, well, so do millions of others. There are many believers in Apocalyptic prophecies.
I have copied the book blurb below because it is accurate:
”WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD examinesthe culture of end times paranoia and a trail of mysterious deaths surrounding former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her husband, grave digger turneddoomsdaynovelist, Chad Daybell.
When police in Rexburg, Idaho perform a wellness check onsevenJ.J. Vallow and his sister, sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan, both children are nowhere to be found. Their mother, Lori Vallow, gives a phony explanation, and when officers return the following day with a search warrant, she, too, is gone. As the police begin to close in, a larger web of mystery, murder, fanaticism and deceit begins to unravel.
Vallow’s case is sinuously complex. As investigators prod further, they find the accused Black Widow has an unusual number of bodies piling up around her.
WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD tells a gripping story of extreme beliefs, snake oil prophets, and explores the question: if it feels like the world is ending, how are people supposed to act?�
People who are extremely religious often sound insane to most people, including to members of their own family. How is one to know if such a person is dangerous? Maybe when their closest loved ones and ex’s disappear, either never to be seen again or their bodies are discovered months later.
I have included the source of the quote, “When the moon turns to blood�:
The Holy Bible, Joel 2:28-32
�28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the Lord hath said, and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call.�
I can’t help wondering if many Apocalyptic believers and religious preppers will murder everyone around them just before the Apocalypse! Or what believers convince themselves is a pre-Apocalyptic event. After all, from the example of many many actual past frights in real history of what believers fear is an imminent Apocalypse, we have all seen the fearful insanity of believers who think the world is really coming to an end.
Many Apocalypse believers have visions and feelings they think come straight from God, and they want to defend God, stay on his good side, spread the word, share their joy. Disbelievers make them angry, very angry. And maybe disbelievers, or their own children, are threatening believers� personal upgrade after supposedly being chosen by God to survive gloriously after the Apocalypse. And disbelievers clearly must be infected by Satan, or so believers believe, so disbelievers must be killed, or so some believers think, instead of leaving it to God. What makes Mormons particularly susceptible to these fears is these off-the-wall beliefs are naturally concluded from what the Mormon religion, and other Apocalyptic religions, teach. Especially by folks with a lot of anxiety and psychological or life problems. The author, in an epilogue, shares some personal thoughts and guesses by psychology experts about religious fervor and believers. After all, not all believers are crazy, right? Right?
I’ve often been shunned by believers by all faiths when they learn I am an atheist. After reading this book, I’m wondering if it should be me doing the shunning!
The book includes a Notes section.
August 1, 2022
I powered through! This book was very poorly written. I felt like I was reading a high school or college assignment where the student didn't have enough material to meet the minimum number of words/pages so they filled it with random content just to fulfill the word/page count. There was so much "fluff" in this book there were times I forgot I was reading a book about a true crime and not a book about the history of cults, the history of the LDS church, other true crimes, the history of Idaho, the history of dams in Idaho, art history from the 17th century, etc.. Not to mention the timeline was all over the place and followed almost no logical order at all. I am very familiar with the story as it happened very close to home but if I didn't now anything about this case I would have been very confused reading this book. If you are hoping to read about the alleged crimes of Lori Vallow Daybell and Chad Daybell, you may be disappointed.
February 2, 2023
If you read this book as a true-crime story, expecting a trial and verdict and neatly tied-up resolution, you will be disappointed. If you are looking for an in-depth study of the factors that created this bizarre case, Leah Sottile's fascinating well-researched account provides it in spades.
"At first, the story of Chad and Lori and the missing children looked like a complicated version of a stock true-crime trope: a love affair gone wrong ... [...] but the story is so much more complicated than that. This is a story of faith, and of all the things we allow ourselves to believe."
Sottile takes us down a dark path of LDS history and theology and carefully shows how extremism has been "bred in the bone" of the church of Latter-Day Saints. Chad and Lori were part of the AVOW movement ("Another Voice of Warning") that encouraged preparation for the coming apocalypse and the subsequent survival of the chosen 144,000 in tent cities somewhere in Idaho. AVOW was full of preppers with a purpose and they devoured Chad's "novels" about the coming upheaval.
He was a star in the movement, and Lori his eager follower. And why wouldn't she be - when Chad told her she was a goddess in a former existence and destined to save their people? Lori's parents were firm believers in "sovereign citizenry" and not paying taxes, Lori's relationship with her brother Alex Cox was very unhealthy and Lori had an unfortunate heritage of mental illness from her father.
At first I was skeptical, but Sottile makes a strong case that Daybell was a leader in the Warren Jeffs' mold (soft spoken and very manipulative) and that Lori was suffering from mental illness. Sottile offers a unique perspective and rich background with much boots-on-the-ground research into this complicated case. 5 stars.
I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
"At first, the story of Chad and Lori and the missing children looked like a complicated version of a stock true-crime trope: a love affair gone wrong ... [...] but the story is so much more complicated than that. This is a story of faith, and of all the things we allow ourselves to believe."
Sottile takes us down a dark path of LDS history and theology and carefully shows how extremism has been "bred in the bone" of the church of Latter-Day Saints. Chad and Lori were part of the AVOW movement ("Another Voice of Warning") that encouraged preparation for the coming apocalypse and the subsequent survival of the chosen 144,000 in tent cities somewhere in Idaho. AVOW was full of preppers with a purpose and they devoured Chad's "novels" about the coming upheaval.
He was a star in the movement, and Lori his eager follower. And why wouldn't she be - when Chad told her she was a goddess in a former existence and destined to save their people? Lori's parents were firm believers in "sovereign citizenry" and not paying taxes, Lori's relationship with her brother Alex Cox was very unhealthy and Lori had an unfortunate heritage of mental illness from her father.
At first I was skeptical, but Sottile makes a strong case that Daybell was a leader in the Warren Jeffs' mold (soft spoken and very manipulative) and that Lori was suffering from mental illness. Sottile offers a unique perspective and rich background with much boots-on-the-ground research into this complicated case. 5 stars.
I received an ARC from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
November 20, 2022
This book needed a strong edit. Some context about preppers and fringe LDS beliefs was necessary to understand the case, but there was a strong smell of “I did a ton of research and can’t stand not to include all of it� in the level of detail that was included. Plus the priorities seemed skewed - she spent way more time on the history of writings about near death experiences than she did on actually describing the victims as people. (Tylee finally gets a couple of pages at the very end, and we never really get to know JJ.) 2.5 stars
July 11, 2022
100% from start to finish a wild ride. Not just an absolutely batshit true crime story about Mormon extremism, this book also generally explores the historical roots of right-wing religious and anti-government extreme behavior. It casts a much wider net than the case itself (which is quite interesting) and is a delight to listen to on audio. This is a modern-day Under the Banner of Heaven.
December 8, 2022
3.5
I already knew all about this story before reading this book. I thought this telling of it was okay. Even though I already knew what happened, this book confused me at certain times. But I think it was just a me thing. To be honest, what this couple did upsets me so much I might just be taking it out on the book. So definitely give this one a try for yourself!
I already knew all about this story before reading this book. I thought this telling of it was okay. Even though I already knew what happened, this book confused me at certain times. But I think it was just a me thing. To be honest, what this couple did upsets me so much I might just be taking it out on the book. So definitely give this one a try for yourself!
August 17, 2022
Okay so I went into this book knowing absolutely NOTHING about this case..and I finished this book feeling like I need to google what happened.
The way this book is laid out is ALL OVER THE PLACE.
The first 100 pages is an in depth history of the FLDS church, how it started, other religious groups, religious cults, extreme right religious groups who died, and everything in between. I was worried I wouldn’t ever find out anything about the case.
Around the halfway mark is when the book starts to give backstories on Lori & Chad (nutters the both of them) and then it eases into how they met and all that. But it’s very abrasive in its timeline. In one page it will go from post arrest to three days before a specific event to immediately after the event to discussing the actual event and then sprinkling in between random historical facts..like, I’m dizzy.
I’ve read true crime books before that were told in a more concise and chronological order and it was so much easier to follow along.
This case (along with Chad & Lori) is absolutely bonkers..but I don’t recommend reading this book to learn about it.
The way this book is laid out is ALL OVER THE PLACE.
The first 100 pages is an in depth history of the FLDS church, how it started, other religious groups, religious cults, extreme right religious groups who died, and everything in between. I was worried I wouldn’t ever find out anything about the case.
Around the halfway mark is when the book starts to give backstories on Lori & Chad (nutters the both of them) and then it eases into how they met and all that. But it’s very abrasive in its timeline. In one page it will go from post arrest to three days before a specific event to immediately after the event to discussing the actual event and then sprinkling in between random historical facts..like, I’m dizzy.
I’ve read true crime books before that were told in a more concise and chronological order and it was so much easier to follow along.
This case (along with Chad & Lori) is absolutely bonkers..but I don’t recommend reading this book to learn about it.
September 3, 2022
I loved this book.
Nearing 2am and I just finished. My brain is broke, but just want my #truecrime peeps to know, even if you watched every @datelinenbc episode about this case, get this book.
It’s like sitting in a great college class and learning about sociology, history, psychology�..trying to understand fringe segments of society and the danger they present. I’m more afraid for America now than I was last night.
Nearing 2am and I just finished. My brain is broke, but just want my #truecrime peeps to know, even if you watched every @datelinenbc episode about this case, get this book.
It’s like sitting in a great college class and learning about sociology, history, psychology�..trying to understand fringe segments of society and the danger they present. I’m more afraid for America now than I was last night.
April 7, 2023
I've been following this story from when it first started. So I was interested in reading (I listened to this one) this book. This author has in no way tried to hold her political or religious views back. She is very anti-Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. While Lori and Chad were originally members of the church, they, and many, many others, strayed from the teachings into weird fringes. I challenge the author to go into any religion and then write a book about their crazy members. The whole Lori and Chad parts were probably only 1/3 of the book. The author then spent the rest of the book bashing a church and then not accurately portraying the beliefs of 17 million worldwide people. I really hope people take her words with a grain of salt. She actually told very little of the Lori and Chad story that hasn't already been on the news.
February 12, 2023
Poorly written, overly political, and rarely insightful. The victims of the crime are, at best, an afterthought. It truly does feel like a high school research paper, as another commenter mentioned.
February 5, 2023
Don't get me wrong, I love a true crime. Probably as much or more than the next person, but I've decided I'm not sure if I love reading true crime. Give me a podcast or a tv show any day. It's as if the author feels like they have to spell out every single thing in characters' past. And then tangent off every single thing in their past. It gets a little much, especially when I was just here for the story of Vallow and Daybell.
This book follows this format: microhistory lesson of Latter Day Saint Doctrine (commonly known as Mormon or LDS), people and/or situations of fringe groups off of that particular doctrine and then how it ties into the story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. It's jumpy, feels all over the place and sometimes I would lose the timeline of the story. I would have liked to have more of just the case, but maybe there wasn't enough information to create an entire book? It seems like the author had to dig really deep for some of the really obscure facts and history, that most people of the Church don't practice, study or even care/think about.
I followed this case in the news. 15 years before this happened, when I was a young newlywed gal, our first apartment was just down the street from some of the action on Pioneer Rd in Rexburg Idaho. I've had close family and friends invested deeply in AVOW and Julie Rowe. Not as much any more, but hearing how all these stories intertwined was fascinating.
This story, with it's history, fringe dwellers and outlandish beliefs makes you think about where you stand, and what you believe. Stories like this make me question, do I learn enough to make a good decision? How much of my thinking and believing is conditioning from my family, culture and society that I've surrounded myself with.
At the end of the day, don't be extreme. Be a kind person and if something doesn't feel right, it usually isn't.
Also, if you want to discuss anything in this book, I would be open to it. I don't know very much, but I do have my own testimony and belief in the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and am an active member. Much of this book is extreme and on the fringes of the religion. Please keep that in mind when reading this book.
Content:
Language- none except for 1 f-word in a quote
Sex- it's weird. They have an intimate time but with their clothes on. It's weird...
Violence- it's a book about child murder, and other murders so yes, violent. Nothing too graphic, but it's not a book you want to listen to around young ears.
This book follows this format: microhistory lesson of Latter Day Saint Doctrine (commonly known as Mormon or LDS), people and/or situations of fringe groups off of that particular doctrine and then how it ties into the story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. It's jumpy, feels all over the place and sometimes I would lose the timeline of the story. I would have liked to have more of just the case, but maybe there wasn't enough information to create an entire book? It seems like the author had to dig really deep for some of the really obscure facts and history, that most people of the Church don't practice, study or even care/think about.
I followed this case in the news. 15 years before this happened, when I was a young newlywed gal, our first apartment was just down the street from some of the action on Pioneer Rd in Rexburg Idaho. I've had close family and friends invested deeply in AVOW and Julie Rowe. Not as much any more, but hearing how all these stories intertwined was fascinating.
This story, with it's history, fringe dwellers and outlandish beliefs makes you think about where you stand, and what you believe. Stories like this make me question, do I learn enough to make a good decision? How much of my thinking and believing is conditioning from my family, culture and society that I've surrounded myself with.
At the end of the day, don't be extreme. Be a kind person and if something doesn't feel right, it usually isn't.
Also, if you want to discuss anything in this book, I would be open to it. I don't know very much, but I do have my own testimony and belief in the doctrines of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and am an active member. Much of this book is extreme and on the fringes of the religion. Please keep that in mind when reading this book.
Content:
Language- none except for 1 f-word in a quote
Sex- it's weird. They have an intimate time but with their clothes on. It's weird...
Violence- it's a book about child murder, and other murders so yes, violent. Nothing too graphic, but it's not a book you want to listen to around young ears.
July 2, 2022
If you're into true crime at all, you'll have heard of Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow. I know extremists like this exist, but it's hard for me to accept that anyone anywhere could actually believe this shit. So many people dead, so many others hurt, and for what? Their trial starts in 2023. Unless Jesus comes before then, I think they're going to spend a long, long time in prison. At least, that's my hope.
June 20, 2022
First, let me start off by saying if you have a strong aversion to extremist views and/or religion (particularly LDS), this one will be hard to get through as that is the main focus of the book and not necessarily the crimes Chad and Lori committed - but the breeding ground that shaped them into who they are.
Second, this is DENSE. About 150 pages too long in my opinion. The author did a fantastic job gathering and speaking to the evidence they had, but it was just too much for me personally.
It is a cautionary tale, but I couldn’t help but find both Lori and Chad pathetic. I don’t care what they went through or how many supporters they rounded up, they were two entitled white people who believed their “faith� gave them the right to act as they saw fit.
Second, this is DENSE. About 150 pages too long in my opinion. The author did a fantastic job gathering and speaking to the evidence they had, but it was just too much for me personally.
It is a cautionary tale, but I couldn’t help but find both Lori and Chad pathetic. I don’t care what they went through or how many supporters they rounded up, they were two entitled white people who believed their “faith� gave them the right to act as they saw fit.
January 26, 2024
I have wondered since this case first began when JJ went missing why and how these two did this. As an outsider who's mostly sane it didn't make sense. But this book dove into Lori and Chad's upbringings, adolescents, young adulthoods, all the way to the moment they met and committed this horrid act. And, boy, what a twisted tale--there are details even the news and documentaries have not covered. Though this was informative, well researched, and interesting, the stories try broke off on long tangents--detailing other cases to make a point or explain one. There were too many details and the side quests just ended up derailing.
May 8, 2024
why do i always listen to books about mormon extremism while roadtripping??? idk. anyways.
this book was trying to be under the banner of heaven but just couldn’t get there. the information was interesting (but superfluous at times) and the timeline was allllll over the place. really hard to follow while listening to the audiobook.
this book was trying to be under the banner of heaven but just couldn’t get there. the information was interesting (but superfluous at times) and the timeline was allllll over the place. really hard to follow while listening to the audiobook.
June 21, 2022
I'm a big fan of true crime, but I'm struggling to review this one because it happened so recently and is so fresh. This book tells the story of a couple so deep in their thoughts and visions that they killed two children (who were Lori's children) and several others who got in their way.
I remember this case hitting the news in 2020 just before the pandemic took over. It's the story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, both coming from LDS/Morman faith and both claiming to be devout, yet pushing the boundaries of what the church believes with their strange visions and teachings.
I believe their love of and rebellion against the Morman faith is what drew them together.
They decide every person is either light or dark, and somehow decide to rid the world of the dark souls. Sadly, this led to the death of two of Lori's ex-husbands, two of her children, her brother, and Chad's wife - in the name of religion of course!
This book was hard to read at times. The things they did thinking their were doing it because God or some higher power was guiding them was awful to witness. But it's true crime and that is often gruesome, horrifying and terribly sad. Sottile gives very detailed information of how this all went down and the part their religion played, in their minds, in what they were doing.
I will definitely be following along as their trials occur.
Many thanks to Hachette US/Grand Central Publishing/12 Stories and Novel Suspects for my gifted advance read copy of this book!
I remember this case hitting the news in 2020 just before the pandemic took over. It's the story of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell, both coming from LDS/Morman faith and both claiming to be devout, yet pushing the boundaries of what the church believes with their strange visions and teachings.
I believe their love of and rebellion against the Morman faith is what drew them together.
They decide every person is either light or dark, and somehow decide to rid the world of the dark souls. Sadly, this led to the death of two of Lori's ex-husbands, two of her children, her brother, and Chad's wife - in the name of religion of course!
This book was hard to read at times. The things they did thinking their were doing it because God or some higher power was guiding them was awful to witness. But it's true crime and that is often gruesome, horrifying and terribly sad. Sottile gives very detailed information of how this all went down and the part their religion played, in their minds, in what they were doing.
I will definitely be following along as their trials occur.
Many thanks to Hachette US/Grand Central Publishing/12 Stories and Novel Suspects for my gifted advance read copy of this book!
August 3, 2022
I could hardly put this down. Almost 20 years ago, I read Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. Almost 10 years ago , The Bundy Ranch Stand-off in Nevada captivated my attention, the main reason I got on Twitter. Then a few years later, Cliven’s son, Ammon Bundy led a group & took over the Malhuer Wild Life Refuge in Burns, Or. which was more bizarre than the 1st one, with a cast of characters making their own YouTube videos. This is when I first became familiar with Leah Sottile’s work. Later on, her podcast “Bundyville� was a masterpiece
More recently as this book was being published, the June primaries in Utah featured another bizarre story featuring a sheriff who accused county incumbent DA David Leavitt of Ritualized Sexual Abuse & Cannibalism. So for like the whole month of June , I read up on everything I could find about this. Just as bizarre, the day after he lost the primaries; not a peep about this was heard, it’s like they just closed the book on this , it was so weird. So that led me into wanting to read Leah’s new book.
I vaguely remember reading about this, I’d never watch all the MSM news shows, but I remember seeing the commercials. There was a lot of other crazy stuff happening at the same time this was all going on.
At 1st, It took awhile to remember who was related to who , and keeping all the characters and locations together, . The technology part of it, all the verbatim text msgs and the GPS locations taken from the pings from cell towers , sharpened my awareness to the tracking device I carry in my pocket. Parts of this book made me cry
The book really goes into detail explaining the scriptures, the stories & history of LDS, the Prepper Movement, AVOW, and a history of LDS fringe groups. Near Death Experiences NDE’s, & Multiple Mortal Probations, Wild Stuff!!
More recently as this book was being published, the June primaries in Utah featured another bizarre story featuring a sheriff who accused county incumbent DA David Leavitt of Ritualized Sexual Abuse & Cannibalism. So for like the whole month of June , I read up on everything I could find about this. Just as bizarre, the day after he lost the primaries; not a peep about this was heard, it’s like they just closed the book on this , it was so weird. So that led me into wanting to read Leah’s new book.
I vaguely remember reading about this, I’d never watch all the MSM news shows, but I remember seeing the commercials. There was a lot of other crazy stuff happening at the same time this was all going on.
At 1st, It took awhile to remember who was related to who , and keeping all the characters and locations together, . The technology part of it, all the verbatim text msgs and the GPS locations taken from the pings from cell towers , sharpened my awareness to the tracking device I carry in my pocket. Parts of this book made me cry
The book really goes into detail explaining the scriptures, the stories & history of LDS, the Prepper Movement, AVOW, and a history of LDS fringe groups. Near Death Experiences NDE’s, & Multiple Mortal Probations, Wild Stuff!!
January 15, 2023
What an interesting and slightly weird book!
While I just read "The Doomsday Mother", I have a lot of background knowledge on the actual case, of Lori Vallow, and Chad Daybell. This book leaned more towards the theology and spiritual aspect of the case, really highlighting how Mormonism affected their family and their craziness, for lack of better words.
I'm not saying that spiritual belief or going to Church is a bad thing, but it is crazy how so many bad events are tied to either the Morman Church or Christianity in general. No matter what book I read about this case though, it does make me incredibly sad that there were so many warning signs that could have prevented a lot of deaths if people had just either 1. Paid attention, 2. Spoke up, or 3. Did not let their beliefs cloud judgment.
If you are looking for a book like this, with a lot of emotional attachment and ideology, this is a good book. If you are looking for more facts, timelines, and witness accounts, "The Doomsday Mother" is a better book for you.
While I just read "The Doomsday Mother", I have a lot of background knowledge on the actual case, of Lori Vallow, and Chad Daybell. This book leaned more towards the theology and spiritual aspect of the case, really highlighting how Mormonism affected their family and their craziness, for lack of better words.
I'm not saying that spiritual belief or going to Church is a bad thing, but it is crazy how so many bad events are tied to either the Morman Church or Christianity in general. No matter what book I read about this case though, it does make me incredibly sad that there were so many warning signs that could have prevented a lot of deaths if people had just either 1. Paid attention, 2. Spoke up, or 3. Did not let their beliefs cloud judgment.
If you are looking for a book like this, with a lot of emotional attachment and ideology, this is a good book. If you are looking for more facts, timelines, and witness accounts, "The Doomsday Mother" is a better book for you.
July 4, 2023
A well-researched and in-depth look at the religious and political culture that fostered the tragic murders of at least four people. For those of us who grew up in Mormonism (and even more so for those of us who have ties to eastern Idaho), we know that this true crime story is SO much more than a generic tale of an affair-turned-deadly. For example, if you don’t understand the significance of Lori believing she was Moroni’s wife in a past life, or that she and Chad were “translated� beings incapable of sin and unburdened by any obligation to repent…you aren’t even scratching the surface of what happened here.
This book does a great job unpacking and contextualizing these events within the broader LDS culture, the fringe believers, and history of the church.
This book does a great job unpacking and contextualizing these events within the broader LDS culture, the fringe believers, and history of the church.
August 10, 2022
Huge emphasis on the history of the Mormon church rather than on the people and the victims of the murders. Just meh.
October 21, 2022
literally could not put this down. an incredibly captivating, well written deep dive into religious extremism, violence, and the devastating end for those four victims.
June 26, 2022
3.5
Read this book if you like: True crime, deep dives into religion
Check TWs**
This book follows the real crime story of former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her doomsday novelist husband Chad Daybell. They left a trail of mysterious murders and it had the whole nation worried.
Police in Rexburg, Idaho did a wellness check onsevenJ.J. Vallow and his sister, sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan. They found neither and their mother, Lori Vallow, gives a phony explanation. Officers return the following day with a search warrant to find everyone is gone. As the police begin to close in, a larger web of mystery, murder, fanaticism and deceit begins to unravel.
This book will stick in my mind. I remember this being all over the news. I do feel that this book was an information dump. That made it a bit clunky at times. I also think it should have been written after the trials so it was more complete. There isn't any real closure to the story yet. However, this book was a ride. It dives really deeply in the extremist side of the Mormon church. Very creepy and cult like. A lot of this story is history of LDS extremists versus true crime but definitely held my attention. I'm just baffled by Lori and Chad. I sat with my mouth open just staring at the pages at times. If you're into True Crime and insane stories pick this one up!
Thank you to 12 Books, Hachette Books, and the author for the gifted copy!
Read this book if you like: True crime, deep dives into religion
Check TWs**
This book follows the real crime story of former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her doomsday novelist husband Chad Daybell. They left a trail of mysterious murders and it had the whole nation worried.
Police in Rexburg, Idaho did a wellness check onsevenJ.J. Vallow and his sister, sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan. They found neither and their mother, Lori Vallow, gives a phony explanation. Officers return the following day with a search warrant to find everyone is gone. As the police begin to close in, a larger web of mystery, murder, fanaticism and deceit begins to unravel.
This book will stick in my mind. I remember this being all over the news. I do feel that this book was an information dump. That made it a bit clunky at times. I also think it should have been written after the trials so it was more complete. There isn't any real closure to the story yet. However, this book was a ride. It dives really deeply in the extremist side of the Mormon church. Very creepy and cult like. A lot of this story is history of LDS extremists versus true crime but definitely held my attention. I'm just baffled by Lori and Chad. I sat with my mouth open just staring at the pages at times. If you're into True Crime and insane stories pick this one up!
Thank you to 12 Books, Hachette Books, and the author for the gifted copy!
September 2, 2023
As many other reviews have said, this book has a lot more in it than the cover and synopsis suggest.
The main two people (murderers) that the book is about don't even meet each other until part 4 of the book. That is because everything leading up to that is back story, context information, and the authors personal opinions and biases.
Don't get me wrong, context is incredibly important especially in a book like this, however in my opinion it borders on excessive in this specific case.
It was very hard to keep things straight in the first half of the book. The author would go from talking about a murder that took place in her hometown, to discussing the Mormon faith, then veer off into potato farming and presidents. It was difficult to follow. I did listen to it on audiobook though so maybe it was more clear in the paper edition.
I found the author to be very biased in her politics throughout the book. It became more and more evident the longer I listened. It did not seem like a reporter who was just conveying facts, but rather a person who just wanted to use this story as a jumping board for their own ideology. Again I will point out that the two people whose faces on the cover did not cross paths until part four of the book. Much of the content that led up to that included the authors thinly veiled opinions on religion, and politics. She used many correlations to condemn entire groups of people, and seemed to mock the entire Mormon religion along the way. This is just my opinion and interpretation of the text.
All that being said, the murderers who the story is about are despicable people. To kill one's own children is unimaginable. They are clearly delusional and selfish humans who probably got what they wanted in the end which is the fame this case has brought them. It is terrifying to see how people can so easily fall deeper and deeper into their own fantasy world, yet hide the extent of the delusion from everyone around them.
The main two people (murderers) that the book is about don't even meet each other until part 4 of the book. That is because everything leading up to that is back story, context information, and the authors personal opinions and biases.
Don't get me wrong, context is incredibly important especially in a book like this, however in my opinion it borders on excessive in this specific case.
It was very hard to keep things straight in the first half of the book. The author would go from talking about a murder that took place in her hometown, to discussing the Mormon faith, then veer off into potato farming and presidents. It was difficult to follow. I did listen to it on audiobook though so maybe it was more clear in the paper edition.
I found the author to be very biased in her politics throughout the book. It became more and more evident the longer I listened. It did not seem like a reporter who was just conveying facts, but rather a person who just wanted to use this story as a jumping board for their own ideology. Again I will point out that the two people whose faces on the cover did not cross paths until part four of the book. Much of the content that led up to that included the authors thinly veiled opinions on religion, and politics. She used many correlations to condemn entire groups of people, and seemed to mock the entire Mormon religion along the way. This is just my opinion and interpretation of the text.
All that being said, the murderers who the story is about are despicable people. To kill one's own children is unimaginable. They are clearly delusional and selfish humans who probably got what they wanted in the end which is the fame this case has brought them. It is terrifying to see how people can so easily fall deeper and deeper into their own fantasy world, yet hide the extent of the delusion from everyone around them.
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