Review of The Cult Next Door

[Cynthia Bailey 1]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Cult Next Door" by Elizabeth R. Burchard, Judith L. Carlone.]

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4 out of 5 stars

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The Cult Next Door by Elizabeth Burchard and Judith Carlone is an autobiography about Burchard's life in a cult and how she escaped. Burchard's father died when she was 11 years old, and her mother had mental illness that led to her being verbally, and sometimes physically, abusive towards her daughter. During Burchard's childhood, Rachael spent all her money on health foods, vitamins, and useless therapy that left them poor. Burchard met George Sharkman one month before her 18th birthday, and he changed her life forever. He became her therapist to help her with depression, suicidal thoughts, and body issues. Burchard, along with several others, including her two best friends, became cult members under the leadership of Sharkman. Burchard describes her life within the cult and how she escaped about 20 years later.

I enjoyed reading Burchard's description of her life in the cult. She was very descriptive about how she felt during events throughout her life. Burchard explained why she thought she was doing the right thing staying with George and how she was brainwashed to believe the cult was the correct way to live. The chapters are titled by years in her life and are in chronological order to help the reader follow easily. The book is well-edited with only one grammatical error.

There are very few negative aspects that I found in the book. I felt that it was longer and moved slower than necessary.

I rate The Cult Next Door 4 out of 5 stars. The story is very easy to read and follow, but the length of the book was unnecessarily long.

The Cult Next Door is a good book for any reader interested in learning how cults work from former members. Most of our information about cults is learned from outsiders, but Burchard does a great job describing it from her own experience.

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The Cult Next Door
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