Good read especially if you like books about cults. I am always fascinated by what makes normal people join up with charismatic leaders who make them do things that they normally wouldn't do. This book does a good job of explaining that.

I am so late to this book and I highly regret it because my thoughts are: THE NIGHT WE BURNED was one of the most under-rated books in 2021. I wish I had heard more about it and read it last year.

I love a good cult book. I find cults fascinating. What makes the leaders become convinced they can start a cult? We know why cults are able to gain members (they prey on the weak and vulnerable), but at what point do these people realize they are in a cult? What can they do about it by that point?

Dora escaped a cult after a fire killed most of the members. Twenty years later she's finally got herself a good job as a fact-checker at a news site. Her maybe-crush gets a tip about the cult fire and wants to do a Pulitzer-worthy investigation. So what's Dora to do other than insert herself into his investigation and try to sabotage it.

Of course this comes with major risks of her true identity being revealed. Chapters are rotated between her years in the cult and the present time juggling all the ways to keep her secrets hidden.

This was a heavy topic book. It's not for everyone, but I found Dora's story intriguing and absolutely believable.

Thank you NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for an e-copy of THE NIGHT WE BURNED to review.

I rate THE NIGHT WE BURNED five out of five stars.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the ebook. A fun mystery Novel. A great weekend read.

She was hiding from her past and was leading a very normal life when another murder happened she could not keep quiet, she could not ignore it, because she could be the next one to die. The cult was a constant in her mind and she did not want to go back to it. A thrilling and fast-paced story that got my attention from the beginning! Great entertainment!
Thank you, NetGalley for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Anyone who knows me, knows I am obsessed with cults. It's the psychology and ways of manipulation/brainwashing that gets me.

This one was a wild ride. We follow the story of Dora, through alternating chapters of past and present, to uncover the story of the night the local cult compound in Bend burned to the ground, leaving more than 30 people dead. Dora has been running from her past, but 20 years later, it seems to have caught up with her.

The story has hints of inspiration form well-known cults with horrific pasts, notably Jonestown. Being able to relate this story back to real life events helps keep you grounded in a story that can, at times, seem absurd in its actions. But it's not absurd at all. This shit has happened time and time again. All it needs is a psychopath with enough charisma and a few vulnerable people to fall for it, start a group, and have everything escalate from there.

The twist. I kicked myself for not seeing it, I knew there was something there, but couldn't put my finger on it. I would have been way off with any guesses anyway. I thought it was really clever.

Decided against using this for our book club but did enjoy the read and the twist at the end. Definitely left my heart and mind racing.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am completely fascinated with cults which makes me wonder why it took me so long to read this one!

It captured my attention from the get go and held it all the way through! It’s dark and twisted storyline (not surprising being that it’s cult based) had me intrigued, captivated and on the edge on my seat.

Dora has been trying to outrun the secrets of her past for the last twenty years but when a murder in her home town is linked to a fire at a cult compound twenty years prior where the leader and most of his followers excluding a few died, will her past finally catch up with her or can she put a stop to the story before it gets out and her true identity is revealed?

The twists and turns were perfectly placed and there was definitely jaw dropping moments! The psychology and research into the actions and ways of cult leaders and members is very evident. An absolute winner in my eyes!

I generally enjoy cult books so I was excited to read The Night We Burned but I just couldn't get into it. The sexual content right on the second page was very off putting to me.

Dora is determined to keep her past hidden as it was one that was dark, disturbing, and one that Dora wants to forget and move on from. Dora fears her past will come back to haunt her, and ruin the new life that she has built for herself.

Dora has a good job, she works as a copy editor and a fact checker for an online magazine. She has kept her true identity hidden from everyone, until now. A news story threatens to expose Dora’s real identity, and to expose her dark and disturbing past.

Twenty years earlier, Dora escaped from a cult. She made a lucky escape and burnt down the cult’s compound in order to escape the hands of the cult. For this reason, Dora was force to change her identity, and to keep her past hidden from everyone.

Her coworker, Miles, is an investigator reporter who is working to uncover the truth of what happened to the religious cult that Dora escaped from. Where there other survivors?

You know what they say-keep your friends close but your enemies closer-Dora decides that Miles has become the enemy as he is threatening to expose her and the truth of her dark and disturbing past. Dora decides to work along side Miles in hopes that she can stop the truth from being exposed

This was a thrilling and unique story! I really enjoyed all of the characters and the plot. I am usually not a fan of books based on cults, but this one really got my attention and surprised me.

I couldn’t get into this one. It felt very drawn out and lengthy. It’s got some good reviews but it just wasn’t for me.

The Night We Burned by S.F. Kosa is a thriller with two timelines. Dora, the protagonist, had joined a cult twenty years ago. Today she is a fact-checker for an online magazine. She has changed her name and her history in order to hide her identity because of what happened all those years ago. The chapters alternate between life in the cult and Dora’s life in the present. This works well for the reader. When a murder occurs, the victim is someone who has a link to the cult. Dora fears the same thing may happen to her. She is afraid her co-workers will learn about her past. The cult chapters are an accounting of life in a cult, but there is nothing new there: male leaders playing mind games with female members, everyone behaving like they can’t think for themselves. The other chapters have a high level of tension and suspense and deal with Dora’s attempt to protect her secret and maybe protect her life. The Night We Burned was worth reading and I would read more books by S.F. Kosa. Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark, NetGalley and the author for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The Night We Burned by S. F. Kosa is a psychological thriller about Dora and the cult that she escaped from many years ago. She now works as a fact checker at an online magazine; and when a murder happens in the town that she ran from, she keeps trying to cover up her past even as it keeps popping up. This story was very intense and had a great twist. I really enjoyed it! Thanks to NetGalley for the free digital review copy. All opinions are my own.

I feel like to give this book a proper review of how I felt about it I would be giving away spoilers, so I’ll start by saying I just didn’t care for this book. Partially I feel like the reason I didn’t really enjoy this book is by no fault of the author. I knew the story had a cult background to it but I guess I didn’t realize that so much of the book takes place during the time period where the characters were actually in the cult. It’s just a subject that I have zero interest in reading about for multiple reasons & then add in the Persian names of the characters and it just about lost me (my interest). I also don’t enjoy reading about kids/parents being involuntarily separated especially violently. Maybe it’s the mom in me I don’t know?

The story starts out in 1999 & introduces us to Eszter & Christy(Parvaneh). It alternates between them & their time spent in a cult & Dora 20 years later. Dora is an almost 40yo woman that works for a news outlet who gets a lead on a couple murders that are possibly connected to each other as well as to the cult that Eszter & Parvaneh are a part of…and that seems to be connected to her somehow. We watch as Dora tries to do her job while simultaneously trying to keep her past in the past. Dora’s character was the worst & I really didn’t care for any of the characters. I think the only ones I felt for were a couple non main characters (Octavia & Zana) & Dora’s parents. If bland could describe a book that’s the word I’d pick for this one. There were no wow jaw dropping moments and while I didn’t predict the ending I did feel like a lot of events or “twists” were predictable. Cult storyline aside I just didn’t feel like this book was very climactic or ever had me really gripping my seat especially compared to her last book. As far as the writing Kosa has a great writing style & I will continue to read her books (as long as they’re not about cults ha).

I do appreciate the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this, many thanks to NetGalley & the publisher Sourcebooks Landmark!

For some reason, stories about cults have drawn my attention. It’s intriguing and disturbing to see a group of individuals so wholly give themselves in body and mind to one person. The why and how behind it are what I want to understand. When I saw The Night We Burned on Netgalley I immediately requested it. Thank you Sourcebook for my DRC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a story I did not want to put down. Flipping between 1999 and 2020, the tale unfolds from the perspective of Dora and goes between her current day situation to those fateful events in 1999. What I found fascinating was the evolution of her involvement in the Oracle of innocence and their downward spiral. It really lays out how a cult can draw someone in and then hold onto them over time.

This book brilliantly ebbs out the full story keeping you on edge for what will happen next. And the final twist? I didn’t expect it and absolutely loved it. A mystery and psychological thriller rolled into one incredible tale!

Special thanks to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS for the ARC of this book in exchange for my own opinion.

This book was an intense gripping thriller and I really, really enjoyed it. This book had twists I never saw coming and might be one of my favorite reads of 2021. Dora, a fact checker, is trying to outrun her past by going home and trying to cover up her past that another journalist is covering, because in her past, she belonged to the cult he's covering.

With cult books being the trend right now, I'd suggest anyone to read this one, if any. It had everything a good cult book should, fires, children, dark woods, murder and much, much more.

A very thrilling, intense, great book. 5 stars!

Twenty years ago 33 members of the Oracles of Innocence cult died in a fire in Bend, Oregon. When all was said and done the numbers didn’t add up and there was someone not accounted for. Did they die as well or is there a possibility someone escaped?

Miles works as a reporter for Hatchet in Seattle when he receives a tip about a murder connected to the Oracles. Thinking this might be an award winning story, he quickly convinces his boss to let him loose with it. He is surprised at the interest his copy editor, Dora, takes in the story and is thankful for the help she offers. As Miles digs in, Dora offers more and more help, but is she really helping? What is she hiding? Told in alternating chapters of the cult in 2000 and the investigation in 2020, Kosa gives us a sneak peak into the cult life and it isn’t pretty. It’s amazing what brainwashing can do for those just looking to be loved and accepted. The timelines slowly converge and others involved in the original cult are murdered, but who has carried a vendetta towards those convicted of the original crime and who will be next? With a twist that many won’t see coming, this book had an intriguing premise, and was very well written.

It took me a little bit to get into this one, but the ending paid off! Also, how gorgeous is this cover!?! 😍🔥

The Night We Burned is a taut, pulse-pounding and unnerving thriller about a woman who is desperately trying to keep her dark and disturbing past under wraps for fear it will unravel her life completely. Dora Rodriguez is a copy editor and fact-checker for an up and coming online magazine based out of Seattle, Washington. Until now, she has successfully kept her traumatic past and genuine identity under wraps from colleagues and friends, barely giving it a second thought, but a news story threatens to bring her world crashing down around her. Twenty years earlier, Dora had a lucky escape from a cult when she burned down the compound and ever since has had to keep her real identity a closely guarded secret so as not to be criminally prosecuted for her role in its demise. It had been her only aid when she was lost, vulnerable, in need of instant love and searching for belonging. One morning she attends a staff meeting alongside co-worker Miles, a reputable investigative reporter who has been on the story of revealing what happened to the infamous Oracles of Innocence religious cult, if there were any other survivors and most importantly what happened to the only surviving member they knew about who has now been brutally murdered?

Dora decides that the only way she is going to be able to keep a lid on everything is to work alongside Miles, so she agrees to travel with him from Portland to Bend, Oregon, in the hope that she will be able to get away with editing things enough to stop the truth about her own ties to this nefarious cult coming under scrutiny and being released into the public sphere. This is a compulsive, enthralling and refreshingly original thriller with an interesting premise; while cult involvement/escape is nothing new in the genre, the way Kosa has woven this tale means it stands out from the rest. Following Dora, as she desperately tries to hold together her rapidly expanding web of deception which is rapidly disintegrating, Kosa alternates this with horrifying flashbacks of her time spent in the confines of the cult including detailing the manipulation, brainwashing and sexual envy that took place. Switching seamlessly between past (2000) and present (2020), there is an enigmatic mystery, palpable suspense, great characterisation and a plethora of wicked twists and turns culminating in an explosive climax. Overall, this is an engrossing, emotional and thoroughly entertaining read. Highly recommended.

ooooooooo. This is a contender for Top Five of the 2021 for me.
1. Cult
2. Twist
3. Split timelines
4. A woman escaping her past.

Dora will do anything to hide her past - including lie - despite the fact that her job is fact checking. As the 20 year anniversary of the Oracles of Innocence fires approaches, renewed interest in the story causes Dora to return to her hometown to try and cut off her colleague on his fact finding mission.

This isn't a run of the mill thriller. There are twists that I would have NEVER guessed. I read a LOT of thrillers and this one really took me by surprise. It's original storytelling about a compelling topic. There's fire, there's deceit, there's murder, there's weird robes, there's woods, there's babies....it's everything you would expect from a cult....and more.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

If you're into reading about cults (fiction or nonfiction), this is a MUST read!!! I could not put this down and only wanted to read THIS vs my other books I currently had going.

The Night We Burned is written by a S.F. Kosa who is a psychologist and based this book off of similar happenings in Jonestown, Branch Davidians and Manson cults plus a few others as she explains at the end of the book.

This is a thriller told in a Then and Now timeline format. Through the eyes of one woman, Dora, who was in the fictional cult, we get to read and experience how she came to be in the cult, how the group operates, how she escaped and what led up to that time. In the Now portion Dora is living under her new identity trying to cover up her past and working as a fact-checker for an online magazine. When one of the journalists she works with wants to look into the old story because the 20yr anniversary of the cult's demise is coming up and one former member has recently been murdered, Dora volunteers to go with him to work on the article in her old hometown to try to save her secrets from discovery.

What I liked too about this story is we learn so much about the psychological effects of being in such a group can do to a person even 20 years after the fact.

Thank you Sourcebooks Landmark for this free advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review!