Leah Sottile’s 2022 text When the Moon Turns to Blood: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times tells the story of the murders of seven-year-old JJ Vallow and his sister, sixteen-year-old Tylee Ryan—Lori Vallow’s children. JJ and Tylee’s bodies were found in Chad Daybell’s backyard; Vallow and Daybell had been recently married after the murder of Vallow’s previous husband, a murder she was also involved with. The murders of these two children are at the center of Sottile’s text, but Sottile is also very concerned with the road that led Daybell and Vallow to be involved in the murder of Vallow’s children. Sottile traces Daybell and Vallow’s extremist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beliefs throughout their complicated lives, showing the reader how Vallow and Daybell led each other to commit murder.
Sottile’s text is part true crime exposé, part religious history. Sottile spends a significant amount of time explaining the history of the LDS church, its extremists, and their often-easy slide towards violence. Sottile’s knowledge of the history of the LDS church and member’s many run ins with the government is impressive and trustworthy. Sottile has also reported on and studied conspiracy theorists and theories, and she uses this knowledge to great effect in When the Moon Turns to Blood. This is the part of Sottile’s text that may be polarizing to some readers—while her contextual information about the LDS church is importantly connected to Daybell and Vallow (who were both devote LDS members), as well as the crimes they are accused of, I found these portions of the book slow because I am not particularly interested in the history of the LDS church. However, I’m sure other readers who are interested in the creation of this complex organization will appreciate these sections of the text.
While researching Daybell and Vallow, Sottile takes a deep dive into Daybell’s religious writings and Christian fiction, attempting to “find an answer for his ideations of murder.” These sections of Sottile’s text allow readers to see into Sottile’s investigation and reveal her depth of consideration regarding her subjects. Although it was impressive as a reader to get to watch a reporter work, I couldn’t help but think that Vallow and Daybell were infinitely more interesting to Sottile than they were to me: to me, Vallow and Daybell were simply garden-variety religious extremists who deluded themselves to horrific depths. Sottile’s detailed reporting refuses this thinking in that it does its best to forge a timeline of events that led to two children murdered; it elucidates a complex web of missteps, fanaticism, mental illness, and failed relationships that created the people Daybell and Vallow became. Sottile’s reporting forced me to consider the ways that the extremes of the LDS church were the perfect breeding ground for the fanaticism that Vallow and Daybell chose. In the end, it is not that Sottile’s text made me more interested in Vallow and Daybell, but rather, her reporting allowed me to make big-picture connections between Vallow, Daybell, and the LDS institution that helped me understand their slow slide into the extreme conclusions they arrived at. The deaths of JJ and Tylee are dealt with by Sottile with extreme sensitivity and reverence, and she performs a importany act of service by explaining the nature of the decent of the two people who are responsible for their deaths.

When The Moon Turns To Blood: Lori Vallow, Chad Daybill and A Story of Murder, Faith and End Times
by: Leah Sottile
Hachette/Twelve Books
2022
**** ( 4 stars)

Looking for a gripping, fascinating tale of obsession, murder and extremism, and the danger of false prophets and perverted faith? The case of Lori Vallow checks all the boxes. When Rexberg Idaho police perform a wellness check on 7 year old JJ and his 16 year old sister, Tylee, Lori could not give an answer. The investigators returned the next day with a search warrant to find the home empty. As investigators look more deeply into their disappearance, dead bodies are being found, all relating to Lori.
A true crime story about a black widow, a dysfunctional family, and an examination of far-right extremism im America. This case is truly harrowing, and will chill you to the bone. It is well researched, insightful and a book Id recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley and Twelve Books for sending this ARC e-book for review.

I would like to like to thank Twelve Books Leah Sottile and NetGalley for the DAC of When the DAC of Blood Turns to Blood.

As far as this being a true crime novel the book focuses on the religious aspects (LDS) for just over half the book. The have not been committed or sentenced as therir trial(s) are set for 2023. I don't consider it a True Crime book in the sense of the word.
I feel that their choice of religion didn’t have as much to do with driving them to commit the crimes that Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell are accused of committing..I believe that both Chad and Lori are very evil and possibly have mental illness issues that made them commit the horrendous crimes they are accused of committing. I personally believe that there was too much focus on the LDS church. It is a well researched book. I would recommend this book. I hope that after the Trial is over for Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow that Leah Sottile will right a follow up..

A very intense twisted crazy psychological religious cult true crime. The behavior, acts, and faith are extremely disturbing. Heavily weighs on FLDS church history but needed to be expressed to get why they acted, believed and did what they did. Compared to other true crimes I kind enjoyed the before and back story of the actual crime instead of alot of trial dialogue which has not took place yet till 2023. Extremely good read

Thanks to Netgalley & Twelve Books for this advanced reader copy. This book is different from the others created around this terrible tragedy. It contains many details about Chad's life and beliefs. Lori's tumultuous relationships and behavior are discussed in depth. There will never be real answers as one person is deceased and the other two are not telling the truth but this book is worth the read to gauge an understanding behind their acts.

I remember seeing this on television and I was disgusted with the people involved then as I am now reading the book. I enjoyed reading this book as it gave more information than I recall from watching it on the television. I was very surprised to learn that they were Later Day Saints and what they were devoting their life to was ridiculous in my opinion. At times I thought there was a little too much information involved about their religion, but I also feel it was necessary information that needed to be included.

Listen, if it's true crime I will read it. I had honestly never even heard of this case before reading and it is so intricate and interesting. I definitely recommend grabbing a copy of this to start of your spooky season!

Thank you to NetGalley for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I was excited when I received this book, because I thought it would give me an on depth look into Lori and Chad Daybell and the horrific crimes they've (allegedly) committed. Instead I got a history of the LDS faith, with little bits mixed in about the Daybell's. I was disappointed and bored.

What a wild, insane, saddening tale this was. I remember it playing out in real time in some of the True Crime Facebook groups I’m in. People posting updates, theories (horrific and bizarre, some of them turning out to be true), news articles. There was a frenzied mania around this case and the people wanted their answers. We were invested in the outcome…

When the Moon Turns to Blood was a very well written and thought out book describing the alleged criminals, their histories and beliefs, and what led up to their potential horrific crimes.

While a bit slow at times, this is the perfect book to review prior to the actual trials and verdict of Chad & Lori.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and Twelve Books for a copy.

Holy shit this was wild. W I L D. Theres so much more in this than I actually knew. My mind is blown.

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.

Thanks to the author, publishing company, and Netgalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book. This story has so many emotions. It is a sad story seeing its true and lives were lost under wild circumstances. I still have so many questions about this story. This book was written very good! It kept me hanging onto each page!

⭐️4.5
📚💭Reminds me of Under the Banner of Heaven.
🛍️ Recommended by NetGalley front page.


Pros:

I always enjoy a journalist piecing together a story from court transcripts, news articles, blogs, and interviews. This was artfully done. Just being able to piece together the time and place of it all was very nice, especially because I had a general outline of the events, but was missing so much of the detail.
The author does a very good job of making the reader understand all the different times and ways that all of the murders could have been avoided, where I found myself getting actively mad at the actions of those around the Vallow/Daybells.
I enjoyed the history of Lori Vallow, how her parents were also anti-government and actively being investigated by the IRS for unpaid taxes. It would have been easy to just say "wow this lady is crazy" and not explore her upbringing, but it is so much more interesting to see how she was primed for the LDS/fringe.


Cons:

Since this book is split into two parts: the history of the LDS/LDS fringe and the current story of Vallow/Daybell I feel like the pacing was off a bit. Maybe I wouldn't have noticed so much if I hadn't read UtBoH so recently, but it did feel like a drag to get through the history parts. A positive is that a lot of it, like the origin of the more outlandish LDS stuff, I didn't actually know.


Other:

Do yourself a favor and watch the 48 hours with all of the kids. It will make you cringe so hard you have an out-of-body experience.
Since this case is still unfolding, being able to look up what's going on with it and all of the mental evaluation stuff with her and how unpleasant Daybell looks in almost real-time is fascinating.


<spoiler> Spoilers:

I followed this case very loosely when it broke and knew some basics: cult religion, she killed her kids, fled to Hawaii. I did not however know about the murders of each of their spouses and Lori Vallow's brother absolutely wilding out and being a menace. I didn't know about how incredibly badly the police fumbled the bag on protecting these kids or how many other people could have / would have taken care of them. </spoiler>

Very good read highly recommended. I totally recommend this book to friends and family it does not disappoint. Hope to read more books by this author in the near future.

What a crazy and wild ride this book was!! I had no clue who these people were or what they did when I requested to read this but I sure do now. It is pretty much a true crime read for all of you true crime lovers like me out there. This read will be disturbing at times and have you feeling like a big ball of emotions left and right. This story is pretty new but the author did an amazing job with details on this case and this ghastly crime.

I love a good true crime story, and this story in particular interested me because of its connection to Hawaii. (I live in Hawaii). The true crime parts of the book were great, but it was a little too lean on that. There was A LOT of Mormon history / theology that was basically a rehash of Under the Banner of Heaven (if you've read that). While I think a little of this background is important, I don't think it warranted as much of the book as it did (I'd say more than half of the book was about the perpetrators' religious background). If you really dig into this story, their religion didn't have as much to do with these crimes as their evil (and evil exists in every religion) and their crazy prepper / doomsday beliefs (which also exists outside of Mormonism). This just didn't read True Crime to me. This probably sounds morbid and creepy, but when I read True Crime, I want to read about the crime itself and details about the events leading up to and after that I may not find in news reports. There wasn't much about the crimes in this book that you can't read in a few mainstream news articles. It did help clarify some of the timeline, though, and the relationships between various people. It wasn't terrible. Many readers may enjoy and appreciate all of the additional theological history. For me, it was unnecessary filler.

Thank you NetGalley and Twelve Books for this e-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

When the Moon Turns to Blood is one crazy, wild ride! I'm a true crime fanatic, so of course I couldn't put this book down! really enjoyed Leah Sottile's writing style. What I enjoyed most about this book was the history of Mormon extremism because it tied into who Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell really were and what religious influences played a role in their crimes. Even though they have just been accused of murders of Lori's children, their trial will be held in 2023. I was intrigued with the evidence the author provided and the amount of research that went into this book. A very interesting read! I will definitely be following the trial and hope that these two go away for a long time.

Highly recommend this book to all true crime lovers!

This story is so hard to dive into given the topic but this book was it well done. As a true crime fan I obviously knew about this story and what happens but diving back into it with this book provided more insight!

As far as true crime goes, I didn’t love this book, though I’m sure that has to do with little mention of legal proceedings (as most proceedings have not occurred yet.) I did, however, find the religious and spiritual information to be FASCINATING! I’d be curious to read an updated edition of this book after justice is (hopefully) served.

When the Moon Turns to Blood
Lori Vallow, Chad Daybell, and a Story of Murder, Wild Faith, and End Times
by Leah Sottile
Pub Date 21 Jun 2022
Twelve Books, Twelve
True Crime




I am reviewing a copy of When the Moon Turns to Blood through Twelve Books and Netgalley:





WHEN THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD examines the culture of end times paranoia and a trail of mysterious deaths surrounding former beauty queen Lori Vallow and her husband, grave digger turned doomsday novelist, Chad Daybell.




A wellness check on seven year old J.J and sixteen year old Tylee Ryan in Rexburg Idaho, but the children are nowhere to be found. Lori Vallow their Mother gives a fake 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.






The Vallow 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?






I give When the Moon Turns To Blood five out of five stars!