In the depths of the Mexican jungle, a New York model finds herself entangled in a battle with a cult leader over her inheritance—an estate left to her by her enigmatic uncle. Paul Bentzen's Xanadu retreat center, inspired by Kubla Khan's pleasure-dome, holds secrets tied to a drug lord's former villa and a mass killing that ended his reign. Svetlana Bentzen, estranged from her uncle but unexpectedly named his sole heir, must navigate a web of deception and danger alongside a handsome lawyer as they uncover unsettling truths about her uncle's death and the sinister activities at Xanadu. Despite addressing intriguing themes such as spiritual faddism and cultural appropriation, the novel lacks the satirical punch of its predecessor and suffers from convoluted plot twists with rushed resolutions, missing the mark on delivering the enjoyable absurdity found in thrillers.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a bit predictable, but the plot moved quickly. There were a lot of characters to keep track of. It was an enjoyable read.

Ok, I loved this one! Something about Kat St. John’s writing really works for me! Her books are fun; they’re a little soapy, suspenseful, and always have some good subtle twists thrown in. I def got Nine Perfect Strangers vibes from this! It was really atmospheric and was the perfect escapist book. The setting is at a wellness retreat in Mexico called Xanadu, lol. Plus, who doesn’t want to read about rich people behaving badly?🙃

Rating: 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5).

Thanks so much, NetGalley and William Morrow, for the eARC in exchange for my honest review!

I found this book to be a fast-paced and engaging read. While the plot was somewhat predictable, the well-developed characters kept me invested in the storyline. I was particularly intrigued by Sveta's fate and eagerly followed her journey to see if she would escape unscathed.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #WilliamMorrow for letting me read this book.A perfect paradise? Or a perfect nightmare?I didn’t give it five stars because it was a little too predictable, and the protagonist was annoyingly gullible. There was also more focus on the protagonist’s romantic relationships than I think was necessary.

Now this is a great summer read! It's a cult mystery that takes place at this wellness center in the middle of the jungle. Our main character Sveta is a former model living in New York who is married to a man whose family really doesn’t like her which is frustrating to witness. Suddenly Sveta gets informed that her estranged uncle has died and has left her with a 180 million dollar inheritance plus his huge manor house compound that’s in the middle of the Guatemala jungle which she has to travel to for his funeral and to sign papers and whatnot but her uncle had a wife who is very strange and she seems to have taken over his estate with a group of people who seem to worship her so things are very weird. This book really surprised me. It’s a dark mystery where basically the characters are locked inside this place surrounded by foliage, bugs and exotic animals, a scary religious leader that reminded me of Joseph Seed from Far Cry 5. If you love thrillers, I would definitly check this one out.
Full review on my YouTube channel.

I heard this book was about a fictional sex cult in the Mexican jungle and I was in. Honestly, I will read anything about cults, real or fictional, because they fascinate me. While The Vicious Circle kept my attention and managed to surprise me at certain points, it just wasn’t that great. If you want to read something from St. John, go with her debut novel: The Lion’s Den.

Sveta was raised by her poor immigrant mother after her fathers death. Her uncle was always good to her and a part of her life growing up.. While her father struggled a bit, his brother always seemed to have it together and ultimately became a famous self help guru, and best selling author. Sveta is engaged to Chase who comes from a wealthy family, who doesn’t really accept Sveta and feels she’s out for Chase’s money. Sveta gets word that her uncle died from an old acquaintance whose family was her uncles legal counsel. Sveta soon learns she has inherited all of her uncles assets. As her relationship is falling apart Sveta decides to attend her uncles services on his remote island Xanadu, since she now owns everything. Being awarded the sole beneficiary is shocking to Sveta as her uncle has been married to Kali for years, and Sveta just assumed everything would be left to her.
When Sveta arrives in Xanadu it looks like a beautiful remote island retreat, however things aren’t always what they seem and the more time she spends there the more things seems to be strange and cult like. Sveta begins questioning if her uncles death was really due to an illness or something else sinister was going on. Soon Sveta realizes as her uncles heir, she may be in danger and the only person who may be able to help her is the person she trusts the least.

Thank you NetGalley and Amazon Publishing for this ARC

For an honest review, I received an ARC.

Going in I had no idea what this book was about. Honestly, I just really liked the cover.
The beginning brought in some story building about elite, snobby family members which led me to think the story was going to be all about the main character trying to fit in a prove to fiancé's family that she was worthy. That did not happen.
As the main character learns about her uncle's death, the story becomes a whodunnit and the previous idea was never mentioned again until the end.
There were some twists but nothing really surprising. I don't know that I will recommend this book but it wasn't bad.

Thank you Netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the opportunity to read this ARC for an honest review. I'm always drawn to a good "cult-like" story, and this one fit the bill. Really kept me on the edge of my seat.

This exotic cult thriller is set deep in the Mexican jungle.

It opens on ex-model Sveta Bentzen, traveling by canoe with attorney Lucas Baranquilla to her uncle's palatial estate and wellness center, Xanadu. Her uncle, self-help guru Paul Bentzen (known to his millions of followers as Shiva) was partnered with Kali, and has died leaving millions to Sveta.

Kali leads a cult and has no intention of giving it all up. Tension and violence escalate to an action-packed conclusion.

This is a difficult review to pen because this was one of my most anticipated thrillers of the year as I had enjoyed the authors previous books immensely.

This one ultimately fell flat for me. I did not connect with the characters nor did I feel the chemistry that was supposed to be between them.

The plot is exactly what you think it's gonna be and there is only one or two twists but they are very guessable if you pay attention.

I did still enjoy her writing so hopefully the next book is more agreeable for me.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy!

This book is so much more than I thought it would be. It is an amazingly entertaining book that readers will race through because it is that good!!!!!!! Another exciting, amazing, keep you up through the night from Katherine St. John

Sveta is quite surprised when her uncle Paul passes away and leaves his Mexican villa Xanadu to her instead of his wife, Kali. It's been a while since Sveta and Paul were in touch, and Paul was a wealthy self-help guru known for his famous videos and teachings. Sveta accompanies Paul's lawyer to Xanadu, where she finds Kali and a group of Paul's faithful followers. At first, she finds the group inspirational, but soon she starts to see a dark side to their teachings. Trapped in the jungle with no escape, Sveta starts to question why she inherited Xanadu--and what lengths those around her will go to stop her.

Ugh, this book just didn't work for me. It featured an overdone cult plot that brought nothing new: a tale of a current cult mixed with the tale of an old cult. Sveta inherits this exotic place from her uncle and is fascinated by it at first, but soon realizes it's a scary cult led by his creepy wife. By now she's trapped in the jungle with no way out--shocking. No real surprises occur, and I kept waiting for something, anything to happen other than for Sveta to sneak around and get spooked by the folks at Xanadu. The lush setting is exotic, sure, but that's about all this book has going for it. There's a weird side plot involving Sveta and whether she's sticking with her boyfriend that adds nothing. Honestly, everything in CIRCLE just seemed over the top and weird. Still, many others enjoyed it, so hopefully you'll like it more than me!

What a great book! I love everything by this author and this book was no different! I couldn't put this down and was up all night waiting to see how it ended!

I really have no idea why I skipped over The Lion's Den and The Siren and instead started with The Vicious Circle (all titles start with 'the' and I somehow just noticed this) but I have no regrets. The majority of this novel is a really slow burn with not a ton of action, but I thought it got better and better as it went on and it ended with quite the bang! I loved that the setting was in a jungle, and it made this a very atmospheric read with Katherine St. John providing plenty of description of the vegetation and animals to make it feel very real and vibrant. Even though our MC Sveta wasn't quite sure if she was dealing with a cult, it was visible to me from the moment she set foot at the wellness center. I thought this religious cult was reminiscent of things I have read before, so it wasn’t completely original, but the setting sure was and for that, I was very happy! And the fact that The Mandala kept jaguars and regulated phones and computers just made everything feel that much more ominous.

I also really enjoyed the blend between what was going on with the cult as well as Sveta dealing with her uncle’s death and some trouble in her love life. The plot was intriguing to me, and I liked how all of these different aspects came together, even the dash of romance! I got to listen to The Vicious Circle, and I would highly recommend it on audiobook. Not only was the narrator Christine Lakin fantastic, but even though it is a slow burn I felt like it flew by on audio. It is somewhere in the middle as far as length goes, with the audiobook being about ten and a half hours long, but it honestly felt like a fraction of that to me. I could have listened to a lot more of Lakin and I thought her narration was spot-on the entire way through. Sveta isn’t the smartest character I have ever read, but somehow that didn’t bother me, and this still ended up being a great book for me. I have nothing to compare it to really, but I would say if you like stories with cults and don’t mind a somewhat naïve protagonist, you should give The Vicious Circle a shot!

Thank you to the publishers for my complimentary listening and reader copies of this book. All opinions and thoughts are my own.

This was a really fun book to read. Anything with cults is a huge draw to me and this is a really good addition to the trope. It’s chilling at times and has great suspense. I did not guess the twists and appreciated the unpredictability!

This book was just meh and boringgg
I was reading this book for more than 2 MONTHS(yes u read that right 2 MONTHS!)
And the plot and characters were also soo boring, I literally read this book at night if I couldn't sleep and wanted to coz this actually helped me sleep lol.
Other than that I also realized that I am not a huge fan of cult thrillers so maybe that was also a reason as to why I didn't enjoy the book:(

A former model finds out she has inherited her uncle’s business. There’s one catch, the business is a cult masquerading as a wellness organization. Sveta is headstrong, but doubts herself at every turn. Who can she trust, She travels to the Jungle of Mexico to see if she can find out answers. I wanted to enjoy this more than I did. It seemed predictable, and formulaic. The writing is fine,, but fictional cult stories to me, pale compared to real life ones.

A self-help guru Paul Bentzen and his wife Kali own a resort in Mexico called Xanadu. When Paul mysteriously dies, his entire estate—including Xanadu is left to his niece Sveta and not his wife.

Shocked and confused, Sveta travels from New York City to Mexico to pay her respects. She thinks that Xanadu is a secluded paradise with its gardens, and the people that live there. But then she realizes that the members are f brainwashed by their leader. She realizes to late that she can't escape Xanadu and has to try to find a way to get out and get control of the situation.

Good story that kept me interested.