In the 1980s, Spencer Schneider was approached by a man who befriended and eventually invited him to a secret place known only as "School". Showing up that fateful day proved to be a bigger mistake than he could have ever known. He spent the next twenty-something years of his life under the influence of Sharon Gans before realizing the mistake he'd made.

I'm a huge true crime fan, so I jumped at the chance to read this. I was a bit disappointed in this book in the end, as I was hoping it would be as compelling as the cover made it out to be. Nonetheless, this story serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of cults and how they can flourish undetected in some of the most affluent of places.

⭐⭐⭐

My only problem with this book was the pacing. We jump around a lot, and it feels like some situations were merely glazed over.

An in-depth telling of one man's true story of being swept up in a cult of Manhattan's most elite.

Spencer Schneider openly details how he came to be a part of one of the nations most secretive cults, and the horrible realities that its member suffered at the hands of it's enigmatic leader, Sharon Ganes.

An absolutely gripping story, great for fans of true crime and cult lore. Very well narrated, and engaging.

Thank you to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the opportunity to listen to this ALC in exchange for my honest review.

I have the ARC of the Audiobook and I asked for it due to subject matter, the things it claimed to talk about , and the cover of the book.

I was greatly disappointed in the entirety of this story. The highlights on the cover are oddly not presented early enough in the book. I do think the author has a great story to tell, and shared a lot of history and detail, but there needed to be something to keep me engaged in his retelling. I know a lot of things he did t realize until later, but foreshadowing would greatly help his narrative.

This was a fascinating story about a modern day urban cult. I had never heard about School before and it was interesting to hear how it evolved over the years. I'm curious about the Work they were doing that made so many well educated people get so entangled. I did not particularly care for the narrator and I think it would've been powerful hearing the author read his story. I felt the narrator was a bit robotic so I don't think I felt as empathetic as I would have reading the print version.

3 5 stars

Spencer Schneider, a twenty-nine-year-old Manhattan corporate lawyer is invited by an acquaintance to work on himself at a weekly 'school'. Though he is hesitant, upon visiting the classes he sees a bunch of similarly normal seeming people. Decades later he looks around and realizes school isn't what he thought it was, he had joined a cult, and lost years of his life, his friends and so much money to Sharon, 'School's leader.
Well written and intriguing start to finish.

Thank you to NetGalley and Arcade Publishers / Dreamscape Media for giving me access to the audiobook of Manhattan Cult Story by Spencer Schneider in exchange for an honest review.

CW: emotional abuse, verbal abuse, sexual assault, incest, see full list on StoryGraph

They prey on single, middle-to-upper class professionals. People with few close relationships. People who are eager to achieve goals. People who seek engaging, philosophical conversations that challenge their current worldview. Who are they? The group is known as School. It is a place for "esoteric inner development." As a 29-year-old, Spencer Schneider is recruited to School and quickly becomes embroiled in the abusive leadership structure, headed by Sharon Gans. Schneider bravely shares his story, crafting an engaging, continuous narrative of how he came to School, what his experiences were like, and how he was finally able to get out.

This was such an engaging true crime book. Cults are are so fascinating to me. The human tendency toward conformity, obedience, and optimism can so easily be exploited by those willing to stop at nothing to push their own beliefs. Group think quickly becomes the standard, and out-group demonization becomes the norm. This book is evidence of the importance of developing critical thinking skills and a strong community of friends who will keep you accountable to your values. It is in community that we can find the most healing, but also the most damage. The double-edged sword of relationship is always lurking.

While the story is fascinating, I found it to be quite slow paced. I appreciate the author sharing his experience but the writing style did not pull me in and I feel there were lacking details.

I feel like this would be a better, more interesting book if it were written more akin to fiction. But this just made me feel like the author thinks his own personal life and details are super important instead of focusing on the interesting aspect. I don't know how to word it. The writing just had a sense of self-importance. Which I guess comes with the territory of someone who falls for a rich people cult.

Interesting and well written I just personally couldn’t get into the story. Just a little slow and unbelievable at some points. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Gripping, tense, suspenseful, anxiety inducing! Spencer really hit the nail on the head in describing how a person can so easily justify and fall into a cult, even when their alarm bells were ringing at the get go. How we can ignore our gut instincts and easily topple into scary situations, due to the draw to belong. Haunting and fascinating.

5 stars!

This was actually a lot better than I thought it would be. I felt like the author was actually telling me his life story, directly to me. Spilling his heart out. I believed every word. This book is completely believable. Sometimes hard to believe, but still believable.

I can appreciate that the ending almost had a “where are they now” vibe, because without it, I would definitely have wanted to know.

After such struggle in his life, I hope that author has found peace without School.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys books on cults, specifically. Those who enjoy non-fiction would likely enjoy this as well.

(ALC received from NetGalley in exchange for honest review. Thank you!)

I listened to about 25% before stopping. I thought it was mildly interesting, but I didn't want to keep listening. It felt flat and was missing a compelling quality. Narrator was just okay.

NetGalley Review released 7/5/2022

One word summary: Fascinating

So I requested this book without looking too much into it, because I find cults interesting…I thought it was fiction while I was reading/listening to it.
It wasn’t until the end that I realized that this was memoir from an actual former member of the cult! It’s an odd juxtaposition for me because I was enthralled by the story before realizing it wasn’t fiction and I’m still glad that I read it but I feel almost voyeuristic knowing it was real life.

It follows former member, Spencer Schneider, through his over 20 years of membership in “School” described as an esoteric school for inner development.

It was interesting seeing how a highly educated person could get wrapped up into the cult mindset, even when having misgivings about attending at first.

There were some pacing issues and vast periods of time unaccounted for, it could be that nothing noteworthy happened during these periods, but it did feel as if there were some pieces missing. While the author does condemn the cult and goes over a lot of wrong they did, he seems to play it safe with his own actions having never really done anything too out of line.

I can’t say for sure I wasn’t there and don’t know anything but it seems like if you were involved in this shady group for so long you’d have some shady past too and that could explain the gaps.

I also understand that this cult still exist and that he has no legal protections, so there are reasons to not publish anything incriminating.

At the end of the day he got out and that’s what is important, and I think really resonates in his story. That despite literal decades of indoctrination, a shift back to reality is possible.

The narrator, Austin Rising, did an adequate job with the content. I think given this being such a personal story the author may have been better suited to provide narration though.

Big thanks to Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for providing me with a chance to get in on this book early. I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This was definitely an interesting insight to what seems so far fetched to most: being in a cult.

I found it very interesting who the types of people were involved in this cult, and how people were brought in and turned from skeptics to full followers.

The narrator did an excellent job emphasizing those "too hard to believe" moments, which helped the reader to see how odd the behaviour was and also helped to not convince people of the validity of the school.

I wish there was a bit more on the school's rhetoric, so we could really understand how such smart and successful people were fully sucked in, but overall it was excellent!

Thank you so much to @netgalley and @authorspencerschneider for the opportunity to listen to an ARC of Manhattan Cult Story!

There is so much to be said about survivors of high control groups and abusive relationships. I've witnessed whistleblowers ridiculed and mocked for getting "sucked into the crazy", and how they would NEVER be stupid enough to fall for something like that. But from what I've learned and researched, it can happen to anyone. No one ever wakes up one day and decides to join a cult. The people who are "duped" never think they're signing up for something heinous, and Spencer's story was a prime example of the heartbreaking reality of cult indoctrination.

Manhattan Cult Story was engagingly written, and Spencer's journey was chronicled in such a way that the reader gets a very clear picture of what life was like in School without feeling bored with minute details. I love when true crime reads like fiction, and this most certainly fits the bill. The narration was excellent and added a larger depth to the story as well. I would highly recommend this book to all true-crime and cult fans.

I find these types of stories so interesting. Just totally mind boggling. I would recommend this as a good listen.

Thank you NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audiobook in exchange for a review.

Growing up in NYC, I have never heard about cults in the city. However, it does seem very likely that there are/were cults within the Big Apple, which is why the title of the book piqued my interest. Manhattan Cult Story is about Spencer’s real-life experience with a cult that refers to themselves as, “the School”. Spencer was an up-and-coming lawyer and was introduced to the cult through an acquaintance. At the beginning of his experience, Spencer was skeptical and didn’t show any interest. He was only drawn in after setbacks in his life. He recounts his 23-year experience in detail throughout the book. He shares how the “School” recruits new members, targeting the vulnerable in the city. He also describes the classes and the ridiculous experiences between his teachers and classmates at the “School”.

I really enjoy listening to nonfiction audiobooks because of the narration and this book was no different. The narrator was captivating and uses distinct voices to differentiate between characters. His voice for Sharon was great. It made me hate and scared of that character at the same time. The pacing of the book was perfect. (Note: I do tend to listen to audiobooks at 2x the speed and critique the pace based on this.) He was clear and I can articulate each word throughout the listen. (Sometimes at 2x the speed, audiobooks can be hard to listen to – which means I must move it to 1.5x speed, but this one I was able to understand every word at 2x!).

One thing to note is that this book doesn’t fully follow a linear storyline, which makes sense because the author is trying to connect similar topics to one chapter. For example, you have one chapter dedicated to recruitment, so all the stories were from various time periods but share the same theme of recruitment. This may confuse readers who do prefer linear timelines, especially in a nonfiction book. However, I thought it was easy to follow and fully captivating.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about cults.

A heart wrenching tale of how those we don’t view as vulnerable get captured by a cult. A truly well done retelling of traumas that I would say is a necessity for those intrigued by cults.

Fascinating look at how quickly a cult can take over a life. The author did a great job of showing how being treated with kindness and a way out overcame all of his concerns and over the years when things took on a more sinister roll in his life, how difficult it was to get out and start a new life.