Maybe it's weird, but I know a lot about cults. I went through a phase of studying cults and cult behavior. I think Jim Jones was probably one of the premier cult leaders. Dom...the leader of The Flock? What a joke.

Only the Guilty Survive is supposed to be the survivor story of Claire. 10 years prior, Claire lived on a bird sanctuary with The Flock, a vague cult run by a mentally ill Dom. Claire's best friend, Lollie aka Laurel, had plans to escape The Flock until she was taken in the middle of the night and later found dead in a nearby lake.

Now, with a new podcast dissecting The Flock and Lollie's murder, Claire has to dig deep into her past to find out who really was the bad guy.
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*sigh.

I'm not going to be saying anything that others haven't already said. Both Claire and Lollie were...idiots. I realize that certain types of people are susceptible to fall for vaguely enigmatic people, but...my GOD.

Any of the cult stuff could be found on Wikipedia. A leader who has sex with everyone. A leader who talks about cleansing souls and auras. Honesty circles. Everyone is dirty and gross. It felt very dated. Like that cult story should be taking place in the 60s or 70s. The current storyline with the podcast also felt odd. Claire making dumb choices - like meeting some random man in the middle of nowhere. Meeting with someone you KNOW hates you.

I don't know. I don't even think I 'got it' in the end. Who was Dom, who was the killer, who .... who...

I know that I'm smart, but did I black out during the reveal? Regardless - this was a HUGE miss for me.

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

This moves around in time and between narrators to tell Lollie's story-the story of what happened to her in the Flock-and its impact on Claire, the only survivor. A podcaster interested in what happened 10 years ago pulls Claire back into the orbit of the Flock. She's suffered PTSD and she's been shunned the community. She's also married to an unsupportive husband. Robards also includes the voice of Dom, the leader of the Flock. You will root for Lollie and her effort to get loose-even though you know she won't-and wonder why Claire didn't pick up and leave town years ago. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. An interesting read.

Sadly, i could not get into this book. No worries, didn’t books satisfy different people! That’s the beauty of reading.

This book was definitely a departure from my normal read.

*Trigger warnings*

We explore the inner workings of a cult, and the aftermath of a disappearance leading to murder and a mass suicide. It was interesting to see the perspective of someone involved with one of these groups but from the outside you can't help but wonder how someone could be quite so gullible and naive.

This story drew me in and I needed to keep reading to find out what really happened. I would have rated this 4 stars if not for the very ending that leaves you with more questions than answers. The ending came very abruptly and almost seemed unfinished and didn't end up answering all the questions you want answered while reading the book.

Thank you to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the earc of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I was really excited for this book as I love true crime and books about cults. Claire is the sole survivor of a cult ended by a mass suicide, which she discovered. It has been 10 years, she's gone through therapy, is married, and works part-time at the library. A man doing a podcast comes in one day and Claire decides its time to try to figure out what happened.

The pacing of this story is great, with the trade off of Claire in current time, and flash backs to one Flock member, and the leader.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
I also have the audio copy of this book as well to review.
This was an interesting book told both in the past and the present from three POV’s.
I think most of the book was well written.
Characters were interesting and the view into the life of a cult and its members I found to be fairly interesting and accurate based on some true crime books I’ve read before.
I didn’t love the ending but otherwise an all around decent book.

I love a cult storyline but I really struggled with this one. I found the multiple POVs confusing and at times the story really dragged.

★★
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I want to thank NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the opportunity to review this book.

This book felt so disjointed and frustrating. The premise had me hooked, but it was just executed so messily.

Claire is the only survivor of a cult. Her best friend, Laurel, went missing and was murdered, leading to the cult committing mass suicide (which Claire conveniently slept through). Ten years later, a podcast host comes sniffing around to create a podcast series about the cult. Claire is left to deal with her guilt and shame, as well as search for answers about what really happened.

Again, the plot? Great, no notes. HOWEVER. Everything else was sloppy.

Laurel as Claire's "best friend"?? You have POV's from both young women and I cannot point to a single thing that tells me that they're that close other than Claire continuously referring to Laurel as her best friend.

The characterization of... everyone was just not it. Laurel comes out relatively unscathed. But Claire is whiny and flat with no real growth. Her husband flip flops between borderline dismissive and supportive. For the first third of the book, he teams up with Claire's dad to gaslight the hell out of her, then wants to help her figure it out, then just abandons her to go to his dying mother (which reads like a convenient way to get him out of the picture for the third act). Claire's dad? Total jerk. The cult leader, Dominic? No charisma at all.

The prose is more internal monologuing instead of any real plot development. Each character is constantly explaining in detail why they're behaving the way they are. Which, specifically for Dominic, comes across as really unrealistic.

The podcast host, Arlo, is also severely underused in this book. There is such a treasure trove of directions to go that actually use his character, but we only really see him twice. The rest of the book he just serves as a constant source of anxiety for Claire.

This was a hard no for me, but I really wanted to know who did it.

ARC by NetGalley and the publisher.
⭐️⭐️⭐️.5/5

Podcaster Arlo Stone is determined to uncover the truth about the infamous cult, The Flock. After all The Flock isn’t known just for its enigmatic and charismatic leader though but rather for its tragic end 10 years prior. Leaving only one survivor, Claire Kettler. As Arlo continues to poke the fragile wound that left the small rural Michigan town stunned, Claire begins to question what really happened all those years ago and if it’s truly safe to unraveling her lost memories.

Only the Guilty Survive is a cult whodunnit mystery/thriller told through multiple POV‘s ranging from present to past timelines. Admittedly, I’m easily grabbed by a cult story, add in a soul survivor who has a lost memory and you have me fully intrigued. While reading it becomes abundantly clear that author Kate Robards really did their due diligence and research when it came to creating a believable cult for this novel. The past scenes of The Flock’s early beginnings truly showcased the incredibly unsettling level of manipulation and control that these leaders have in these groups, which I found brought great depth to the overall narrative. However this left me also feeling as if the present timeline was a bit lacking compared and made the overall pacing feel uneven as it hopped back and force between the two. I will say that by 65% the pace does pick as we begin to see connections being made from our MC Claire. However, this almost then made it feel too quickly as the end seemed rushed. I personally just had hoped for a more steady building of tension and suspense with the end reveal. Overall I did enjoy the book but did not love it. I would still recommend it tho to fans of long unsolved mysteries and cult dynamics.

Only the Guilty Survive comes out August 6th, 2024.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Only the Guilty Survive had me hooked from the first page. I picked it up because of the gorgeous cover and am so glad that I did.

As a true crime fan, it was interesting to see the inner workings of cult leader Dom’s mind and how he was influenced by others before him like Charles Manson and Jim Jones. The pacing was good and had me wanting to read as fast as I could to know what happened.

I thought author Kate Robards did a great job weaving Claire’s narrative today with Lollie’s view of the past. I still have a lot of questions after the ending though which is why this isn’t a five-star for me. The last couple of chapters felt like they were rushed and there are a few pieces of the story left unresolved.

Thank you to NetGalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Kate Robards for an early review copy. These are my honest thoughts.

If you were into following the cults from the 60s and 70s. This is the book for you.

10 years ago Claire was the only survivor of a mass suicide in a cult started by Dom Bragg. Now with the start of a podcast, memories are being dug up.

This was an easy book to get into and read. I never felt bored as we went through the POVs in the past and present. We have Claire is who is an unreliable narrator as she doesn’t remember what happened 10 years ago. We also get POVs for a cult member and the leader himself.

The ending did fell slightly rushed and quickly wrapped up. I think I would have liked more build up and I felt like the “killer” wasn’t apart of the story until the end.

But the last chapter was pure gold.

Genre: Thriller
APK: Ebook
Pages: 279
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Series or Standalone: Stand-alone

Thank you to Netgslley and Crooked Lane books for an early copy in exchange for an honest review.

The only things this book honestly had going for it was the Cover (ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS!!) and the synopsis. Otherwise this book was a very big let down jn my opinion. It was very slow to really get into, the MC was not very relatable, and there were really no answers to many questions it just seemed to bounce a bit all over the place. It just seemed there wasn't a lot of research that was backed up into the story and it was almost a hollow tale.

2.5 rounded down to 2 stars maybe? Idk how I felt about this. Most of it was pretty good, I liked seeing how the mystery unfolded, but the Dominic POV felt so unnecessary to me and the ending was…not it. Unlike some of the other reviews, I liked Laurel and Claire as characters, which is why the ending really didn’t work for me. And especially a certain line in the note…ew.

Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for the digital ARC; all opinions are my own.

Thank you NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the copy of Only The Guilty Survive by Kate Robards. I loved the story of Claire, a former cult member, investigating the death of Laurel, her best friend in the cult. Her search for the truth is inspired by the arrival of a podcaster who wants to do his own investigation and include her in the story. I am a huge fan of cult and podcast stories so I’m sad I didn’t love this one more. We never learn much about the cult and the podcast only plays a minor role. All the POVs were in the first person and I couldn’t always tell the difference between Claire and Laurel’s narratives. The big reveal came out of nowhere, so if you love to figure out the mystery yourself it might be tough! 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

The cover is GORGEOUS! I was immediately draw in just by that alone. The title is also intriguing as a reader. I loved how the title and the cover art (bird) are incorporated into the story itself.

I was hoping to get more out of Dominic’s POV - why he is the way he is, his backstory, what’s his belief system, what makes him different etc. I thought that Cecily’s character could’ve been utilized within the story better. It seemed like she was put in and just kicked back out.

The ending was strong. It was a great way to finish the story and the Epilogue was icing on the cake. Sometimes authors write Epilogues that are fluff and not necessary for the story wrap up but this one was great! I’m curious if this is where the story ends or if there will be another book.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books & Netgalley for an eARC!

I had such high hopes for this one as I love cult stories and am still enjoying the true crime podcaster element of thrillers despite how common it now is. And the cover is so pretty! But this one just was not it for me. The only positive I can really say is that this is an easy read that is engaging enough to make you want to finish it. But I have so many frustrations with this book.

My biggest frustration is the laziness of the cult storyline. It doesn’t feel like the author really put in a lot of research to understand cults and what draws people to cults other than a very surface-level look at them. This led to a group of characters that felt very flat and not at all sympathetic. The cult leader was also pretty poorly depicted as kind of an amalgam of various cult leaders, and having him explain his own techniques in the latter half of the novel was just unbelievable to me (like leave something for the reader to glean on their own). The cult leader’s mental illness also felt very lazily portrayed and kind of insulting.

There isn’t a lot of character development in this one to differentiate the two main POVs - Laurel and Claire. And this largely made me not really care about either one of them. The mystery at the heart of this is what led to Laurel’s kidnapping and eventual murder which honestly I was quite interested in. Unfortunately, this was one of the most disappointing resolutions that I have ever read, and I am still grappling with why the author thought this would be satisfying to anyone invested in the story.

All in all I can’t really recommend this one to anyone as there are so many other fictional cult books out there that are so much better researched and written.

Chilling.,
When podcaster Arlo Stone begins to investigate the truth behind a cult and a killing, things take a very dark turn on an already dark situation. As past and present collide, the spotlight is turned on a sole survivor. Harrowing and unexpected in equal measure with a well drawn and convincing cast of characters and an atmospheric sense of place. Chilling.

Thank you so much Crooked Lane Books for the ARC. I was really excited about the premise, but unfortunately the execution was disappointing. A lot of repetition and why did her and the husband get a happy ending?? He was abusive???

Claire is the sole survivor of a cult's mass suicide ten years prior, led by the still missing leader Dominic Bragg. We follow her present story where her life that she rebuilt for herself is threatened as a podcaster comes into town attempting to solve the decade old mystery of what really happened. Why was Claire the only survivor, was she responsible, and what happened to Lollie, another member that was murdered just weeks before the horrific event. Terrified of her memories coming back and finding out if she was, in fact, responsible for any of it, Claire starts her own personal investigation to get to the truth before the podcaster does.

Okay, so this is one of those books that I really enjoyed until about the last twenty or so pages, leaving me a little undecided on my review. Each character was pretty flawed and, for the most part, unlikable. Which actually worked for this particular story. It was well written and very detailed, leaving enough mystery and hints as we go to make it hard to put down. I always love books about cults, and this one puts us dead center into the middle of one, hearing first hand the horrors that go on. This had a lot of promise. Without spoilers, the ending just did not work for me and didn't exactly make sense, nor did the story really build up to the reveal. Still, give this one a try if you love cult reads and judge for yourself. I give this one three stars.

Thank you, Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books, for this ARC.

Only The Guilty Survive follows Claire who is one of the last remaining survivors of a cult named The Flock after the rest committed mass suicide. She doesn’t remember much of what happened back in her time in the cult but when a podcaster arrives in town, determined to investigate and get to the bottom of what really happened, things begin to unravel.

I think this was such a fun premise to a book and it was one that I was truly excited to pick up and read. I also found it super interesting how the book flipped between two different timelines, the present day and back to when Claire was still in the cult.

I personally feel like the present-day part of the book’s timeline could’ve been more than what it was. I felt like it was missing something but like I said, this is possibly just a personal opinion.

Overall, this was a fun read and I would love to read more from this author in the future.

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with this ARC. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.