amazing! so original i had been waiting for this book for a long time and i’m so glad i got to it! the plot was so immersive and the characters were so unreal.

Journalist Faruq takes on a new assignment to embed with a cult in California. He struggles to get straightforward information from Odo and his followers, but gets tangled up in culty things because of his own childhood trauma and vulnerability. At the same time, an alternate timeline of Odo's experiences fighting in Vietnam weave in and out, along with a documentary transcript about the cult's legal battles in Texas.
I may not have been in the mood for this. I didn't find Faruq to be a particularly sympathetic character, even with his personal struggles. He doesn't come across as a particularly good journalist, as he has a lot of trouble interacting neutrally and objectively (or heck, calmly) with his subjects, and doesn't acknowledge that he might be too compromised. I also found the world building around the cult a little tedious, although maybe necessary for fleshing things out. The Vietnam chapters were the most engaging, maybe because they didn't require a lot of embellishment to be effective. Anyone who has consumed other Vietnam media can picture those scenes.
I'm sure this has an audience but I got in too critical of a mindset to really enjoy it. Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc!

I have never read anything like this, and honestly, I’m still grieving the fact that it’s over. The way it weaves together three different storylines is masterful, with seamless transitions and pitch-perfect pacing. I was most captivated by the present-day narrative, but the book wouldn’t be the same without the other two. The Vietnam War sections made me feel the soldiers’ desperation, the documentary script added this intense performative quality, and the present-day story had an almost mystical energy.

Faruq, as a journalist, is supposed to be an objective observer, but his reactions and choices feel so deeply human that you can’t blame him for anything. I was completely hooked from start to finish, and I need a copy to pass around to friends. It’s such a singular, mesmerizing read—I can’t recommend it enough.

A journalist named Faruq investigates a cult called The Nameless in the woods of California and ends up living with them for months.

This book was so cool because it went in a direction that I was not expecting at all. It’s told through four interwoven narratives including 1) Faruq’s present day perspective, 2) the script of a documentary detailing one of the cult’s recent conflicts, 3) instagram posts published by the cult, and 4) a narrative from the past during the Vietnam War. These narratives work together to really paint a picture of how BIPOC have historically been, and continue to be, controlled in the U.S.. I think this gives the story more depth and makes it stand out from other books about cults I’ve read.

This is a book that left me with a lot of questions. It didn’t explicitly spell out the conclusions the reader was supposed to draw, and it left room for me to really think about and engage with the story.

Who decides what makes a cult a cult? What deems an organization *not* a cult (*cough* white evangelicalism *cough*)? Is a group of people that have been marginalized by American society finding community and ways to deal with trauma a bad thing?

O Sinners! releases on March 18, 2025. Thanks NetGalley and Random House Publishing for the arc!

(This review is posted on StoryGraph, Instagram, and TikTok on February 9, 2025)

O Sinners! has an intriguing plot as it takes a look at a cult. The story is told through flashbacks between two different timelines. I was very interested in reading this story. The story being unfolded between the two timeliness wasn't as seamless as it could be, so I struggled at times to stay focused. There were many elements that were interesting and I felt like the author did a good job of conveying the grief the MMC is experiencing from the sudden death of his father while also trying to investigate the cult.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC of this book! Unfortunately, this was a DNF for me. Between the present day, flashbacks to Vietnam, and documentary, I was incredibly confused. Usually I’m fine with following multiple storylines, but this felt disjointed.

The title, cover, and blurb drew me immediately into this book—I couldn't wait to start reading it. From the short graphics and the pithy title, I expected something more playful and irreverent, a novel heavy with social commentary and also a dose of sardonic humor. So while the main narrative was compelling, at 100 pages in (roughly 20%), this clearly isn't that book. Some elements of the novel just didn't work for me at all.

The main story follows Faruq, a reporter on assignment to investigate a cult that has rooted itself in the redwoods of Northern California while he mourns the sudden death of his father. Faruq's character felt vulnerable and quite real. Cuffy used his grief to explain the choices he was making in an understandable way that gave me compassion for Faruq and an appreciation for why belonging to a larger community centered around a forgiving father-figure would appeal so much to him. I wish Cuffy had stayed with Faruq and built more of his backstory into the beginning of the novel.

Instead, as Faruq's story goes forward, we learn about the origins of the cult leader, Odo. This is told in flashbacks to Odo's time serving in Vietnam. None of this worked for me. I have read a lot of fiction from this particular war, and it is likely my personal preference, but I am ready for stories that center the Vietnamese experience. (I am glad stories of Black soldiers and women in combat are being told, but I am personally looking for something different.) It is possible (and even likely) that Odo's experience in Vietnam shifts focus toward what the US military was doing and how it was impacting the people of Vietnam, but the tropes and narrative devices employed to tell this backstory were too familiar for me to connect with Odo and get to that point in the story.

The third POV in the novel is told by way of a screenplay of a documentary detailing the rift between the cult. It could be a formatting issue, or just how much exposition was packed into this part of the novel, but I found this incredibly hard to follow. I hope the final, printed novel can correct the formatting so others have an easier time.

There were moments when I thought Cuffy was going to bring in the irreverence I had been expecting from the title and cover. The way that Faruq engages with the various members of the nameless, there was more opportunity for Faruq to show the reader how he felt about their adopted lifestyle. When he meets a character named Aeschylus, Faruq never calls his name into question. He doesn't even seem to notice. (When someone pulls a name out like that casually—especially a mysterious cult leader—it feels worth mentioning! Faruq doesn't even seem to notice. There's no mention of a Euripides or a Sophocles maybe hiding around in the compound. He doesn't even raise an eyebrow.)

All in all, I hope the issue with the screenplay was, in fact, formatting, and that other readers feel more connected to the story. I am giving this three stars for being well written, even though it wasn't to my liking.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I’ve always been fascinated by cults—how one leader can manipulate a group into thinking and acting however they want. I’m currently taking a course called Deviant Minds, where we’re studying cults from both psychological and sociological perspectives, and it’s been really interesting so far. So when I read the summary for this ARC on NetGalley, I knew I had to read it.

For the most part, I enjoyed this book. The writing is beautiful, and the tone balances tension, dread, and hope. Faruq’s sections felt well developed, as did the documentary transcript narrative. However, Odo’s sections during the Vietnam War felt slightly repetitive and disjointed from the other sections—the writing style was noticeably different, sometimes even cryptic. But that was really my only issue with this book.

I had anticipated this to be an investigative thriller of sorts based on the summary, but it’s really not. It dives DEEP into Faruq’s trauma surrounding his family and his religious upbringing, and I was pleasantly surprised with where the story took me. This novel has a slow-burn quality that lingers and pulls you further into Faruq’s unraveling. By the end, it felt less like a mystery to solve and more like an exploration of identity, grief, and control.

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC. Publish date is March 18th, 2025.

4.5 ⭐️ I thoroughly enjoyed each story this book had to tell. It’s told from the view of Faruq, a writer taking on a story about a well know “cult” called the nameless in San Francisco who had a bit of drama in Texas some years ago. It’s then told from the POV of a viewer of the documentary of the events in Texas. Finally, we see the events of the Vietnam war and how it shaped Odo, the nameless leader.

Even though the pacing was slow, each story was unique and every character its own. I never wanted to stop getting to know either Faruq or Odo. You see Faruq and the cult, how they’ve come to live in peace not with themselves but with each other as well, as one. Faruq has a lot of repressed emotions he needs to learn to face and deep down he knows this could be exactly what he needs.

This was a good book. Kept me intrigued. If you enjoy books about cults, this one will definitely keep you turning pages way up in the night..

I enjoyed this one, though it took a minute for me to get into it. Definitely inspired by Charles Manson. If you like cult-related books, this is for you

Wow. This book absolutely exceeded my expectations. I’m left feeling enlightened yet unsettled, and it’s that ambiguity that Cuffy excels at.

There is so much to unpack in this novel. Set in two time periods, the story unfolds slowly, and then all at once. The entire book felt like teetering on the precipice of something-but of what I am not sure.

Cuffy explores politics, racism, grief, religion and spirituality, and arguably most importantly, nature. How man and nature are not set apart, but rather, can operate as one; a tool of healing and oneness. This sentiment is written with such profound prose, enchanting lyricism, and a plot that truly just pulls you in.

I really liked the narrative style for this book. The novel examines belonging and what we seek in those whom we admire; looking at Faruq’s relationships with both his father and Odo and with the different perspectives, it was a fun and thrilling book as the story kept taking me on twists and turns. It was a fun read and I really enjoyed it

a decent look into a cult from a journalists POV, and then a look into the cult leaders start during the vietnam war

i really did enjoy each pov the book offered, giving a sort of circular view of the nameless cult. some parts dragged on, some questions left unanswered, and an ending that didn’t exactly satisfy me but i have a feeling that i expect perfection and that’s the distortion in me.

This novel has a switching point of view, which was interesting for what the author is trying to accomplish here, but wasn't really my cup of tea. A different take on a novel dealing with cults.

3.5 -Rating this book has presented as a bit of a challenge for me. I will start out be saying that I found it very well written, and it kept me engaged throughout the novel. However, upon completing the book I found myself feeling perplexed.

The novel consists of three stories that presumably weave together. One is told via a journalist’s experience with investigating a cult by immersing himself within it. Another story is a flashback of a character’s experiences in the Vietnam war, and one is told via the structure of a documentary.

The themes around religion, faith, religious persecution, racism, religiocentrism, religion in families, hypocrisy, and trauma were fascinating and thought provoking. That being said, I was so invested in this novel waiting for something to happen, and, in my opinion, it fell short. Perhaps I just missed something🤷🏻‍♀️, but I would have liked the interplay of the stories to be more clear and cohesive. There were also many mysteries within the cult that presented themselves with no follow up or resolution.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and provocative read, and I would definitely read more from this author. Thank you to NetGalley, One World Hardcover, and Nicole Cuffy for this free digital book in exchange for an honest review.

Rounded up from 4.5 stars. I feel a little hypocritical loving this so much because I was just talking about how I don’t love reading about war when trying to get through The Women but for some reason, this book worked really well for me.

It had dual timelines, one present day and one during the Vietnam war. Present day focused on a Muslim journalist spending some time amongst a cult who didn’t technically consider themselves as such. The war timeline centered around a group of African American soldiers who were just trying to survive the insanity of their predicament. Both of these timelines were highly readable, with the journalist having his own war he was fighting in his mind and how the members of the “nameless” were interacting with him was confusing yet enlightening. And all the while waiting to find out who Odo kept me rapt.

I found this book profound in a way I can’t truly articulate but suffice it to say, it was just damn good.

Nicole's writing is absolutely gorgeous. I realyl enjoyed the three different perspectives: Faruq's, Odo's, and the documentary, There were times I thought the pacing struggled a bit, and I think the ending could have been prolonged a bit, but overall this was a fantastic read and I can't wait for others to pick it up.

It was well written and the format of storytelling was interesting. The ending felt rushed but overall, a good reading experience.

o sinners! was one heck of a book. what is billed as a young, middle eastern journalist’s quest to observe a cult in the redwoods turns out to be so much more. the story is told from three points of view: journalist faruq, various soldiers fighting in the vietnam war, and through a documentary on “the nameless” cult. each of the povs offer something different, which turns the book into an exploration of grief, violence, beauty, racism, family, and more.

o sinners! was unlike anything i’ve read before in the best ways. thanks to netgalley, the publisher, and the author for the arc in exchange for the review.