The Girl From Jonestown by Sharon Maas - Book Review

The Girl From Jonestown by Sharon Maas

Genre: Social Drama, Dark Fiction (Inspired by a True Story)

3.5 Stars 

One Liner: Mixed feelings 

****

The Girl from Jonestown is based on Jonestown or The Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, where many innocents followed a maniac and committed mass suicide. Lucy realizes what she’s gotten into by joining the project. She is desperate for help and asks Zoe to help her. 

Zoe Quint is a freelance journalist fighting demons of her own. She’s at her Uncle’s place in Guyana after traveling for three years. Lucy fires up Zoe’s instincts. Zoe starts to find out more despite people asking her not to bother. The more she digs, the murkier it gets. 

Zoe knows she has to help Lucy and plans ways to enter Jonestown. But things aren’t as easy as they seem. Can Zoe save Lucy and many others trapped in Jonestown? Is Zoe going to be too late? Can she save herself, at least? After all, Jim Jones doesn’t like his plans being messed with. 

The story comes from Zoe’s POV, with Lucy’s POV interwoven into the narrative.  

My Observations: 

• I knew a little about Jim Jones and the mass suicide (massacre). This book caught my attention because I wanted to read fiction before I read non-fiction about the same. 
  
  
• I also expected a slow-paced story with loads of triggers and got it right. It is dark without being gory but is not an easy read. 
  
  
• The story took its own sweet time to unfold, and I did lose my patience with Zoe’s personal track taking up more space than the core theme. Still, it continued to be a compelling read. 
  
  
• The setting was vivid and easy to picturize. I could see Guyana, its people, and the forest. 
  
  
• I loved Lucy and Moria’s character arcs. They were on the opposite ends of the spectrum and had distinct personalities. I wished they had more to do in the story. This book has too much of Zoe and not enough of those from Jonestown. 
  
  
• Zoe was going strong until she did the most stupid thing at around 65% of the book. I immediately checked how many pages were left to understand why this had to happen. Yes, I know that certain elements cannot be changed as it was based on a true story. That doesn’t mean a character should go against her character development. This is also where the rating crashed from 4 to 3.5 stars. 
  
  
• The climax made up for the slow pace, and the final chapter answered the remaining questions, even if it was chunks of dialogue. Still, I liked how the story ended. It kept things rooted. 
  
  
• The author's note at the end provided what I wanted. She detailed what was real and what was fiction. The blend was very smooth though I wished the book didn’t focus so much on Zoe (pretty much a minority opinion). 

To sum up, The Girl From Jonestown is a fictionized version of a dark and disturbing real-life incident. Pick this up when you’re in the right frame of mind (a bit of prior research would help). 

Thank you, NetGalley and Bookouture, for the eARC. 

#NetGalley 

*****

P.S: The book was previously titled A Home for the Lost. I think it suits the story more. The Girl from Jonestown wouldn’t be that appropriate given Lucy’s share in the book. Oh, well.