1st, let me say, the author is a very good writer and I hope he continues to write, either novels or nonfiction, picking subjects that will be helpful to the readers.
While well-written, this is not a Synanon book. The author left Synanon at age 5. And while he has a strong Memory and writes of the experience with talent, there is no explanation for Synanon and many of his facts are wrong. By example. I am described as a splitee rather than an attorney who was fighting to expose Synanon when I got the rattlesnake, The story of his growing up, while well-written, does not necessarily communicate anything we can learn from the experiences. When I wrote my memoirs, Escape: My Lifelong War Against Cults the intent was to entertain while teaching what people should know about cults. The author apparently did not do much, if anty research about Synanon, nor explains how it evolved into being a violent dangerous Cult, or discusses his father’s own violence while in Synanon. I recommend the book more for the writing and style. But if you want to know about Synanon, the only book to completely tell its history in complete detail my book From Miracle To Madness is the only way to go. It is written from review of everything written in the media about Synanon and from Synanon’s own internal documents, plus police reports. 10 years were spent on it. Meanwhile, I hope the Author continues writing. I will look forward to reading his next book. He definitely has writing skills.
