I was born a couple of years after the Jonestown massacre, so my knowledge of what happened there was extraordinarily sketchy. I saw a documentary on it come through check-in at the library (I work at the local library) so I checked it out and watched it. I was fascinated by it. I saw that one of the people being interviewed, Deborah Layton, had a book out called Seductive Poison. So of course, I had to check that out of the library and read that too.

I couldn't put it down, literally. I started reading it yesterday afternoon, and finished it last night at 2:00 in the morning. I took a 30 minute break and join my boyfriend out in the hot tub, and spent the entire time out there telling him everything I had just read in the book (he watched the documentary with me, so he had some background knowledge on the story). We came back inside and I went right back to the book. I couldn't help myself. I had to know how she got out, and I had to know what happened to her family.

My only (small) critique is that she doesn't widen her point of view much at all. There's no background or history on Jim Jones, and although he's very sick at the end, she never says with what. This is exclusively her story, and how she saw things.

Other people have complained about the first third of the book going slow - I didn't mind it. I thought the history of her grandmother committing suicide and her mother withholding very vital information from her [Deborah:] about their family history made it easier to understand Deborah's thought process.

If you have any desire whatsoever to learn about Jonestown, READ THIS BOOK!!! You will not regret it.