Librarian Recommended

Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krakauer?

My feelings on this book are complex.

Something you should know about me is that I am absolutely addicted to true crime. I read it, I listen to all the podcasts about it, I follow all the YouTubers and watch all the shows on all the streamers.

In fact, I watched the very well-made mini series based on this book well before I picked it up to read, which may have been one of the reasons why I didn’t quite love the book.

You see, while the series focused on the actual murders of Brenda and Erica Lafferty (which are utterly horrific by the way, massive trigger warning!) the book deals with the crime for approximately the last 5 of its 26 chapters.

The rest of the book is basically a fairly detailed history of the Mormon religion, including some discussion of the fundamentalist sects whose theology led to the brutal crime.

While it is undoubtedly fascinating, it was not what I was expecting to read, as it came off much more like a history book than as the crime tale it was billed as being.

For that reason, I had to give it 3/5 stars