The Program by Gregg Hurwitz

It took me forever to read this book, but it wasn't anything wrong with the book. On Friday, my father-in-law had a major heart attack and went into complete cardiac arrest. He was gone for about 5 minutes before he was brought back to life and it is still a waiting game. Things have been tough around here and reading or doing anything that requires concentration has been very hard. This will probably be evident by my crappy review of the book. I do rate The Program a B.

From Amazon:
Leah Henning is a cult member, but mother and stepfather want her back. They can't penetrate the Program's secrecy through conventional means, so they turn to fired deputy sheriff Tim Rackley. Rackley, who killed the serial predator who dismembered his own child (Kill Clause, 2003), agrees to become a Program recruit in order to extract the Hennings' daughter. The Program is initially subtle in luring recruits, then very sophisticated in using peer pressure, temperature variations, diet, and intimidation to keep its new members and secure their assets. Leading the Program is TD, a charismatic charlatan able to stay ahead of the law by convincing people to surrender their assets willingly. Hurwitz has obviously done his cult homework: the initiation seminars are presented in chilling, very disturbing detail. Even if Rackley does rescue Leah, he wants to bring the Program to an end and put TD in jail. The legal wedge he finds to do it is extraordinarily satisfying. A gripping read from start to finish.

It was a really good book and while not all that suspensful, all of the tricks that the cult members and leaders do to trick people is amazing. I do have to believe that the author did a ton of research before writing this book. This was the second book in the series, and I think I would have really enjoyed the first one. I am going to keep this author's name in my memory and check out what other books he has written.

Up next is the Curse of the Spellmans. Since this is a humorous series, I am hoping that I can get it read pretty quickly and that it won't require so much concentration. I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend and Happy Reading!