When She Returned by Lucinda Berry: Book Review

When She Returned by Lucinda Berry revolves around one of my favorite topics ever: CULTS! Well, just one cult. But you get the point. I read When She Returned right after reading The Perfect Child by the same author. When I say right after I mean I literally read the last sentence of one book and picked up the next. That’s just how awesome Lucinda Berry’s writing is.

What is it About?

“One woman’s reappearance throws her family into turmoil, exposing dark secrets and the hidden, often devastating truth of family relationships.
Kate Bennett vanished from a parking lot eleven years ago, leaving behind her husband and young daughter. When she shows up at a Montana gas station, clutching an infant and screaming for help, investigators believe she may have been abducted by a cult.
Kate’s return flips her family’s world upside down–her husband is remarried, and her daughter barely remembers her. Kate herself doesn’t look or act like she did before.
While the family tries to help Kate reintegrate into society, they discover truths they’ve been hiding from each other about their own relationships. But they aren’t the only ones with secrets. As the family unravels what happened to Kate, a series of shocking revelations shows that Kate’s return is more sinister than any of them could have imagined.”
Goodreads

What I Loved

I loved most things about this book! The characters were great and the plot was exciting throughout the entire read. Similarly to my review of The Perfect Child, I found this book to have great constant momentum. There wasn’t really a moment for me to take a break from reading. Something was always happening and it was hard to tear away from it when I finally had to go to bed.

Also, despite having watched and read about cults before, I found this story fresh and exciting. While I did predict one of the bigger twists, there were so many surprises and unexpected events. I loved every minute of it, especially the extensive focus on Kate’s life in the cult.

What I Didn’t Love

My one complaint would be that the characters lack depth. I have read two books since this one and when I sat down to write this, I needed a refresher. Even though I read this book just a few days ago, it started to fade from my memory. Since the story was so interesting, I feel like it was the characters. If they were a little more developed and less generic, I feel like this story would be completely unforgettable.

Lucinda Berry

Lucinda Berry has plenty of other books out there and they all have killer ratings on Goodreads. It’s almost hard to believe how much people love her when they hate on so many other great books. Did I mention that she’s a trauma psychologist? That may have something to do with her ability to write great psychological thrillers.

You can find links to buy her other books below – I will be buying them all as soon as I can as well:

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