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Leah Sottile: When the Moon Turns to Blood

 This book was recommended to me by one of my coworkers. The case of Lori and Chad Daybell have fascinated me from the start. I'm not usually a "true crime junkie" by any means, but I do tend to follow some cases like this. The more I've read about this case, the weirder I feel it's gotten. This book aims to clarify and shed some light on the Daybell's strange belief systems.

When the Moon Turns to Blood written by investigative journalist Leah Sottile gives insight into the religious beliefs of Lori and Chad Daybell, both of whom are accused of murdering Lori's two children from previous marriages, and Chad Daybell's former wife. The book focuses mostly on the pair's beliefs and focus on the "end times" - the times right before the second coming of Jesus Christ as outlined in the book of Revelation in the New Testament. The couple have taken the doctrine taught in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and twisted it to their own purposes, eventually believing that they were receiving revelation for the world and gathering the 144,000 worthy saints prophesied in Revelation. Sottile attempts to outline the foundations for their zealous beliefs through examining similar splinter groups from the Church of Jesus Christ and other religions, as well as looking at some of the extreme political beliefs held by members of the John Birch Society and others.

I do have to say, I found this book fascinating. As I mentioned before, the more I dug into this case through the news and a podcast called "Mommy Doomsday," the weirder I felt it got. I didn't understand significant portions of their strange beliefs, including the bizarre practice of labeling people as "dark sprits" and "zombies." While I know that there have been many splinter groups from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, I didn't realize that many of them focus so much on the end times. As a member, it's something we're counseled against trying to predict. Much of the information in this book was enlightening in showing how Chad and Lori Daybell went from believing members to extremists. It was fascinating to me that perhaps neither of them ever really believed in the church as most "main stream" members do.

My biggest complaint with this book was that I didn't feel Sottile spent enough time with "main stream" members of the church. It bothered me that she made claims about what doctrines are taught frequently that were not actually true. I felt that she missed some of the nuances of being a member, and it pegged her very quickly as an outsider looking in. It was clear to me, that I was not her target audience, which was fine. I was a little frustrated that I felt she misrepresented some information in an attempt to support her claims. Just from a rhetorical standpoint, this is why I didn't rate this book as high as I otherwise would have.

I rated the book ⭐⭐⭐

PG-13 - discussion of murder, violence against children, sexual assault, domestic violence and suicide.



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