I must also say that Kathe Mazur's performance was superb! Her depiction of Jones - in either his caring or brutal persona - was chilling and believable. Deborah Layton laid herself bare in 'Seductive Poison,' detailing how she herself got drawn in to Jones' orbit, her rise to power in Peoples' Temple, her disillusion, escape, and putting her life back together. A couple of years back I read Julia Scheeres' 'A Thousand Lives' (a brilliant book in its own right), a thorough journalistic look at Jones and his followers.

Would you listen to Seductive Poison again? Why?ĭefinitely! For years I have been curious about Jonestown - more about the people who followed Jim Jones to their deaths than about the man himself. Seductive Poison is both an unflinching historical document and a riveting story of intrigue, power, and murder. In this very personal account, Layton opens up the shadowy world of cults and shows how anyone can fall under their spell. But her pleas for help - and her sworn affidavit to the US government - fell on skeptical ears. Jones constantly spoke of a revolutionary mass suicide, and Layton knew only too well that he had enough control over the minds of the Jonestown residents to carry it out.

When she arrived, however, Layton saw that something was seriously wrong. Deborah Layton had been a member of the Peoples Temple for seven years when she departed for Jonestown, Guyana, the promised land nestled deep in the South American jungle. But none was quite so dramatic or compelling as the Jonestown massacre of 1978, in which the Reverend Jim Jones and 913 of his disciples perished. Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple and Jonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the 'truly unforgettable' ( Kirkus Reviews) story of how one woman was seduced by one of the most notorious cults in recent memory and how she found her way back to sanity.įrom Waco to Heaven's Gate, the late 20th century saw its share of cult tragedies.

Seductive Poison by Deborah Layton