Deborah Layton

4 stars: Very good

From the back cover: "In Seductive Poison, Layton writes about the Peoples Temple as it has never been written about before; with the keen hindsight and insider perspective of a former high level member. Layton had been a member for 7 years when she left Peoples Temple headquarters in San Francisco, CA for Jonestown, Guyana, the promised land nestled deep in the South American jungle. It was a place where devoted Peoples Temple members believed they could escape racism and show more persecution from the press and the government in the US, and leave peacefully in socialist utopia. When she arrived, however, Layton saw that something was seriously wrong. The settlement was surrounded by armed guards, food was scarce, and members were forced to work long hours and follow rigid codes of behavior. Jones, who was becoming increasingly delusional and dictatorial, constantly spoke of a revolutionary mass suicide [and had practices for this event weekly ] and Layton knew only too well that he had enough control over the minds of Jonestown residents to carry it out. When he finally did, in Nov 1978, the news that over nine hundred Americans had swallowed cyanide laced punch on a commune in South America shocked the world. But just six months before, Layton had narrowly escaped from Jonestown and returned to the US with warnings of impending disaster. In a 37 point affadavit ... Layton predicted the Jonestown tragedy with eerie accuracy.

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I found this book to be disturbing and fascinating. It's a bit of a train wreck, because of course you know how it will end. Because Layton was close to Jones, often in his inner circle, you saw first hand just how manipulative he was. For myself, the section that most typified this, went roughly as follows:

Layton and the entire congregation were told of the sins of another female member (also inner circle). How she had "thrown herself" at Jones, and wanted sexual relations with him. The congregation completely and thoroughly ostracized her at an all night verbal abuse session. A few months later, there is an outing by bus. Jones rapes Layton, and lays on her the regular manipulations about how "it's for her own good". Soon thereafter, Layton is the brunt of an all night ostracization session... after which she saw the other person and there were unspoken words of understanding between them. Even after the rape, Layton openly struggles with her feelings, that perhaps she did in fact "deserve it".

Once they went to Guyana, the conditions became much much worse, clearly in the realm of physical abuse. One woman no longer wanted to be Jones' concubine, so he kept her in a drug induced coma until the suicides. A sick, sick person-- but interesting to read about that cult personality.

Layton's own escape was harrowing, and read like something out of a spy novel, with embassy officials helping her, near captures, and finally, safety in an airplane headed back to the US. A very good read. show less

A decently written memoir (read for content, not style) that gives an insider's view on the insanity of Jim Jones and his Peoples Temple.

The Jonestown story is one I was not very familiar with, at all. I was in elementary school when it all went down. I'd heard of it, sure, but I didn't know more than the basic details.
However, as I live in the state that created Kool Aid ("they drank the Kool Aid" is a common phrase which originated with this saga, despite the fact that it was a different brand), I felt it was time to learn a bit more about about what happened.

Deborah Layton did an amazing job detailing how she first found show more out about the movement, then got involved, and ultimately became a highly trusted member. She went into some detail about punishments or humiliations, etc., without glorifying the "gore-factor". That is, she included just enough information to get the point across pretty well, but she didn't throw in gratuitous amounts of detail around beatings or other punishments. I bet she could have written a book on all that alone!

I feel like the book moved along at a decent pace, keeping me interested throughout. show less

I think this book did a good job of immersing the reader in Jim's words and magnetic appeal, which helped me understand how he lured so many people into the cult. It was also interesting to hear how many mainstream political and activist supporters he had at the time. I did get a little bored with some of the details of Debbie's daily life and work, but I think she made up for it with other, tense scenes with Jim and her escape scene.

Also, as I walked through my office building today, I saw show more someone had left out a pile of cookies on their desk and it reminded me of when Debbie ate someone's sandwich at her job after she left Jonestown. That was a great moment. show less