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A Darker Place (1999)

ISBN 978-0-553-57824-9

Published in the UK as The Birth of a New Moon

"This whole thing has got to be unconventional at least," she said finally.
"I suppose it looks that way."
The mildness of his answer irritated her. “You don’t think that hauling a middle-aged professor of religion out of her ivory tower and into the field to investigate a cult is a little unusual?”
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘cult’ in her hearing if I were you,” Glen suggested. “Not unless you’re interested in a twenty-minute lecture on the difference between cult, sect, and new religious movement.”
Gillian Farmer was not to be diverted. “It still sounds like something out of an Indiana Jones movie.”

What they say

King…applies her renegade talents to a suspenseful tale in which a woman penetrates the treacherous realm of religious cults in order to save its victims…. King presents Change’s leaders as neither simplistic opportunists nor frenzied maniacs, but rather as methodical true believers who inhabit an ambiguous and dangerous middle ground. (Publishers Weekly)

King’s solid research into alternative religious sects makes the desert commune feel like a real place, while her taut pacing insures that an air of menace hangs over the strange rituals that go on there. But the strongest appeal of the story lies in its superb characters, especially … [Anne Waverley], a mature woman who is both smart and courageous but flawed by an emotional need that puts her in grave danger. Just the kind of person to rescue the psychological suspense genre from its surfeit of perfect heroines. (New York Times)

Links

Of the "unlikely heroine – a middle-aged religion professor with a bum leg." The Mystery Reader.com. says this "Professor Anne Waverly's exploits are intriguing to say the least."

Of the "The Novelist Who Came in From the Cults" you can read this article from Metroactive.

To see an English garden at least as wild as that of the Change compound

Sedona: The red rocks, some nice panoramas of the area, and the Sedona vortices

Cults and religious communities:

• Jonestown and reflection thereon
• Waco and the Branch Davidians
• The Unification Church (aka Moonies) from the outside and within. And, how many of their divisions have you met?

For a look at the history and symbols of alchemy

LKR's thoughts on writing her standalone novels.

For a bibliography and Laurie's suggestions to teacher and book groups, click here.

Pictures

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Red rocks near Sedona	The Arizona desert	Alchemical laboratory