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Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the People's Temple |  | Author: Deborah Layton
Publisher: Anchor
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Seller: carpdiem
Rating:  265 reviews
Sales Rank: 45622
Media: Paperback
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0385489846
Dewey Decimal Number: 289.9
EAN: 9780385489843
ASIN: 0385489846
Publication Date: November 9, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Deborah Layton was, by her own account, a typical rebellious youth, with nothing in her dossier to indicate that she would eventually find herself in Jim Jones's People's Temple in Guyana, looking for a way out of the green hell that had become the People's Temple Agricultural Project. She barely escaped in June 1978. Within months, more than 900 people drank Jones's cyanide punch and committed "revolutionary suicide" in the face of mounting stateside pressure on the cult, some of it prompted by Layton's own testimonials upon her safe return home. Her brother, Larry, also survived, and as one of the few left alive in Guyana became a scapegoat for Jones's crimes; he is now serving a life sentence in federal prison. There is a simple naiveté at the root of Seductive Poison. Layton's own youthful innocence, foremost, but also the desire to trust another person, the need for belonging and meaning, which led so many perfectly normal Americans to place their faith in a suicidal madman. Far from confirming the simplistically monstrous Jones of the public imagination, Layton paints the man as a dark, twisted shaman, by turns soothing, then suddenly malevolent and petty, with a hugely sadistic streak that belied his perfectly coifed hair, expensive suits, and impressive political connections. The scenes in which she describes her escape and flight to safety are wrenching, her last-minute conversation with Jones and his seductive appeal for her to return home to Jonestown are chilling, and her fear and indecision are still palpable on the printed page. For Layton to recount tales this personal and horrifying must have been tremendously difficult. For her to lift those recollections above the bargain-basement freak-show reputation the People's Temple has achieved in the popular imagination and depict them with the power of great tragedy is nothing but extraordinary. --Tjames Madison
Product Description
Told by a former high-level member of the Peoples Temple and Jonestown survivor, Seductive Poison is the "truly unforgettable" (Kirkus Review) 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.
From Waco to Heaven's Gate, the past decade has seen its share of cult tragedies. But none has been quite so dramatic or compelling as the Jonestown massacre of 1978, in which the Reverend Jim Jones and 913 of his disciples perished. 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. When she arrived, however, Layton saw that something was seriously wrong. 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. But her pleas for help--and her sworn affidavit to the U.S. government--fell on skeptical ears. In this very personal account, Layton opens up the shadowy world of cults and shows how anyone can fall under their spell. Seductive Poison is both an unflinching historical document and a riveting story of intrigue, power, and murder.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 265
Loved it September 11, 2009
Roloff (Concord, ca)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was a really good book. I really wish it was longer, very entertaining, very well written, and pretty detailed. I have always wondered what type of fool would kill themselves for Jim Jones, this book kind of gives you a feeling of what those people were thinking. Jim Jones maybe a total scumbag, but he has got to be one of the most cleverly manipulative people that has ever lived, I mean it's genius to convince 1000 people to voluntarily move to a communist prison camp in a jungle and then kill themselves. This book sheds light on him very well and the naivete of his followers.
One thing I always hear about Jonestown is that any normal person could have fallen into this trap. They point out that there were members who were doctors, lawyers, teachers, and people from all walks of life. One thing that all these people have in common is they were idealistic and beleived in creating this "better world." Now to me that sounds like the definition of the liberal mind, and this book really sheds light on the liberal mind and how naive and flawed their way of thinking can be. I read about the pure adoration of Jim Jones by his followers and realized this blind faith adoration is strikingly similar to some of Barack Obamas supporters. I am convinced today if Barry O were to suggest everyone should committ revolutionary suicide there would be a lot of dead people in this country. The naive are
Thorough Account September 6, 2009
Ana Mardoll (United States)
Seductive Poison / 0-385-48984-6
I purchased "Seductive Poison" after watching the intense Jonestown documentary. I was fascinated by the story, and hoped to learn more about it - and the memoirs of the intelligent ex-member Deborah Layton, interviewed in the documentary, seemed to be the best place to start.
"Seductive Poison" tells the story of Deborah's life, from her rebellious teenage years, her indoctrination into the church at a time when she needed guidance and stability, and her eventual escape from Jonestown. Her attempts to warn the outside world of the terrible conditions of Jonestown - where back-breaking labor was mandatory, sleep was all but forbidden, and torture was a constant reality - and to try to rescue the inhabitants of Jonestown were the stimulus behind Congressman Ryan's ill-fated visit. Deborah speaks heart-breakingly of the mass suicides, explaining that suicide was preferable to being shot in an impossible escape attempt... and death was preferable to the living nightmare that Jonestown had become.
I am grateful to Layton for her unflinching account of her life inside Jim Jones' cult. There is a wealth of detail here, and it is frightening and fascinating to learn that Jones was not simply a 'good man' corrupted over time by power or madness; even from the beginning, he was controlling and domineering, insisting that members leave school, donate property, and break up families in order to be nearer to him. I was disappointed slightly to find that there is not a very good feel here for WHY some of Jones' more outrageous behavior was believed and condoned - we must accept that his followers were intelligent, normal people, and yet it seems odd that they should, on the face of things, appear so gullible. Case in point, when Jim's "second-in-command" Carolyn goes missing for a little over nine months and returns with an infant - blonde and pale-skinned, despite the fact that the baby was "supposedly" the product of a brutal rape in a Mexican prison. And what are we to make of the fact that Jones insisted that all men (except him) were homosexuals? Why did he have so many married male followers who chose to believe this? Deborah, unfortunately, cannot shed a great deal of light on why an intelligent adult would choose to believe such things - she was brought into the church as an inexperienced, bewildered seventeen year old. She does explain that the constant lack of sleep (even in the early days of the church), the admonitions to speak or think critically, and the fear of losing your friends and loved ones (people who left the church were shunned) helped pave the way to unthinkingly accepting all that Jones said or did.
Possibly the most infuriating aspect of this book is not the actions of Jones, but rather the actions and inactions of the American officials charged with protecting Layton and her fellow members. US consul Dick McCoy stands out in particular, as if even half of Layton's narrative is true, the man comes off as being either criminally stupid or just plain criminal. The consulate does the absolute bare minimum to help Layton escape back to America, completely fails to visit Jonestown on their regularly scheduled basis - including failing to return to Jonestown for MONTHS after Layton's statement of the terrible conditions there, and steadfastly urges Layton to refrain from going to the press. Layton is surprisingly kind to the consulate, willing to chalk their behavior up to sheer idiocy and incompetence, but considering that the consulate was apparently aware of the fact that Jones was smuggling in guns and thought it was a joking matter, I'm more apt to wonder if some money wasn't changing hands. Even so, bribery can't explain the sheer apathy Deborah faces back in the states, with congressmen lazily asking her "why didn't you just leave" and apparently not grasping the fact that one cannot "just leave" a madman armed with guns, brainwashed guards, and the ability to torture and kill all your loved ones. Even brave Congressman Ryan fails to understand the depth of the situation and apparently does not genuinely believe Layton's concerns - that if anyone goes to Jonestown, they will be killed by Jim Jones and his terrified guards.
The lesson of "Seductive Poison" is that friends and family do not join 'cults' - they join organizations, churches, and peace movements that draw them in with lofty ideals, allow them to make friends and bonds within the group, and then prey upon them by making them feel that leaving the group will entail leaving all their loved ones within the group behind. I would also add that any organization that feels it knows better for you that YOU do and wishes to pressure and order you to conform (like when Jones urges students to drop out of high school in order to be closer to the church) is an organization that is using you for its own means, rather than allowing you to flourish with their support and advice.
 Insight into the mind of a follower July 12, 2009
Z. Pham (California)
I had always wondered how and why people were suckered into joining Jim Jones's cult, what life was like in Jonestown, and how in the world Deborah Layton escaped. This book gave me an insider's view, exactly what I was looking for.
Early in the book, I found the story unconvincing, perhaps fodder for a skit on Saturday Night Live. The idea that in one People's Temple meeting, she became a convert, I thought was possible. However, the moment of her conversion was unbelievable. Jim Jones tries to persuade her to join, so cheesy I wanted to gag. But then again, this is her story, and this is what convinced her to join. I must accept it as she explains it, the idea that anyone could become a victim becoming less of a reality. Some people are susceptible to such ruses -- the naïve, the mentally challenged, the desperate -- and we all know people who fit those categories.
Deborah easily falls for Jim Jones's lies, that all men are homosexual except for Jim Jones, that she may become an amoeba in her next life if she doesn't follow the teachings of her church. I wondered if she had a life before the Temple, why there didn't seem to be any hesitation to accept the teachings that are contradictory to everything she knows. Again, as I read, I begin to believe she is a bit more challenged than the average person.
I've always wanted to understand how the people at the top, those who organized the ruses could also be a blind follower of Jim Jones. How is it they can still believe in his powers when they have to collect poison ivy type leaves to cause letters to defectors to be irritating, making the defectors itch and suffer (as if caused by God)? Did they not wonder why God couldn't do it himself? That remains unanswered.
Once fully indoctrinated, it is easy to see why it was so difficult to escape. Once in Guyana, I can see how it became impossible. Even for those who wanted to escape, there was no way out.
The book was riveting at the end, and I could not put it down. Though I knew the outcome, how it happened was amazing.
Like You Were There June 29, 2009
Bombshelter (Arizona)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book in 5 days, I couldn't put it down. Deborah conveyed so well the feelings she experienced that when I would stop reading, it would take me a few minutes to realize that I was not a Peoples Temple member and shake off the paranoia I felt. I also can't help but draw parallels to the use of fear & intimidation by our politicians today, especially Republicans. For instance, when Rev. Jim Jones said "If they are not with us, they are against us." Where have I heard that before? Even though this happened over 30 years ago, this is an eye-opener to the mind manipulation that goes on today. It should be required reading. I hope Deborah knows that she is an incredibly strong person for being able to escape and I admire her for trying to warn about the impending mass suicide. She shouldn't feel guilt for what she did. It's a shame that the other Congressmen besides, Leo Ryan, were too busy to listen to her. But we are just human beings after all.
 So Sad May 30, 2009
Honest John/Bo Obama (Washington, DC)
1 out of 10 found this review helpful
Bo read this book. It made him sorry that Congressman Leo Ryan isn't still alive because I would let him take me for a walk. I think my Mom and Dad would have liked him too. Ms. Layton's book seems to be full of excuses and rationalizations. She spends far too many pages trying to justify leaving her dying mother behind and excusing her assassin of a brother.
In closing, Bo bought the book thinking he was going to read an honest story of a Jonestown survivor, the missing money and the missing boat. But instead, Bo is left pawing his head, more confused then he was when he started the book. I give this one...One paw way down!!!!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 265
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