For Piper, there's before and there's after. Before, she had her little sisters, friends Caspian and Thomas, and Mother and Father. Father was preparing them for the end of the world, warning of the dangers of the Outside. But just as Piper is readying for initiation into the Community, the government raids their home and takes the children away. That's the after. After the raid, Piper is forced to live with a woman she doesn't know, in a big, fenced off house, and all she wants to do is escape and find her family. Tensions mount as Piper begins to discover more about her past, bringing up more questions than answers, until she is forced to confront her Mother in an effort to find the truth. Peterson uses her own experience as a teenager in a cult to bring Piper's story to life through alternating before-and-after perspectives. These come together to create a rich, layered, and unflinching narrative of love, loss, and the struggle to become whole once again.

An angst-y version of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.Piper believes in the Community: Mother and Father have established strict rules that keep everyone safe. Even if all the rules do not make sense—bleaching hair, digging graves, being told whom you will marry—Piper faithfully believes. When government agents enter their compound and she and the others are taken to the Outside against their will, she will do anything to go back. However, she has been sent to live with a woman who tells her that she is her real mother and that Piper was taken from her as a child. Peterson (The Angry Alien, 2017, etc.) weaves a lush novel full of cryptic scenes divided into "before" chapters showing Piper's life in the cult and "after," when she is set free, which readers fit together for a thrilling ending. The novel presents an accessible look at what makes cults (especially religious ones) attractive to some, and it will appeal to those interested in subjects such as Charles Manson and the Branch Davidians. As readers follow Piper through therapy, they learn that while memories can be unreliable, they can trust their feelings and listen to their instincts. Piper finds that while time might not heal all wounds, supportive friends, family, medication, and therapy will help. Characters are assumed white.An intriguing look at a young woman adjusting to life outside a cult. (Fiction. 13-adult)

Gr 9 Up-The one thing Piper knows beyond a shadow of a doubt is that she trusts Father. Soon, she will be old enough to become a part of the Community. For now, she has to help take care of the younger children in between visits from Mother and Father, who appear infrequently due to their important work at the faraway compound. Her best friend and forbidden crush, Caspian, begins to voice his doubts about Father. All of this happens in the Before: before her home is raided by Child Protective Services. In the After, she is taken to a hospital and then sent home with a woman named Joanie. As the novel alternates between scenes from Before and After, what Piper doesn't remember slowly becomes clear: Mother and Father kidnapped her when she was young, and Joanie is her birth mother. Due to the author's own background, this is an accurate portrayal of the indoctrination that can occur in groups led by a zealot. Readers follow Piper through the difficult maze of her own mind in trying to sort out what's real from what she is imagining. Her struggle with her mental health rings true. The emotions and characters are represented precisely through Piper's eyes. VERDICT This is a sound addition to any collection where reality and suspense are in demand. Kelly Jo Lasher, Middle Township High School, Cape May Court House, NJ