ALA Booklist

High-schooler Dorry has been lonely since a recent move and depressed about the family's lessened circumstances. So when a group of attractive and friendly kids take her into their circle, she's delighted. That they are all in a religious group called Fishers of Men doesn't faze her because everyone seems so interested and concerned about her welfare. Even when the group activities move from pizza parties to prayer groups, Dorry doesn't mind, but as the demands of the group (as articulated by Angela, her discipler) escalate, Dorry worries about going to hell if she does not adhere to all the Fishers' demands. Haddix gives a fine portrayal of a teenager's descent into a cult. Dorry is both bright and questioning, but these qualities, as well as her love of her family, have little power against the Fishers' brainwashing techniques and her own need to fit in. She is finally able to shake the Fishers' shackles when she is horrified to find herself terrifying her baby-sitting charges with tales of hell as she tries to convert them. In the end, Dorry doesn't turn against religion, only this particular brand of it. A good read and an informative one for young people who are constantly bombarded with challenges to their beliefs. Richard Peck takes a sharp, if didactic, look at the terrifying effect of a proselytizing babysitter in The Last Safe Place on Earth (1995). (Reviewed December 15, 1997)

Horn Book

Lonely and insecure at a new school, Dorry finds acceptance from a dynamic group of classmates who slowly draw her into an evangelical Christian organization. Dorry's spiritual awakening is followed by demands of total obedience to the group and the realization that she has been entrapped by a cult. The fascinating depiction of mind control is believably portrayed in this thought-provoking and well-characterized novel.

Kirkus Reviews

From the author of Don't You Dare Read This, Mrs. Dunphey (1996), a chilling portrait of an insecure teenager gradually relinquishing her autonomy to a religious cult after she moves from a small Ohio town to a large, impersonal Indianapolis suburb. Fishers of Men is headed by charismatic Pastor Jim, and its members—ordinary students at her high school who don't immediately tell her of the group—surround awkward, friendless Dorry with acceptance and affection when she is most lonely and vulnerable. Haddix paints a wholly convincing picture of the slow, insidious stages by which Dorry is caught,'' the dynamics of manipulation, obligation, and intimidation that enmesh her so firmly that Fishers becomes the center of her life. Trying desperately to satisfy Pastor Jim's demands for evangelism, Dorry—recalling the efforts of the religious fanatic in Richard Peck's The Last Safe Place on Earth (1995)—attempts toconvert'' the small children she baby- sits and terrifies them with tales of hellfire and damnation. Their furious mother banishes the teenager from the house; only then does Dorry realize that she has become something monstrous and so extricates herself from Fishers. Tightly written, with well-drawn characters, and demonstrating insight into the psychology of belief and affiliation, this cautionary novel is in no way anti-religious: Dorry has found genuine meaning in worship and prayer, and at the end of the book, continues her spiritual journey, but in her own way. (Fiction. 12+)"

School Library Journal

Gr 7-9--For high school junior Dorry Stevens, the move to Indianapolis from the small town where she has always lived is difficult and lonely. When Angela invites Dorry to join her and her friends for lunch, Dorry is flattered and excited. Through her new friends, she learns about The Fishers of Men, a religious group to which they all belong, and meets Pastor Jim, its charismatic leader. The group invites Dorry to parties and eventually to a retreat where she decides to join the church. Angela, her guide and discipler, not only engages Dorry in Bible study and church activities, but also gives her tasks to discipline her and make her a better Fisher. Dorry's parents worry about the ever-increasing control Angela has over their daughter's life. After a disastrous attempt to convert the children she is babysitting for to the Fishers, Dorry makes the agonizing decision to leave the group in spite of their harassment to stop her. With this decision comes the understanding that she has been involved in a cult. The realistic ending is not "happily ever after," but one of self-realization. Haddix has written a thought-provoking, riveting novel with strong, though rather sterotypical, characters--the victim, the recruiter, the charismatic leader. Her carefully constructed plot reels readers into the book in much the same way Dorry is reeled into the Fishers. Although the ending is slightly didactic, it does not detract from the forceful impact of the book.--Janet Hilbun, Sam Houston Middle School, Garland, TX