Rating: 
Summary: I could not put it down
Review: Isabel Allende's quote on the back of this book says it all: This haunting book, written with candor and passion, reads like a thriller. I could not put it down! My feelings exactly. It's extraordinary!
Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: Having browsed Layton's site, I was compelled to read the book and was blown away! It took such incredible courage to not only survive, but then to face her fears and stand up and warn the world of what was happening, knowing that she was putting herself and family at risk and then, on top of all that, to relive the whole experience in writing this book! That takes a courage I hope I never have to face. This book paints the people involved with a compassion that someone who was just telling the story couldn't express. I was delighted to be able to read this book after seeing her web site. What an amazing woman! Everyone should read this book!
Rating:
Summary: heartwrenching
Review: This book is thoroughly engaging and impossible to put down, for all the reasons mentioned in the reviews. But what I found most compelling is the author's deep and complex love for her mother, her yearning to know her mother's secrets, and her sadness at how the People's Temple worked to separate them from the comfort of each other. When the author joined the People's Temple at age 17, she had just learned a few months earlier that her mother was Jewish, a fact which had been a family secret up until then. But she had been told this secret by her father, not her mother. I wonder if she ever had the chance to talk about this with her mother, as she had wanted to. I get the feeling that the author was yearning to learn who she was, what her history was, and I wonder if this unfulfilled desire created a void that allowed Jim Jones to step in and influence her so heavily. This book is heartbreaking.
Rating:
Summary: A facinating and elucidating story. I get it now!
Review: This is one of those books that all adults should read and pass on to thier loved ones. Its a warning to parents and an important story for young adults. Being duped and deceived is a universal fact of life and Ms. Layton shows us how it can happen to even the best of us.
Rating:
Summary: Courageous
Review: Heard author on WBAC with Jim Bishop. What an incredible story. Deborah Layton's writing style is engaging and powerful. It's a great gift idea & especially easy since amazon will wrap it for you and send it anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, All Nighter kind of book!
Review: An educational thriller and goose bump maker. Had to turn up the electric blanket to keep my internal chills at bay.
Rating:
Summary: A very moving story and a heart pounding thriller of a read
Review: This memoir allowed me to understand what happened twenty years ago and how intelligent people could get involved. I didn't realize that Jim Jones was the Head of the San Francisco Housing Authority, nor that he was supported by important politicians both in San Francisco and Washington DC. He was an impressive "Player" on the political scene and had many high profile folks eating out of his hand: Like Willie Brown, the Chief of police, Hongisto and those who just didn't know, like Angela Davis, Eldridge Clever, Dennis Banks and Roseline Carter. This book was a real eye opener for me. Seductive Poison is heart-breakingly honest and tells a story so few people actually know. I had heard about "what happened" and then just dismissed the members as a bunch of uneducated lower class people. I now know I was dead wrong. I can see where this could have happened to someone like me had I been in California during the 60's. The country was in turmoil over the war in Vietnam, the civil rights movement, the Black Panthers, free speech and People's Temple fit right in by pooling from the disenchanted, disinfranchised & young hopeful college kids who wanted to make a difference. I know that feeling even now in my own search for meaning and purpose. In so many religions we are taught to think of others, help them, get involved and that is what the members of Jone's group believed they were doing. To think so many well intentioned people were gradually deceived then islolated and murdered in a far off country is heartbreaking. I recommend this book highly! It's a heartpouding thriller of a read.
Rating: 
Summary: does not ring true
Review: while nbasic facts are probably true,many of the stories seem to have been contrrived for dramatic effect.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Glorious Engrossing Book
Review: TRULY UNPUTDOWNABLE! THE PROLOGUE IS RIVETING, THE FIRST CHAPTER's A LITTLE SLOW, THEN THE BOOK JUST TAKES-OFF, I'M STILL TRYING TO CATCH MY BREATH WOW- what a great writer, MAN- what a powerful story, What's impressive- is her courage. What's delightful- is her honesty.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading in high school/college
Review: I heard Layton participate in a panel on Memoirs at the San Francisco Book Festival yesterday. Having just recently read her book, I was quite struck by the unexpected similarities between her theme and those of co-panelists Joyce Maynard (At Home in the World) and Bill Lee (Chinese Playground). Although the other authors' stories were completely different, they weren't. All dealt with the dangerous power of secrets and how they may lead to all kinds of searches for fulfillment, whether in Peoples Temple, with J.D. Salinger, or in a Chinese gang. Initially, it was Layton's powerful storytelling that made me pause and wonder if I could ever have been "seduced" to join a cult. I have always thought "no," but after yesterday's thought-provoking discussion and having gone back and re-read some of Seductive Poison, I would have to say that almost anyone could be seduced at some point or another in their life. I heard a college professor tell Layton afterwards that he was using her book as a text for his psychology course. Layton mentioned that some high schools were planning to make her book required reading. I concur and plan to mention it to the teachers at my kids' schools and make my teenage children read it, too. Bravo to Layton for writing such a readable book that has the potential to educate us and our children about such important and universal issues.
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