The Project by Courtney Summers

 

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo's sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there's more to the group than meets the eye. She's spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its leader, Lev Warren and as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her—to the point she can no longer tell what's real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren . . . but now she doesn't know if she can afford not to.

---

This sounded, from the synopsis, like it was going to be like that Veronica Mars episode where Veronica goes to investigate a cult and discovers that they're actually just all that nice. It isn't. That doesn't make it a bad thing, it's just not what I thought I was getting.

It was cleverly written at first, but along around the middle it became very clear that Lev was running a cult. I guessed a few twists here and there, but a few others took me by surprise. I'm also not sure about Lo as a character; it's clear that some horrific things have happened to her, but she doesn't seem to have much of a sense of self.

However, I loved that this novel about cults, very unusually, was not from the point of view of someone who's grown up in a cult. I shudder to think what could have happened to Emmy as she got older, so I'm glad things ended as they did.

A mixed read, but definitely worth a try.