Finding Grace

Captured by a Cult

By: Warren Adler

Narrated by: Steve Ogden

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

The chilling new drama from Warren Adler, the best-selling author of The War of the Roses, gets to the heart of brainwashing and its power to corrupt and control.

A father. A mother. A daughter. A cult.

When their 23-year-old daughter goes missing, divorcees Harry and Paulie are forced to leave behind their newly constructed lives to track Grace down. But Grace isn't lost, not physically at least. They find her seemingly unharmed in California on a sunny farm the other residents call 'Camp Star'. But nothing is as it seems....

Sinister motives lurk behind the smiles of those at the camp, and the two soon learn that Grace is in the clutches of a notorious cult. Under the spell of mind control, she denies Harry and Paulie as her family and shuns their love, leaving them to search for answers in the most desperate of places. Scrambling to piece together their shattered lives, Harry and Paulie race against the clock to bring Grace back home; but will she ever be able to return? How do you help someone who doesn't know they're lost?

©2017 Warren Adler (P)2017 Warren Adler

Excellent narration

This is a very slow book. The narration is fabulous and, really, the only reason I finished the book. I received a review copy at my request and voluntarily reviewed.

Misleading Publisher Summary

Finding Grace: Captured by a Cult by Warren Adler is in small part about Two parts trying to get their daughter back from the shining star cult. But the majority of the story is spent on filling on who Graces parents are Polly and Harry. Their current lives. Their past lives. Why they divorced and how it affected Grace. For me, her parents are such unlikeable people made listening to the story a challenge. If you are into the romance and that kind of thing this would be more for you. This story is told in a non-linear format. Jumping forward and back in time between different characters points of view as well. Something that gets annoying for me.

The narration was provided by Steve Ogden. This is the first performance I have heard from Mr. Ogden but I greatly enjoyed his work.

Story is more about Grace's parents than Grace

Disclosure: I was given a copy of "Finding Grace" in exchange for an honest review via Audiobook Boom.

“Finding Grace Captured by a Cult” is, at first glance, the story of parents trying to get their daughter away from a cult. That is what I expected when I started listening. However, the book is more about the parents of Grace, Paulie and Harry.

As a reader I had several issues with this book. The first was the depth of detail that the author went into while describing the relationship between Paulie and Harry as teenagers. The story of Grace is overshadowed by her parents excessive relationship to the point where the author will segway into a description of Paulie and Harry’s escapades instead of focusing on the very real danger that their daughter is in.

The author misses a huge part of the story by neglecting to describe the dangers of a cult and how people can become enmeshed in such a group. I did find some of the details about the cult hard to digest. For example - Grace is not a good candidate to be drawn in by a cult. She has a stable job working for a government official and, by all accounts, has the support of her friends and family. Cults typically draw new members from disenfranchised youth, outsiders, and vulnerable populations.

Interesting story

Overall I liked this book. The narrator, Steve Ogden, was wonderful! He did a great job at building tension & creating emotion. I liked the story line of finding a child in a cult. I didn’t like the underlying love story. I felt it was too cliche, too Danielle Steel. Like I said, I did like the story & would recommend this book, probably with a qualifier on the love story.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A little too much backstory, but good

"Finding Grace: Captured by a Cult" (2017) by Warren Adler is a compelling novel about Harry and Paulie, two divorced parents trying to wrestle their adult daughter Grace from the clutches of a religious cult. At the same time they struggle to deal with their love and attraction for each other in spite of Paulie’s remarried status. A little too must time is spent on the parents’ history but still solidly recommended. Audiobook provided free in exchange for an honest review.

Not quite believable

Story started out good but became a little unbelievable. Probably just me but I was very skeptical. There is also a echo like sound to the narration which I found annoying. Give it a listen and form your own opinion!

I wish this stayed on topic.

The idea of this book is great. trying to locate your child that has been taken by a cult.
But sadly, this book touches only a little bit of that subject. Its more about graces parents and life, and their personal life. I think if this book would of stayed on topic, it would of been great! but sadly it did not.

The narrator did a good job with the voices. and I would listen to a book he reads again.


I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Well written, but boring

This is a well written story with fully developed characters. However, none of the characters are particularly likable.

The publishers label this book as a chilling drama, but it's not especially chilling. In fact, it moves quite slowly with much time spent on character development and little suspenseful action. As dramas go, this is a good story, but it just didn't do it for me.

Steve Ogden performs very well. His character voices are distinctive and his pacing fits the story. .

NOTE: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Wasted potential.

I received this audiobook for free from the author / narrator / publisher, in exchange for an unbiased review.

The story had such great potential - rescuing your brainwashed child from a cult. That Charles Masion book is showing up in "similar books" section here. So, I had high expectations from this one. And came out dis appointed.

A huge part of the book is spent on backstory and character building. There's less of Grace and more of her parents and their past relationship, how they got divorced etc. Grace gets very little time. Instead her parent's perspective, it'd have been way better hear it from Grace's perspective. As it is, the story felt like a drag and much more of a drama than a psychological thriller.

Once we did get to the meaty part, there weren't any chilly moment. There weren't any situations where I was afraid for any of the characters or any high stake situations. All in all, it didn't turn out to be what I was expecting.

Not what I was expecting!

This is an original story and has some unexpected twists. I thought the book would be about finding Grace and bringing her home. There was much more to the story. I do not like to give away spoilers in my reviews, and with that said I won't write a synopsis of the book. Some of the characters I liked, while others not so much. I thought the narrator did great with his performance. I requested this review copy audiobook and have voluntarily written this review.