Into Captivity They Will Go by Noah Milligan Review

Into Captivity They Will Go

by Noah Milligan

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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review via Netgalley. Any thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Into Captivity They Will Go is the story of Caleb Gunter and his mother Evelyn. 13-year-old Caleb's life was pretty normal. He was raised in a Christian home in Oklahoma, he went to school, went to church, had friends, he played with his brother, it was all pretty normal. One day his mother's stepfather dies and this causes something inside of Evelyn to snap. She basically stops living and only exists for awhile. When she finally comes out of this state she has changed, gone slightly crazy. All of  a sudden she is telling Caleb he is the second coming of Jesus Christ and is preaching Revelations and of the The Seven Seals on the street corner. The church finds this behavior alarming and kicks the family out, parents are concerned and will not let their children hang out with Caleb or his brother anymore. Evelyn's crazy behavior is also causing problems in her marriage and one night after a fight with her husband she sneaks away with Caleb in the middle of the night and takes him away where she believes they will be safe. They end up living in a trailer park where everyone accepts Evelyn's preachings and they believe Caleb will lead them into Heaven. Things start to go wrong at the trailer park and eventually everything falls apart. Now Caleb is left to figure out how to live a normal life without any support system and must figure out how he can move on and how to cope with what him and his mother have done.

The writing was really good. The characters were really well done. I thought the characters were dimensional and showed emotion. Milligan done an amazing job of portraying the mothers desperation in her beliefs. I found myself feeling bad for Caleb, his brother and his father. The way the author describes the mentality and the beliefs of Evelyn is truly great. We see her first as a normal Christian and then after losing someone dear to her she dances right over the line of a normal Christian and right into a crazed fanatic. Caleb's mother clearly needs help, however she truly believes what she is saying.

I wasn't brainwashed - it wasn't like that because in order to be brainwashed, the person convincing you must realize they're telling you lies. In my case, it couldn't be any different - my mother truly believed I was Jesus Christ reborn, and so why wouldn't I believe her? She was, after all, my mother. She birthed me and raised me and fed me and taught me, and so why wouldn’t I trust her? My very life depended on her.

What, in my opinion, makes this book so raw and emotional is the realness of it. One of my first thoughts is 'and not one person thought maybe this chick is just crazy?' However, this is how cults work. If you look into real life cults (such as Jim Jones & Jonestown) you'll find similarities between this work of fiction and those real life accounts. Mainly, I'm talking about the charismatic leader and the first couple of ready and willing followers. In that aspect, this book was a little scary for me as I don't think it's too far fetched.

This was a pretty good read for me. I found it interesting enough to get through but not enough to just devour it, although if I had read at another time maybe I could of enjoyed it more. Overall, I do recommend this book as it is well written and interesting.