Synopsis
Mary Rich allows her family to be drawn into a twisted cultist's evil web.
Reviews
Rich was obsessed with the subject of religion since childhood. She became a born-again Christian and married a man who shared most of her views but lacked her fervor. Together, they fell under the influence of self-appointed prophet Ron Larrinaga. They and their children joined his "family," and eventually Mary and the children began to be beaten, starved and sexually abused, as were Larrinaga's own children. The core group, with other hangers-on, traveled around the U.S., trying to evade the law, primarily because the children were not sent to school. This life on the lam shut them off from contact with the outside world. Law enforcement officers had trouble closing in on Larrinaga, who claimed he was being persecuted for his religion. After he abandoned Rich, she came to her senses and filed criminal charges against him. Larrinaga, tried and convicted, was sentenced to 180 years. Assisted by Jose (coauthor of Guerrilla in Striped Pants), Rich tells a horror story of life in a cult. Yet while making it clear that the leader was a sadistic sociopath, Rich shows herself to be gullible, to say the least. Photos not seen by PW. 20,000 first printing; author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Desperate for spiritual affirmation, Rich voluntarily endured years of increasingly vicious and degrading treatment at the hands of cult leader Ron Larrinaga. She was not alone. A Florida court eventually convicted Larrinaga on 42 counts of child abuse and sexual molestation, imprisoning him for 50 years. In this work, Rich and Jose (Sign of the Golden Grasshopper, LJ 4/15/95) vividly re-create not only the grotesque torments they suffered, but also the myopic, heedless trust that tolerates such abuse. An effectively rendered, emotionally gripping account, this work will surely become powerful ammunition for anticult partisans. It is, however, an admittedly unilateral account based on one person's memories: no corroboration or documentation is offered, and even years of occurrence are never specified. Libraries seeking a reliable, balanced investigation of cults and their problems should consider Madeline Tobias's Captive Hearts, Captive Minds (LJ 7/94) and, for reference, J. Gordon Melton's definitive Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America (Garland, 1992. 2d rev. ed.). Possibly for church libraries and, where there is strong interest, in public collections.
Bill Piekarski, Southwestern Coll. Lib., Chula Vista, Cal.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
In this frightening memoir, Rich recounts her association with "extremist cult leader" Ronald Larrinaga, who is every bit as fanatical as David Koresh, Jim Jones, and other more famous cult leaders. Rich and her family, who met the Larrinagas at church in San Luis Obispo, California, slowly became enmeshed in a bizarre web of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse carried out in the name of religion. With assistance from Jose, Rich recalls her perverse relationship with the religious zealot who subjected her and others in his small following to beatings, sexual molestation, and public humiliation. Finally extricating herself from the cult, Rich successfully brought charges against Larrinaga, who is currently serving time for child abuse and sexual molestation. Not without flaws, Rich's is yet an absorbing testimony from a Christian woman struggling to put her life back together. Sue-Ellen Beauregard
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