I have to be in a particular mood to accept ghostwritten books, and I guess I hit the timing right with this one. I ripped through the entire thing in 2 days. Of course, nothing will quench my love of American cults; it doesn't matter to me that they are all endless iterations on the same premise.

Catherine Oxenberg's story is a unique view of the ESP/NXIVM cult that dominated headlines a couple years ago. Her daughter India was a long-time member who moved up the ranks from the time she was a teenager taking ESP self-help classes with her mom to eventually becoming one of inner circle, complete with the infamous branding. The book thoughtfully weaves in explanations of the stages of cult behavior and brainwashing, with ever-ready examples illustrated by India. Those parts were the most interesting to me.

What really struck me throughout the book was how much money this woman—a Hollywood B-lister who is not as rich as the billionaire heiresses who bankrolled NXIVM founder Keith Raniere but still pretty rich, privileged, and well-connected (she constantly mentions random European aristocracy that she's related to)—spent on getting her daughter out of the cult. Plus she called in a lot of favors from her connections in Hollywood, the media, and her family's political contacts. But imagine if she wasn't that rich and couldn't afford to criss-cross the country at the drop of a hat, leave her kids with full-time caretakers, or pay for lawyers and meetings with psychologists. This concerned mother did everything within her power and it's quite clear that she has a lot of clout at her disposal, but imagine if she didn't. And think about the daughter, India: she blew her six-figure trust fund from her royal grandparents on the cult, but she still has the safety net of super rich parents and her grandmother who is literally a princess. Victim, yes. Lucky, definitely. These things are no doubt emotionally devastating for any family, but money sure pads the landing.