Good day, dear readers! The Children of Darkness and Light by Lori Hellis is one book that I can say will stick with me for all the wrong reasons. There are so many things that I would like to say to them. But one has to wonder, how in the world does someone go this far off the rails? You are going to read a tale of greed, murder, lust, and the twisting of religion. This is one book you will not soon forget!
Available now from Pegasus Crime. 4/5 stars rating.
Goodreads Blurb:
In this gripping work of true crime, a criminal lawyer takes readers inside the notorious Lori Vallow case and the devastating “doomsday murders.”
A blonde beauty queen, missing children, six suspicious deaths, and the twisted Mormon doomsday writings of her fifth husband are only the beginning of a tragic crime saga that gripped Americans and instigated frantic searches all over the country.
It all started when Lori Vallow met Chad Daybell at a doomsday prepper event. Their story grew like a wildfire that creates its own weather, and what happened next will shock even the most experienced true crime reader.
Clinging to and manipulating one another, Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell believed the return of Jesus Christ was imminent and that God had chosen them to lead the 144,000 and usher in the new millennium. When the people closest to them began dying, it became clear they would stop at nothing to be together and fulfill their mission. When the bodies of Lori’s missing children—J.J. and Tylee—were discovered in Chad’s backyard, the strange and complex story of their fundamentalist Mormon beliefs were revealed in all their true horror.
Author Lori Hellis, a retired criminal lawyer, had just moved to Arizona when news of J.J. and Tylee’s disappearance broke, and there were reports about these missing children that linked them to a neighboring community. She began to follow the case closely, trying to understand this perfect storm of people and circumstances that culminated in the death of innocents. In Children of Darkness and Light, Hellis digs deep into the investigation, trial, and verdict to craft a haunting narrative that illuminates one of the most confounding crimes in recent memory.
My Review:
This deadly duo deserves everything they got, and more.
Lori and Chad were brought together during a conference, in which Chad was selling his books. Lori had been diving deeper into some of the far outlying beliefs in the LDS church, and unfortunately, it led to murder. As I was listening to this book, I could not believe the level of depravity, and utter disregard for those around them. Chad was a charlatan, pure and simple, and his lies led to many families being destroyed. Lori was easily swayed, having looked into some of the taboo areas, and then with urging and support from friends, dove headfirst into the darkness that would lead to her downfall.
While there were some religious leanings that led to the murder of two innocent children, husbands, wives, and relatives, the simple motivation here was lust. They found themselves drawn together, Chad through his many lies, and entered into a relationship which leaves many speechless with horror. This was a difficult read, but laid out in such a way that you could follow the unraveling of the minds from start to finish. I had to take some breaks while reading. As a mother, I could not fathom the reason that someone would kill their children, whether or not they considered them “possessed,” instead of fighting to save them. From start to finish you are going to gasp, experience anger and disbelief, and then sit back and wonder how anyone could sink to this level.
