Provides some nice and fun background on the methods and means that "cultic" groups use to manipulate their followers, as well as some insight into what leads members into cults in the first place.

It comes off as a little too sensational and alarmist at times, as though the book is suggesting that the world is filled to the brim with cults just waiting to ply unsuspecting individuals into their clutches. However I think that beneath this lies, interestingly, the author's general concern that human psychology by its "nature" lends itself to manipulation by knowing forces and that, assuming this to be true, we might broaden our concept of what makes a "cult".

I read this book too before knowing that its content was composed largely of a sort of disgraced study, rejected by the APA, that Singer had been part of and that led to her being discredited in her career as a expert in legal proceedings - not a great look for a book that is supposed to be objective and informative.

But the controversy surrounding that study brings forth questions that arose within the psychological/sociological academic communities surrounding their appraisals of New Religious Movements...

So provided that a reader can take this book with the appropriate grain of salt, it works fine as general information as well as a jumping-off point into perhaps more complex and nuanced views of the place in contemporary society of niche religious movements and how they relate to notions of individual and religious freedoms.