Prophet's Prey

August 29, 2011
In 2008, most Americans became aware of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) when authorities in Texas searched the 1,700-acre Yearning for Zion Ranch and discovered alarming evidence of child abuse on a massive scale. As private investigator Brower points out in his often gripping memoir and detective tale, the video clips portrayed a tiny fraction of the real story. An extremist faction of the Mormon Church, the FLDS broke away from the mainstream church when the latter officially renounced polygamy. Under the leadership of Warren Jeffs, the FLDS group that drew the nation’s attention still regards plural marriage as the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed on Earth. Jeffs’s followers believe that they are the only true Mormon Church, and they zealously obey their religious teachings and their leader. As Brower points out, such ardent adherence to their leader’s teachings enabled Jeffs to create a subculture in which his control and decisions were unquestioned and embraced. Brower uncovers many documents exposing cases of extortion, tax fraud, child abuse, and kidnappings, and Brower’s investigations helped lead to Jeffs’s arrest in Texas, where the religious leader was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for child sex abuse this month. While the book often mimics the contrived dialogue and suspense of television drama and is often mind-numbingly repetitious, Brower manages to tell a fascinating tale of one man’s megalomania.

July 15, 2011

A private investigator exposes the horrors of a fundamentalist Mormon sect.

First-time author Brower knows the Mormon faith better than most because of his heritage. But he knew almost nothing about the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints until stumbling on their practices after accepting a seemingly routine case as part of his private-investigator business based in Cedar City, Utah. The fundamentalists, led by a supposedly divine prophet named Warren Jeffs, illegally practiced polygamy. Brower, however, did not develop his investigation around the multiple-marriage culture. Instead, he became engaged far beyond helping his original client due to the dominance of the fundamentalist leaders over the women, including girls who had not reached adulthood. The author concluded that no religious doctrine could justify what looked like rape and incest. Furthermore, Brower learned about financial irregularities that, in his opinion, qualified the FLDS as an ongoing criminal enterprise as objectionable as the storied Mafia. Partly because of the author's moral outrage and shoe-leather doggedness, law-enforcement agencies in Utah, Arizona and Texas, among other locales, began criminal investigations. Jeffs lost his liberty after a rape-related trial in a Utah courtroom, but an appellate court overturned his conviction on technical grounds. As Brower completed his manuscript during early 2011, the ultimate legal fate of Jeffs remained uncertain. The next trial is scheduled to occur in Texas on felony child-abuse charges. Brower documents how the seemingly all-powerful Jeffs has deteriorated physically and mentally while in prison. No matter what the verdicts in cases filed against Jeffs, he and his followers, numbering in the tens of thousands, have damaged countless lives. The author wisely focuses significant sections of the narrative on the victims.

An excruciatingly detailed, nightmarish saga demonstrating the sometimes inexplicable power of human evil.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2013

Mormon Brower recounts his seven-year investigation of Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) leader Warren Jeffs. This investigation ultimately led to the conviction of Jeffs on felony counts of child sexual assault while the book presents a rare and detailed look into the FLDS. (LJ Xpress Reviews, 9/30/11)

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