The Program

The title states that this book delves into the mind of Keith Raniere. This book delves into the mind of the author. Furthermore, Natalie wants to be important in the history of NXIVM, which disturbed me, given how many people have suffered. She states at least once, and has cult expert Rick Ross state twice in his intro, that she was the first to take Raniere down. The evidence doesn't pan out, frankly, even in her own book; it's not that simple. And it doesn't matter. I have seen this distasteful behavior before, concerning the FLDS trial, and who was the first whistleblower. One book, which I won't name here, is a lie, because it was published during the beginning of the trial, because the person was in such a hurry to make Natalie's same claims.

I hung on through Natalie's awkward and unprofessional narration after that red flag at the beginning. The book ends with her giving cutesy shoutouts to several different jurors—“I loved the way you rolled your eyes, Juror 12”.

This book is all about Natalie.

For me, this was a fairly quick and interesting read. I've read/watched other stuff about NXIVM but Natalie's story gets in kind of at the ground floor (and gets out before the branding) so it's a different perspective. This is definitely the kind of memoir where the writing itself isn't anything special but the story is compelling. If you're interested in cults in general and NXIVM in particular, I think it's worth a read.