Bestselling true crime author Amanda Bailey needs a new project. So when her editor comes to her and suggests the Alperton Angels. It was a cult mass suicide, where a baby was supposed to be sacrificed. Supposedly, the baby was the antichrist, and the cult were angels who were tasked with stopping the infant before it could grow up and destroy everything. All the angels were waiting for was the Alignment, where the heavens aligned, creating the perfect moment to rid the planet of the evil that is about to come.

But they failed. The infant got away unharmed, and three of the angels were found dead, killed by suicide, their bodies mutilated and left by the fourth. There were also two teenagers in the cult, known as Holly and Jonah. They also escaped alive, protecting the baby from harm and then all disappearing into social services right afterward. Gabriel, the only angel who survived, was tried for the murder of a neighbor that had happened in the weeks leading up to the massacre and is spending the rest of his life in jail.

The case had always had a lot of unusual interest. Between the angels, the possible human sacrifice, and the cult symbols left on the floor, the public have never known what to make of the Alperton Angels. But Amanda thinks it’s time to revisit the case, since the baby is about to turn 18. Amanda is determined to find that baby from when it disappeared into social services, and she’s going to write a new bestseller with that information.

The problem is that the information is hard to come by. Sources have died or don’t want to talk about the case. And those who do talk give her conflicting information. There were three dead men in the warehouse. There were four dead men in the warehouse. There were cult symbols on the floor. There were no cult symbols. Gabriel was the father of the baby. Teenaged Jonah was the father of the baby. Everywhere Amanda looked, the facts were murky at best. And adding to the mystery is the movies and novels that add some things and leave out some things, making it all that much more confusing.

Amanda reaches out to everyone she can think of to try to make sense of this case—the police who were there, the social workers, her fellow true crime writers, and her transcriptionist. She taps into her sources from other works and emails with armchair investigators. She visits the locations and reads all the news accounts and fictional accounts of the night the baby went missing. Amanda is determined to get to the answers. She is determined to get to the truth. She is determined to get to the Alperton baby. Even knowing that others have died trying to solve this case. And finding the truth will set her free. But it may not be the way she wanted or expected.

Master mystery plotter Janie Hallett is back with The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels, and it is an amazing work of fiction. Told through texts, emails, transcripts, excerpts from novels and film scripts, and Amanda’s own opening chapters, this story unfolds slowly. There are bread crumbs from the start, little bits of information that draw readers in, and as you keep going and find more bread crumbs, it gets harder and harder to put the book down and walk away. And as so often happens with Hallett’s books, you will think you have it figured out only to find out that you were wrong, over and over and over.

I got sucked into this story right away. I was looking forward to a creepy cult story, and I got that . . . for a while. Then it slowly changed into something else entirely. And then again. And then again. But one thing that stays the same throughout is the understanding of a coercive relationship and the damage it can do to someone who is vulnerable. While nothing of this story turned out the way I expected, it was amazing and surprising and brilliant. It’s why I love Janice Hallett so much, for creating this roller coaster of a story and sliding in back into place so perfectly at the end. So buckle up and get ready for a wild, wild ride! It will be unforgettable.

Egalleys for The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels were provided by Atria Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.