a place where nobody dared to go

Svetlana Bentzen, Sveta to friends, is headed to Mexico. After a big fight with her fiancé on New Year’s Eve, she had been staying with friends, and that was where she was when she got the call. Her uncle had died. Her uncle was self-help author Paul Bentzen, whose books had become bestsellers. After an incident at the California retreat center, he had closed it, mortified that anyone had a bad experience while trying to heal there, and moved to the jungles of Chiapas, Mexico.

It was in Mexico that he opened a retreat and named it Xanadu. He and his partner Kali ran a healing center there for a small group of followers. They called themselves the Mandala. This is where Sveta is headed, by plane, helicopter, and boat, to find out more about her uncle’s death and all of his wealth that she is now inheriting. But she’s not alone. She’s accompanied by her uncle’s lawyer and her one-time boyfriend Lucas.

Once there, they are asked to give up their electronics (there isn’t much of a connection anyway), and wear the clothes of the Mandala while they’re there. Even though Svetla and Lucas only plan to stay overnight, Kali explains that some there are recovering addicts and even seeing street clothes or a cell phone could set their recovery back. Svetla wants to believe her, and Lucas was raised in a commune, so they understand and try to comply. They are just there for Paul’s funeral, and for Lucas to make sure the death certificate gets filed with the proper authorities, and then they are heading back to the states.

But it’s not that easy. Kali is reluctant to file the death certificate, and there are issues with their transportation back to the airport. Svetla and Lucas have to stay longer, and they have no way of contacting anyone at home to let them know the situation. While there are no direct threats toward Svetla or Lucas, Svetla feels more and more uneasy at Xanadu. Kali keeps a couple of jaguars as pets, and Svetla starts to wonder if the food and drink there is drugged. And the nearby jungle is filled with natural predators like snakes and human ones that guard the nearby fields for the local drug lords.

Days go by, and Svetla is still in Mexico. She knows that Kali must be unhappy that Paul had left everything he owned to Svetla, and it feels like Kali’s keeping her there for a reason. But as family secrets come to light and Svetla learns more about Lucas, she starts to wonder who it is she can trust. Will she ever get back to the states, to the fiancé who is waiting for her in New York? Will she even make it out of the Mexican jungle alive?

Katherine St. John has crafted a twisty, culty thriller in The Vicious Circle, where layers of secrets and lies keep you guessing over and over. It’s a blend of wealthy families and beautiful models with an isolated group of people living from the land and adhering to spiritual principles. Of course, there is also a leader who demands obedience and rules absolutely. This is a crazy story that took me in loops before I found a way back from Xanadu.

I listened to the audio book for The Vicious Circle, narrated by Christine Lakin. I thought she did a beautiful job with this story. But I did think this story was a little scattered. It’s like there was one story in New York, and there was another in Mexico. St. John does a good job of pulling the two stories together into one, but I think I would have preferred it getting one novel set in New York, about the modeling and upcoming marriage and another about a woman chasing down her uncle’s legacy in the jungles of Mexico. But this was still a great story, with lots of twists and mind-bending surprises.

Egalleys for The Vicious Circle were provided by William Morrow through NetGalley, but I bought the audio book myself through Chirp.