Death in the Jungle: Murder, Betrayal, and the Lost Dream of Jonestown by Candace Fleming

e-Audio, 09:47:33
Narrated by: Karen Murray
Release Date: April 29, 2025
Published by: Books on Tape
Read from: April 1-4, 2025
Stand-alone
Source: PRH Audio (I received a free e-ALC from the publisher and their app. This did nothing to influence my review.)
Content Warning: Child Death, Infidelity, Suicide, Cults, True Crime, History/Historical
For Readers Interested In: Audio, Most Anticipated, Non-fiction, Religious Diversity, ToB 2025

      How did Jim Jones, the leader of Peoples Temple, convince more than 900 of his followers to commit “revolutionary suicide” by drinking cyanide-laced punch? From a master of narrative nonfiction comes a chilling chronicle of one of the most notorious cults in American history.
     Using riveting first-person accounts, award-winning author Candace Fleming reveals the makings of a from Jones’s humble origins as a child of the Depression… to his founding of a group whose idealistic promises of equality and justice attracted thousands of followers… to his relocation of Temple headquarters from California to an unsettled territory in Guyana, South America, which he dubbed “Jonestown”… to his transformation of Peoples Temple into a nefarious experiment in mind-control.
     And Fleming heart-stoppingly depicts Jones’s final act, persuading his followers to swallow fatal doses of cyanide—to “drink the kool-aid,” as it became known—as a test of their ultimate devotion.
     Here is a sweeping story that traces, step by step, the ways in which one man slowly indoctrinated, then murdered, 900 innocent, well- meaning people. And how a few members, Jones’ own son included, stood up to him… but not before it was too late.

*MY THOUGHTS*

Ok so this was intense. I had never heard of this before. And I really have no idea why because I love true crime and I watch it every chance I get. I have never been one for cults tho (LOL) so I had never heard of this and I just learned about the one in Waco. All of this was crazy.

I LOVE narrative non-fiction! And this one is kind of that, but also not. It’s a memoir of Jones, but it’s done in such a manner that it was like a story I couldn’t pull myself away from. I knew what was coming and I still was scared to get to the end. And what I love the most about it is the way Fleming doesn’t hold any punches. She just tells the facts and you can come to your own conclusions from there. This is exactly what we need more of RIGHT NOW, so my hope is people will read this and some eyes will open.

Ok so this was a very clear example of why its important for people to learn to think for themselves. These people were tricked because they wanted something so bad, that something was going to come save them because they’ve already been through so much bad. True example of a different type of white savior complex. He knew he couldn’t do these things, all that mattered was him was catering to the Black people that would believe that he could do these things. He lied to them using chicken guts, lies, and group think.

Another thing I learned from reading this was where the saying “Drinking the Kool-Aid” came from. And it was sad to hear that people have just been saying it and being callous about the situation when there were 900+ lives that were lost. I do think that some of that might be the fact that we just don’t know. And I’m basing this entirely on the fact that I didn’t know about this before hand lol But I’m sure there are people out there like me. And I also don’t like that they hooked on a brand that didn’t want any parts of this whole situation when they had nothing to do with it. And the flavor? A whole other reason to hate it tbh.

The ending was expected, but it was still very sad. We don’t learn about the aftermath, but I went on a deep dive on the FBI website and found some of the old audio clips and to see the pictures. It was a lot. Very sad. Very important to teach the kids about listening and learning to do for themselves and how important that is. Because the stuff we have going on right now is ENOUGH. And I also think it’s important to mention how hurtful this man was. He called himself anti-racist and he preached about wanting to make this utopia where racism wasn’t a thing and where the govt couldn’t harm them and yet he was lying to those people. he was stealing from these Black people who already barely had anything, and he was still perpetuating racist stereotypes by having the Black men in their muscle detail and the white men in the higher positions. Seeing them hold out hope for this man to help them and take care of them was heartbreaking.

I hope this shows how important it is to ask questions and do proper research. And I hope people read this and see the parallels of other cults and do their part to spread the word. Dismantling is hard, but it’s worth it to see all the things that could happen once you do.

Overall, I give this