An above-average quickie paperback purporting to give the insider’s scoop on David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. Breault joined the Davidians in ‘86, King interviewed Koresh just before the going got good. Of course, there’s plenty of dirt here and loads of background material. Make no mistake, Koresh was one strange dude who combined an ability to make people believe the stupidest things with an inability to keep his pants zipped. His “legal” wife was 14 when they got married. He was, in short, the perfect cult leader. (Ever notice how these groups are always set up so the top dog gets all the girls?) There’s plenty of weirdness here, and thankfully, no BATF/FBI/conspiracy stuff—in fact, the whole raid/holocaust thing gets short shrift in favor of pre-raid cult antics. But the field is still wide open for the definitive book. JM

Publisher: Signet
Paperback: 375 pages
Illustrated