THE PROJECT

 

SYNOPSIS

"The Unity Project saved my life."

Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo's sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there's more to the group than meets the eye. She's spent the last six years of her life trying—and failing—to prove it.

"The Unity Project murdered my son."

When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its charismatic and mysterious leader, Lev Warren, he proposes a deal: if she can prove the worst of her suspicions about The Unity Project, she may expose them. If she can't, she must finally leave them alone.

But as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members, and spends more time with Lev, it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her—to the point she can no longer tell what's real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren . . . but now she doesn't know if she can afford not to.

Welcome to The Unity Project.

Title: The Project

Author: Courtney Summers

Publisher: St. Martin's Press. Wednesday Books

Publication date: February 2, 2021

REVIEW

RATING: ⭐⭐💫

You'll be wondering, if you don't like YA (I guess I'm more adult than young now) and cult stories, why would you pick this book? Duh, by its cover! I totally judged it by its cover. That and the fact I enjoyed "Sadie" a lot a couple of years ago made me decide to give this one a chance, but sadly it wasn't for me. Serves me right for not trusting my instincts and being dazzled by a creepy cover.

This is the story of Lo, a young girl trying to expose an alleged cult called "The Unity Project", of which her sister Bea is part of. Project leader, Lev, proclaims their motives are just charitable but Lo suspects different after witnessing a traumatic incident.

And that's it. Halfway through I wondered where the story was headed seeing nothing much had happened till then, but it's really not going anywhere till the last 15%. There was too much talk and not enough action. And the talk there was managed to make me so angry. All that conversations about religion, faith and so on... It was so clear to me that Lev was just a charlatan full of BS, preying on vulnerable people and taking advantage of their weaknesses that I could not understand how everyone fell for his cheap wordiness. And that's why I don't like cult stories!

I guess I was suppose to feel sympathy for Lo and empathize with her and her situation, but I did not connect with her at all. She came as so entitled, specially in her job. You don't want others to treat you a certain way because of your past...unless that certain way works towards your interests. Very mature! Her sudden change of heart made her even more unrelatable, going from black to white in an eye blink, no greys at all.

I called part of the ending at the halfway point, so no surprise at all. There were certain aspects of the ending that needed more of an explanation, because divine intervention in not an acceptable one for me!

The writing was pretty good, I'll concede that, but I found the plot execution a bit lacking. Sorry to be such a Debbie Downer with my review, but I'm sure this book will appeal to lots of readers. Sadly, not me.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.