Prophet's Prey

August 29, 2011
In 2008, most Americans became aware of the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) when authorities in Texas searched the 1,700-acre Yearning for Zion Ranch and discovered alarming evidence of child abuse on a massive scale. As private investigator Brower points out in his often gripping memoir and detective tale, the video clips portrayed a tiny fraction of the real story. An extremist faction of the Mormon Church, the FLDS broke away from the mainstream church when the latter officially renounced polygamy. Under the leadership of Warren Jeffs, the FLDS group that drew the nation’s attention still regards plural marriage as the most holy and important doctrine ever revealed on Earth. Jeffs’s followers believe that they are the only true Mormon Church, and they zealously obey their religious teachings and their leader. As Brower points out, such ardent adherence to their leader’s teachings enabled Jeffs to create a subculture in which his control and decisions were unquestioned and embraced. Brower uncovers many documents exposing cases of extortion, tax fraud, child abuse, and kidnappings, and Brower’s investigations helped lead to Jeffs’s arrest in Texas, where the religious leader was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for child sex abuse this month. While the book often mimics the contrived dialogue and suspense of television drama and is often mind-numbingly repetitious, Brower manages to tell a fascinating tale of one man’s megalomania.