Seductive Poison: A Jonestown Survivor's Story of Life and Death in the Peoples Temple is a first-hand account of the incidents surrounding Peoples Temple, written by survivor Deborah Layton. The first edition of the book was published by Doubleday in hardcover on November 3, 1998, and the second edition was published in paperback on November 9, 1999.
Deborah Layton was a high-level member of the Peoples Temple for seven years. When she returned to the United States, Layton submitted an affidavit about the compound in Guyana, which helped convince United States CongressmanLeo Ryan to make his unfortunate journey there1. Layton is also the sister of Lawrence John (Larry) Layton, who was the only one ever prosecuted for the murders of the congressional team by Temple members2. Larry Layton was released on parole in 2002, largely due to the testimony of Vernon Gosney, one of the few survivors of the massacre.3
Dr. Philip Zimbardo stated of the book: "Her privileged status as a trusted inner circle member - responsible for depositing millions of dollars in foreign banks - gives her story an untold perspective on this charismatic leader and the transformations of human nature that took place among so many followers under his domination. Layton's is a remarkable narrative that reads like a novel, but sadly is all too true."4
The book was featured as a cover story by the Chicago Tribune, which stated that "Layton's account is clearly the most important personal testimony to emerge from the Jonestown tragedy."6
The book was also featured on the front-page of the San Francisco Chronicle, in an article entitled: "20 Years Later, Jonestown Survivor Confronts Horrors". The article stated that the book "..paints a convincing picture of what it was like to spend seven years in the notorious cult, only to escape a few months before the tragedy that gave Jonestown its infamous place in history as the site of the largest mass suicide in modern times."7 The book was later a part of the tenth annual San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival8.
