Amy Reiter

That polygamous Mormon sects can be, in reality, a lot more sinister and disturbing than, say, HBO’s soapy “Big Love” may not surprise you. But you may be alarmed to learn, from a young man who experienced it firsthand, just how horrifying life within the cloistered compounds of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was under leader Warren Jeffs. Those of us who remember the FLDS “president, prophet, seer, and revelator” from the TV coverage of his 2006 arrest can summon images of a gawky, bland-looking fellow being led around in handcuffs. “Lost Boy,” an unflinchingly honest, brave and riveting memoir by the FLDS leader’s nephew Brent W. Jeffs, will replace those relatively benign images with far more graphic ones …

In Brief: “Lost Boy” by Brent W. Jeffs (The Barnes and Noble Review)