Reporter Jesselyn Cook paints a portrait of the vulnerabilities that have left so many of us susceptible to outrageous falsehoods promising order, purpose, and control.
Assiduously researched and impeccably constructed ... Cook understandably and wisely doesn’t crowd her book with psychological asides, preferring to allow the specificity of her subjects to speak for themselves ... Cook’s book doesn’t offer solutions, but it sheds important light on the problem.
What’s missing in The Quiet Damage is a concise account of QAnon to orient the reader ... Where the book shines is in creating empathy for a group of people frequently dismissed or misunderstood, and for their grieving and divided families.
Cook illuminates vividly the experience of loving someone in crisis—a crisis you can’t fully understand and definitely didn’t anticipate—and the impossible question of how long to stand by them ... Cook isn’t saying that QAnon followers are beyond the pale. Rather, she’s painting a picture of how QAnon has warped society by shattering relationships—a ripple effect of hurt and loneliness that reverberates far beyond each individual.
