Skip to content
Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Main Street Plaza

A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Unweaving the tangled web: Michael Oborn’s “The Complete Mystery of Matthew Alcott”

chanson, December 7, 2013

Do you ever wonder what’s in the secret vaults of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Have you ever imagined what you’d do if you had access?

Matthew Alcott was a humble archivist working for the church when some previously undisclosed documents caught his eye, including Joseph Smith’s long-lost last revelation. What he found gave him new insights on Joseph Smith as a person; so much so that Matthew wrote a new (fictionalized) biography of Joseph Smith, portraying him as a man — an exceptional man, perhaps, but motivated by ordinary human drives — not as an almost-divine prophet. And the church couldn’t have that.

The Complete Mystery of Matthew Alcott is a wild thrill ride exploring what can happen when one person tries to stand up to a a giant religious corporation full of powerful people who are used to getting their way — and to believing that anything they do for the good of the church is righteous by definition. It’s a bit like Lawrence Pratt’s Dark Deception in terms of illustrating the dangers of a community where everyone owes unquestioning allegiance to a hierarchy with ultimate power in the hands of a few top leaders, except that (unlike Pratt) Oborn didn’t mince words about calling his deadly organization the CoJCoL-dS.

I think the biggest problem with explicitly using the CoJCoL-dS as the villain in this story is that a lot of readers might be thinking: That non-hagiographic biography of Joseph Smith? The one that took a huge toll on Joseph Smith’s popular image by portraying him an exceptional man, perhaps, but motivated by ordinary human drives…? Fawn Brodie wrote that book in 1945. And, while Mormons perhaps put in some impressive efforts to slander her, they didn’t actually try to bribe or frighten her out of publishing… That is a minor objection, though, for an entertaining thriller that doesn’t pretend to be anything but fiction.

Some additional aspects I enjoyed were the portrait of the Alcoholics Anonymous community (including the sober version of Hell’s Angels) and of Matthew’s relationship with Cate. Oborn captured a profound affectionate bond as felt by a character who is far from romantic.

The Complete Mystery of Matthew Alcott is a fun book to pick up for yourself or for exmo friends this holiday season. Don’t buy it for your TBM relatives, though — trust me on this one. 😉

Testimony

Post navigation

Previous post
Next post

Related Posts

Apologies

December 13, 2010

I deeply regret for driving my friends at By Common Consent into a corner. I relied solely on logic when I should have been kind. I also regret suspecting the wrong people of ending the discussion.

Read More
Testimony Patient with psychotherapist

Psychotherapy, Mormonism, and me

July 31, 2021November 15, 2024

When I read advice for counseling Church members, I did not expect to see myself A while back, searching for something else, I came across an academic paper advising psychotherapists how to treat Mormon clients. I began reading the article, by Stephanie Lyon at the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological…

Read More
Community

What Fills the Void When Church Leaders Sow Division?

November 15, 2024

Tell-tale signals of Mormonism seem to be fading faster than the label President Nelson rejects. In a 2022-2023 survey, fewer than half of Church members born after 1965 said they were actually wearing their garments on the day they answered the question. A 2016 survey found that only 45% of…

Read More

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Mormon Alumni Association Books

Latest Comments:

  1. termal kamerayla su kaçak tespiti on LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binariesJune 21, 2025

    termal kamerayla su kaçak tespiti Ekip çok organize, kaça?? an?nda bulup çözdüler. https://bence.net/read-blog/25188

  2. Cara B. Klein on My conspiracy theory #2April 26, 2025

    Wow, I had never thought about it in that way before You have really opened my eyes to a new…

  3. chanson on LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binariesApril 16, 2025

    The haiku at the end is lovely. Sounds like a great book!

  4. Donna Banta on LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binariesApril 14, 2025

    I imagine anyone who has tried to change the church from within will identify with Kitchen's story. I especially like…

  5. Johnny Townsend on LDS vs LGBTQ:  Nathan Kitchen sheds false binariesApril 14, 2025

    This was a painful review to read. For many years, I held the same hope, that the LDS church would…

8: The Mormon Proposition Acceptance of Gays Add new tag Affirmation angry exmormon awards Book Reviews BYU comments Conformity Dallin H. Oaks DAMU disaffected mormon underground Dustin Lance Black Ex-Mormon Exclusion policy Excommunicated exmormon faith Family feminism Gay Gay Love Gay Marriage Gay Relationships General Conference Happiness Homosexual Homosexuality LDS LGBT LGBTQ Link Bomb missionaries Modesty Mormon Mormon Alumni Association Mormonism motherhood peace politics Polygamy priesthood ban Sunstone temple

Awards

William Law X-Mormon of the Year:

  • 2023: Adam Steed
  • 2022: David Archuleta
  • 2021: Jeff T. Green
  • 2020: Jacinda Ardern
  • 2019: David Nielsen
  • 2018: Sam Young
  • 2017: Savannah
  • 2016: Jeremy Runnells
  • 2015: John Dehlin
  • 2014: Kate Kelly
  • 2013: J. Seth Anderson and Michael Ferguson
  • 2012: David Tweede
  • 2011: Joanna Brooks
  • 2010: Monica Bielanko
  • 2009: Walter Kirn

Other Cool Sites!

WasMormon.org
©2025 Main Street Plaza | WordPress Theme by SuperbThemes