Star Crossed Lovers and a Cult

Loosely inspired by the events surrounding the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, We Burn Daylight is a beautiful novel about the strength of infatuation and love rather than the inner workings of a cult. Being based on such a tragic outcome, it would be easy for a book to take on a somber tone, but Johnston refocuses readers on the lives of the children in the compound and those who are forced to watch the action unfold from the outside. Centering on teenage sweethearts, Johnston shows readers that love can be tested by circumstances and how it always leaves a mark. 

   Readers might believe this novel focuses on how a teenage boy risks everything to save the girl he loves from a nefarious cult, but We Burn Daylight is really a small-town teenage romance that uses a cult for intrigue and danger amid a familiar love story. The heart lies in the complex relationship between protagonists Roy and Jaye, whose connection is constantly tested by their different worlds. The cult, while an important backdrop, serves only as a point of tension for Roy and Jaye’s emotional journey rather than a focal point of the plot. 

   Following Roy, the son of Waco’s sheriff, and Jaye, the daughter of a cult member, the novel details each of their lives leading up to the moment that both meet, when they begin their romance, and all the way through to the end. The story begins by describing the lives of Roy and Jaye before they ever cross paths; they lead standard lives in which nothing super eventful ever occurs until they meet. After their happenstance meeting, Roy and Jaye embark on a journey of love, loss, and fear when the cult leader tries to groom Jaye to become one of his sexual partners.  

   If this story was stripped down, it would be about a girl who wishes for a dramatic life that others would envy and a boy who wants nothing more than to find his first love. Roy and Jaye’s story could have been told in any kind of setting, but Johnston chose a pivotal moment in Waco’s history and spins a historical event into one about blossoming affection. The story’s pacing is slow, but its progression fits well with the narrative. The cult’s influence throughout the novel is underwhelming. Despite been marketed as historical fiction around an event that fundamentally changed how the FBI handles standoffs, it is easy to understand the disappointment felt when discovering that the inner workings of the cult and the standoff merely serve as a passing location to the love story. 

   The transcribed podcast interviews that follow most chapters are the only elements that provide insight that is otherwise missing. Taking place thirty years after the standoff, these interviews from a variety of people involved in the tragedy offer little information. Though readers do receive some clarification through these interviews, the podcast’s interviewer remains a mystery until the end. It is not until one important question is asked that readers realize who the interviewer is: “[Retired Anonymous ATF Agent:] Who’d you lose? [Interviewer:] Friends.” By using the interviews to give information while also withholding it adds a nice, but small, amount of mystery to a novel that otherwise feels predictable.

   We Burn Daylight is a novel that thrives on atmosphere and character rather than action or exploration of a cult. While Johnston’s writing is compelling, the book’s marketing as historical fiction may leave readers expecting a deeper investigation of the Branch Davidian events. Instead, the novel offers a moment of reflection on first love and the way circumstances shape relationships. The cult backdrop adds tension to the story, but it remains largely underdeveloped, serving more as a framing device than a central focus. While it may not fully deliver on the mystery of a cult, We Burn Daylight offers a heartfelt reflection on young love, desire, and the lasting impact of the choices we make.

^{Makenzie Hollingsworth was born and raised in Waco, Texas. She graduated from the University of North Texas in 2023, and is currently working towards her Master’s at Texas State University.}