This book fails at everything its subtitle promises the reader. It just focuses on stories and the author's interpretations of what happened. She does not really understand controlling people since she simplfies what really goes on in the mind of a manipulator and barely explains how he/she got that way to begin with. The only advice she gives to those who are being controlled is to say "what?" to every attempt of the manipulator to control them. If I were to follow this advice, the relative whom I am having problems with will make fun of me. Manipulators are very clever at exploiting anything their victims say or do to gain the upper hand on the situation.