Black, who has family members and friends who remain active Mormons, even met with church officials in Salt Lake City, urging them to reach out if there was anything he should know about the subjects explored in the book. (He says they didn’t take him up on the offer.)

“If the Mormon church is unhappy with me for doing this, they have themselves to blame,” Black says. “The Mormon Church taught me if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Put your shoulder to the wheel. And I have worked really hard to get it right.”

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did not respond to The Times’ requests for comment.