[7][8] The book chronicles therapy sessions between Pazder and Smith and alleged recovered memories of satanic rituals she claims she was forced to attend.

The book claims that during the rites, Smith was allegedly tortured, locked in cages, sexually assaulted, forced to participate in various rituals, witnessed several human sacrifices, and was rubbed with the blood and body parts of various sacrificed infants and adults.

[citation needed] After Smith had seemingly recovered her memories, she and Pazder consulted with various church authorities, eventually traveling to the Vatican.

[7] Ultimately a publishing success, the book earned Pazder and Smith a $100,000 hard-cover advance, $242,000 for paperback rights, royalties, and a potential movie deal.

[10] Pazder was a credentialed psychiatrist and fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and the book states that its source materials (therapy tapes) were scrutinized.

Among other things, Cuhulain noted that it seemed unlikely that a sophisticated cult that had secretly existed for generations could be outwitted by a five-year-old; that the cult could hold rituals in the Ross Bay Cemetery unnoticed given that Smith claimed she was screaming and given that the Ross Bay Cemetery is surrounded on three sides by residential neighborhoods; that an 81-day non-stop ceremony involving hundreds of participants and a massive round room could have gone on in Victoria unnoticed; and that none of Smith's tormentors (other than her mother) have ever been identified, especially given that some of them had cut off one of their middle fingers at the Black Mass.

Like other authors,[8][9][11] Cuhulain also noted that many of Smith's so-called recovered memories appear to have represented elements of popular culture at the time (e.g. the movie The Exorcist) and Pazder's own religious beliefs and experiences from when he was living and working in Africa during the early 1960s.

[5] James R. Lewis, in The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements, wrote that Michelle Remembers "must be treated with great skepticism, not least because literally all the charges involved seem drawn from accounts of West African secret societies from the 1950s, imported to Canada.

"[12] Nichol Spanos has stated that in addition to the lack of corroboration of Smith's alleged memories, "skepticism appears warranted by the fact that some of these 'memories' involve Michelle's encounters with supernatural beings".

With the sudden emergence of Satanic ritual abuse cases during the 1980s (likely due in part to the publication of Michelle Remembers),[19][20] Pazder's expertise was requested.

[25] A 2023 Skeptical Inquirer article covering Michelle Remembers states that it has had long lasting negative repercussions, including the Hampstead Hoax, Pizzagate, and the widespread belief in QAnon.