Book Review: Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs

Kathy Reichs is a forensic anthropologist and all her forensic thrillers feature Dr Tempe Brennan, also a forensic anthropologist.

Morning Mourning is the seventh forensic thrillers by Kathy Reichs. It is based on her working experience as forensic anthropologist.

I have read a few books by Kathy Reichs. Personally I feel that Morning Mourning is not as good as the other books.

Morning Mourning has too many unnecessary details about private life of Dr Tempe Brennan. The visit of her friend, Annie, actually serves no purpose in this book. It does not contribute to the main plot.

The conflict between Dr Tempe Brennan and Homicide Detective Luc Claudel is over-emphasized. It’s best to reduce a few paragraphs talking about how much Dr Tempe Brennan dislikes Homicide Detective Luc Claudel. Since that dislike does not contribute to the overall theme too.

The plot is rather simple. A man kidnapped teenage girls, and held them as sex slave for a number of years. Some girls died soon after. Other girls grew up in captivity and subjected to a few years of horrible treatments.

One girl eventually took over as the mastermind and directed the kidnapping and torturing of other victims.

The exciting part of the Monday Mourning is the second half of the book. The Stockholm syndrome is the key theme of this book.

The Stockholm syndrome refers to the fondness and likings that victims have for their captors. The origin of Stockholm syndrome comes from an incident in 1973. Two ex-cons robbed the bank in Stockholm, Sweden. They held captives. The hostages developed a liking to the bank robbers. They believed that the bank robbers were protecting them from the police.

Kathy Reichs lists out the development of the kidnapping and captivity process, in order for the victims to exhibit the Stockholm syndrome.

Abduction and isolation.
Use of physical and/or sexual abuse
Removal of normal daylight patterns
No privacy
Control and reduction of food and water
Imposition of unpredictable punishment
Requirement of permission
Lasting pattern of sexual and physical abuse
continued isolation
Threats of harm to family and friends
Threats of transfer to worse captors
Give victims some freedom and privilege
Unexpected appearance

The recent appearance of Jaycee Lee Dugard is another reminder of the Stockholm syndrome. Jaycee Lee Dugard had been in captivity for eighteen years, and had two children fathered by her captor. It is hard to imagine that Jaycee Lee Dugard did not have any feeling for her captor.

All forensic thrillers by Kathy Reichs are based on real life examples, including Monday Mourning. This is the most scary part of reading a forensic thriller.