Wives and Sisters
Natalie R. Collins
St. Martin's, Oct 2004, $23.95, 270 pp.
ISBN: 0312334281

In Utah, six-year-old Allison and her best friend Cindy are playing together when a bearded male with a rifle kidnaps the latter. Cindy's body is never found as the authorities conduct a token investigation into the girl's disappearance. One year later at a Mormon Church sponsored picnic, Allison sees the abductor attending the event as if nothing happened.

When Allison turned fifteen, her mother became pregnant with her sixth child, but died during childbirth; her father quickly remarried. This increased Allison's doubts about the patriarchal Mormon Church that enslaves women. She escapes to attend the University of Utah, but one night, returning home late, someone donning a fake beard rapes her. Allison thinks her brother-in-law Mark is the culprit. Soon she is being stalked with only law enforcement officials trying to keep her safe. Her father and her church blame Allison though they know that Mark is a child molester; they hide the truth to protect a male member of the community, even one defrocked as a missionary.

Though clearly one-sided and the final twist seems obvious, fans will be stunned by this tense thriller that condemns extremist religious and social moral behavior at the cost of any segment of society. Allison is a terrific protagonist as she refuses to remain victim to a strict code of behavior that suppresses and disenfranchises the weak through religious doctrine enforcing control. Those family value advocates screaming to bushwhack the Bill of Rights by constitutionalizing behavior should take a close look at WIVES AND SISTERS as this fine tale provides food for thought when the powerful use morality as weapons of mass destruction.

Harriet Klausner