Lucinda Berry’s background as a clinical psychologist specializing in childhood trauma informs the novel’s depiction of the complex bonds that can form between captors and their victims. This phenomenon is identified as Stockholm Syndrome, a psychological coping mechanism in which a captive develops positive feelings toward their captor as a survival strategy. In the novel, Sarah’s behavior exemplifies this response. Abducted at 12, she eventually becomes an accomplice, helping her captor, John, manage new victims and rationalizing his abuse by stating, “They don’t understand it. They just think I’m mean, but they don’t know what it used to be like or how much worse it can get” (27). Her fierce loyalty, including lying to the FBI to protect him, is not portrayed as simple villainy but as a deeply ingrained survival tactic born of profound trauma.

Stockholm Syndrome takes its name from a 1973 robbery case in Sweden, in which four hostages refused to testify against their captors, Jan-Erik Olsson and Clark Olofsson. Berry’s novel explicitly references the most famous real-world case of this phenomenon by name-checking Patty Hearst (220). In 1974, the 19-year-old heiress was kidnapped by a militant group and later participated in their criminal activities under the new name “Tania.” This mirrors Sarah’s journey from Petra to “Sarah,” a name given to her by John, and her subsequent complicity in his crimes. Despite the popular depictions of Stockholm Syndrome in media and literature, the American Psychiatric Association have never classified it in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, citing it as an offshoot of post-traumatic stress disorder or trauma bonding. Understanding the psychological framework of trauma bonding allows readers to interpret Sarah’s actions not as a straightforward choice, but as the result of years of manipulation and a desperate, subconscious effort to survive an unbearable reality.