Character: Mona

In detective novels, when we read them... have you ever wondered why we so want the detective to solve the mystery and find the criminal? “Perhaps,” she says, not at all because we want revenge to be taken or for the killings to stop. Maybe what we really want is for the criminal to reform. The detective is the killer's savior. Imagine Jesus chasing you, trying to catch you and save your soul. That he is not just a passive and patient God, but a corrosive and aggressive bloodhound. We want the criminal to repent in court. Or on death row, surrounded by people like him. The detective is the shepherd, and we want the criminal, the prodigal sheep, to return to the fold, to return to us. We love him. We miss him. We want to wrap our arms around him and hold him to our chest.