Hello, beautiful people! Welcome to a new review! For this review, I embark on a first for myself, but a beloved true crime novel: Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer. I had been meaning to read this author for a long time, as I had only heard good things about his investigative novels, and after reading this one, I definitely want to check out others.
My Review
Under the Banner of Heaven is a dynamic investigative true crime novel in which our author takes us through the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the murder of Brenda and Erica Lafferty, a mother and daughter who were killed by Brenda’s husband Allen’s brothers, Ron and Dan. The book focuses on the church and its views, specifically the views of polygamy, which have often been a controversial conversation within the church’s varying communities. The history of the church is important as Jon dives into the murder of Brenda and Erica because the radical and taboo views of more fundamentalist Mormons played a large role in their death.
I don’t want to retell too much of the story because it’s a great book and one I would definitely recommend checking out, but there were some really standout areas of the book to discuss. Overall, I gave Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer an 8/10 rating, and if you enjoy a true crime novel that’s also very history-based based I would definitely recommend checking this one out.
The history sections of the novel, focusing on James Smith and the rise of the church and large players throughout history, I found to be super interesting. There are actually ex-Mormons in my family, so I had some understanding of the history, but the communities my family members were a part of were not as fundamentalist or intense as the one that Ron and Dan Lafferty would eventually start to align with. I find the polygamy factor of the church to be really interesting. I mean, we have all seen the show Sister Wives, so to a degree, everyone has an understanding of arguably the toxic and dangerous factors of these relationships. Look, if people want to take part in polygamy, all parties involved are consenting. I couldn’t care less what people do. What concerns me more is polygamy under the shade of religion. When Brenda ultimately denies Allan from taking more wives in their relationship, Ron and Dan claim to get a revelation to end Brenda and her baby Erica’s life because of her lack of commitment to God, which is stopping the brothers from reaching their potential. So, because polygamy is normalized in their religious sector, it’s a sin to deny this of your husband. Therefore for if god calls to you and tells you to kill the problem, you must follow. It’s all frankly ridiculous, and these extreme views and ideas that if god talks to you, you have to do it, just made me roll my eyes. Clearly, people have never heard of psychosis.
I found the book to be super respectful in how the case of Brenda and Erica was handled. Yes, the killers had reasons to justify why they did it. They had people who supported them, and they are clearly mentally unwell. That does not justify a single thing they do, and Jon makes that very clear. I also enjoyed the parts that shared about who Brenda was, as well as Erica, who only had a short life, but one that touched a lot of people. I appreciate the people who fought to bring justice to them, even though it was a difficult case with a lot of difficult parts to navigate. Brenda was not wrong for setting boundaries in her relationship. I have often been curious about Allen’s involvement in it. I have a hard time believing he didn’t know about the intense disdain his brothers had for his wife, and while he didn’t play a role in killing them, I wonder if there was more he could have done to stop it. I do want to provide sympathy for him as well, though; his brothers were clearly unstable and could not have involved him because they knew he would never agree to it. It’s hard, but given how close it was to home, it seems strange.
Overall, a great read with a gut-wrenching a horrifying murder at the center of it. I enjoy the entanglement of the history of the church in this case because I feel like it explains and strengthens the dangers of fundamentalism in any religion and how it excuses terrible behaviour that actually contradicts the religion more than strengthens it.
Thank you for checking out this review. I hope you enjoyed it! Feel free to subscribe to the page to be one of the first to know when I release a new review!
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