Het verhaal is evenwichtig opgebouwd en kent een aangename, onderhuidse spanning die van begin tot einde aanwezig is. De personages worden kundig en met de nodige diepte uitgewerkt. Sasha, een ex-patiënte van Frieda die een dierbare vriendin is geworden, Josef, de Oekraïense bouwvakker, inspecteur Karlsson die altijd deuren weet te openen die zonder hem gesloten zouden blijven, nicht Chloe en haar soms incompetente moeder Olivia, Reuben, Frieda's supervisor en Sandy, de man met wie Frieda een relatie heeft waarin zij zich niet echt gelukkig voelt. A body has been discovered in the most unlikely and horrifying of places: beneath the floorboards of Frieda Klein's house. The corpse is only months old, but the chief suspect appears to have died more than seven years ago. Except as Frieda knows all too well, he's alive and well and living in secret. And it seems he's inspired a copycat. But this is no ordinary killer, and every new victim is intended as a message to just one woman - psychologist Freida Klein. In 1987 Nicci had a son, Edgar, followed by a daughter, Anna, in 1988, but a year later her marriage to Colin Hughes broke down.

Unable to discover quite who is telling the truth and who is lying, they know they are getting closer to a killer. But whoever murdered Poole is determined to stay free - and anyone that gets too close will meet the same fate. As a long-time fan of Nicci French novels I was delighted when my ‘in-person’ bookclub, Whodunit, selected “Blue Monday” as our group read for the month of September.Het valt niet te ontkennen dat Frieda Klein een beetje apart is. Zij leeft alleen, is erg gesloten over zichzelf, over waar ze vandaan komt en over haar familie, wandelt nachtenlang door Londen en heeft een beperkte vriendenkring. Zij is raadselachtig en heeft zonder enige twijfel iets te verbergen. In ieder boek wordt er een tipje van de sluier opgelicht en in Donderdagskinderen is dat mysterieuze verleden ineens de spil waar het verhaal om draait. Door Nicci French knap gedoseerd want als het boek uit is, heb je het gevoel dat er nog meer aan de hand is. Een andere rode draad is de personage van Dean Reeves die in Blauwe maandag een prominente rol speelde. Iedereen is ervan overtuigd dat deze gevaarlijke psychopaat dood is maar de fijngevoelige en scherp analyserende Frieda denkt dat dat wel eens niet het geval zou kunnen zijn. Alleen haar vriend Karlsson , inspecteur van politie, is het met haar eens. Many themes are touched upon in “Blue Monday“. Professional ethics, guilt, nature vs. nurture, the merits of psychoanalysis, the damage caused by child abduction, human foibles, secrets, and more. Thirteen years ago eighteen-year-old Hannah Docherty was arrested for the brutal murder of her family. It was an open-shut case and Hannah's been incarcerated in a secure hospital ever since. The twists within the last few chapters left me thinking about it for hours after' 5***** READER REVIEW Nicci French, με τίτλο «Ματωμένη Κυριακή», να μην ολοκληρώνει τις περιπέτειες της ψυχοθεραπεύτριας Φρίντα Κλάιν -αφού θα ακολουθήσει ένα ακόμη- όμως αποτελεί ένα ακόμα σκαλοπάτι προς την κορύφωση της εθιστικής ιστορίας που έχουμε αγαπήσει, από την πρώτη μέρα της… εβδομάδας μέχρι και σήμερα.

Once again it’s Frieda who is in trouble. In the earliest books in this series, Frieda Klein, a psychiatrist practicing as a psychotherapist, was working as a mental health consultant to the London police force. Her ability to understand human mental processing helped the police to focus on the people who were truly a danger to others. But then things shifted after Frieda and the police commissioner did not see eye-to-eye about who had done what. She was fired as a consultant to the department. (Because these books are mysteries, I will not get into details because in mysteries plot is all. To spoil a mystery in a book review is its own sort of crime.) After that point in the series, the books began to focus more and more on Frieda’s various predicaments and her responses to them. That means the strength of the books depends more on the strength of Frieda’s personality and history. Frieda is a somewhat guarded and introspective individual. She revels in her time spent alone in her own house. At the same time she is always on target about what her clients need from her, indeed, on what any person in danger or in trouble needs from her. She acts in ways that will benefit them, even if what she does endangers her, even if some characters in the book question her goodness. Psychologist Frieda Klein may have finally convinced everyone that her stalker, Dean Reeve, is still alive. However, it would appear he is targeting Frieda’s friends and family, but Reeve may not be the only perpetrator. Nicci French's sophisticated, compassionate and gripping crime novels stand head and shoulders above the competition' Sophie HannahThursday’s Children is the fourth novel in the Frieda Klein psychological suspense series co-written by husband and wife team Nicci Gerard and Sean French. Given the titles of the novels, which all feature a day of the week, I guessed we’d be limited in the amount of novels this series would include. I found an old article saying there is expected to be 8 – one named for each day of the week and then a final novel to “bring resolution”.