Seventeen Blows

With sharp psychological insight, the acclaimed author of Guilty Creatures digs into the sensational murder of Florida physician Teresa Sievers in this engrossing and unconventional true crime tale of holistic health, childhood doppelgangers, dark obsessions, and an open marriage.

Teresa and Mark Sievers led a glittering life in Bonita Springs, Florida. Teresa ran a thriving medical practice specializing in anti-aging and holistic care. Mark, a former nurse, managed the business while home-schooling their two daughters. Then, in June 2015, the unimaginable happened: Teresa was found bludgeoned to death in their kitchen.

Mark’s alibi was airtight. He and the girls were in New York on a family vacation. Initial signs pointed to a burglary gone wrong, but it soon became clear that the attack was targeted. The Sievers’ friends and relatives were shocked. Teresa was a respected, charismatic physician, nicknamed a “modern-day Mother Teresa.” Yet someone hated her enough to beat out her brains with a hammer.

Cracks appeared beneath the glossy surface of the Sievers’ lives. Teresa’s quest for fame had led her to make some questionable decisions. The couple’s marriage was passionate but volatile. Then there was Mark’s childhood best friend, who looked so much like him that the two were often mistaken for twins. Though Wayne Wright lived in an Ozarks trailer park, far from Bonita Springs in every way, his bond with Mark was intense and intimate.

In an intriguing narrative that goes beyond conventional true crime tropes, acclaimed author and psychoanalyst Mikita Brottman delves into a case that encompasses both obsessive love and deep hatred, probing the corrosive, often deadly nature of both.