I was initially drawn to this book because the main character has dissociative identity disorder. Each chapter represents the POV of one of the six identities of the main character, Carolyn. She has the misfortune of being court-ordered to undergo therapy with a sadistic psychiatrist and a large part of the story surrounds Carolyn's interactions him. Also, her father is murdered and she is a suspect. The story idea is a good one but the author did not resolve all the subplots by the end of the book. I felt there were many loose ends. Overall, it's a fine read.

I wish to thank the publisher Grove Atlantic and Netgalley  for an electronic ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I have never read a book where the main character has split personalities, it was very interesting how each of these personalities were so different but in many ways protected each other due to the abuse Carolyn experienced as a child. This was a very original book, very well written. Thank you to Net Galley for the ARC of this book, as always, I only give honest reviews.

I just wasn't sure about this book if I'm honest. Loved the concept of exploring the different personalities of someone with more than one distinct personality but felt it could have been executed a little better in terms of each character's development - maybe one (or more) less of them would have given more chance to do this but appreciate the more the merrier in terms of 'hecticness' and 'whodunnit'. The history of the main character is pretty horrific which lent a definite air of  grimness to the story, I did feel sorry for the characters living with that past.The cop/protagonist relationship didn't sit right with me either

The blurb made it sound interesting but I didn't finish it. I read 4 chapters but I couldn't connect to the characters and the plot wasn't that interesting to me.

3 "disturbing, thought-provoking, intelligent" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Grove Atlantic for an ebook in exchange for my honest review. This book was released June 2020.

I found this book both fascinating and frustrating.

Carolyn Grand is a woman with a horrific trauma history. She has multiple instances of physical, emotional and sexual assaults throughout her childhood and adolescence. She psychologically defragments and is left with a host of personalities that have only have semi awareness of each other.
They consider each other siblings and have rivalries with different strengths and vulnerabilities. They are able to live day to day but not hold a job or a serious relationship.

Her prime abuser is released from prison and is shortly, thereafter, murdered. Is Carolyn or one of her alters responsible ?

The author appears to have some insider knowledge of this complex disorder (dissociative identity disorder formerly known as multiple personality disorder) and is able to impart to the reader what it would be like to live with this condition day to day by exploring each alter and how they interact with each other in the protagonist's head.

The client also does an excellent job of letting the reader know how forensic psychiatry and the justice system works in New York City. I absolutely admire the writer's capacity to leave political correctness and pandering at the door and fully explore corruption and the malignancy of some psychotherapists and police personnel.

Carolyn Grand is the ultimate unreliable narrator and her struggles with poverty, desire and survival are what make this novel a potential winner.

The novel, however, does not fully do its job and there are loose threads and much more content and subplots are needed. The book's prose style is sometimes compelling but more often middling and clunky. Often the book feels rushed, unfinished.

The subjective experience of living with Dissociative Identity Disorder was excellent but the whole of the novel felt rather unfinished and undeveloped.

A worthwhile and interesting read that I had the potential to be much better !!

So as a psychological thriller I found this one particularly unique as the main character suffers from a multiple personality disorder in which she has six unique personalities that all share one body. Having suffered years of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of her biological father, Carolyn Grand is mostly just a name on paper. The day to day grind falls to one or more of her personalities, each one filling a different niche. Carolyn’s life hovers in a delicate balance that is threatened when she finds out her abusive father will be released from prison after serving almost 30 years. After an unfortunate incident where one personality propositioned a cop for sex, Carolyn is also facing the possibility of being thrown back into a live in psychiatric hospital, if her new therapist deems she is a threat to herself or others. So when her dear dad, recently paroled, turns up dead in his hotel room, the list of suspects of course includes Carolyn, as the estranged, abused daughter. But could any of her personalities kill? Finding an unlikely ally in Bobby, a detective, who is actively investigating her father’s murder, Carolyn and her six personalities must try and work together to maintain their status quo. This story is very different, and interesting because of the characters. This brings a fresh, original quality to the story. At times there is a certain dark humor to this tale as 6 personalities vie for dominance while trying to survive. Definitely something to read for those into something that’s considered a little unusual. Review posted to Goodreads, Facebook, Litsy, LibraryThing, and Amazon

This book is fantastic. 

The main character, Carolyn Grand, was horrifically abused by her father.  In order to survive and persevere, Carolyn has created alternate personalities: Martha, Victoria, Kirk, Serena, Eleni, and Tina. When she is caught attempting to solicit an undercover cop as Elani, her world goes into a tailspin. 

She is sent to a psychiatric facility evaluation and observation. When she is ready to be released, she placed under the supervision of a psychiatrist that has been appointed by the court., as well as, a caseworker from adult protective services. Both the psychiatrist and caseworker were appointed by the court to make sure Carolyn is still able to live on her own.
 
The caseworker does a wonderful job assisting Carolyn. Her next door neighbor becomes an amazing ally. The personalities begin working together to maneuver through the mess that her life has become. A police office assigned to her case begins to be a bit more than a police officer, to her benefit personally. And the psychiatrist. Well, let's see.  The psychiatrist is very easily found out. The alters are not stupid. He has a motive, an agenda. What does Carolyn have that he wants? Then, her father is released from jail. He is a threat. An even bigger threat than he ever was. Hank always comes back for his little girl.

The writing moves flawlessly. A. F. Carter presents the alters nicely. Each personality has their own mannerisms. Their own eccentricities. Their own ways to manipulate. So who murdered Hank Grand? That answer is so much more complicated than you think. And that handsome police officer. You will have to read the book to find out!!!

Thanks to NetGalley, Mysterious Press, and A. F. Carter for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I started this book because it sounded like an interesting premise. However, the execution just wasn't there. The story never really went anywhere, and the ending was incredibly predictable. I finished the book because I was intrigued by the author's portrayal of DID, and I thought Carter did a good job delineating each individual personality.

I liked the idea of this book a lot more than I liked the execution. The concept and overall story were awesome, but the delivery left something to be desired. I wasn't a big fan of the writing style - I love a good multiple viewpoint story, but for me, there wasn't enough separation amongst the characters. It could be confusing who was speaking at times. I was also bothered by the relationship between Carolyn and one of the detectives handling the case. I don't want to include spoilers in this review, so I will leave it at this: nothing about their relationship is acceptable. The men in the book are overwhelmingly icky, and it just leaves you with a bad taste in your mouth (which to an extent is to be expected, but it can also feel a little heavy handed). I did, however, enjoy seeing the ways each personality adapted to the world around them and howthey all ultimately took care of each other and Carolyn.

This one is a hard review to write and rate  mostly because there were a few off comments in there I felt to be racist. I re read both the sentences i thought to be racist and saw no reason as to why they needed to be in the book which put me off which was sad because until that point I was enjoying the book.

Also had some interesting content revolving around the police which is pretty fitting and most probably highly accurate in reflection of what is going on in the world at the moment in regards to the police. 

So you are following Carolyn grand who has dissociative identity disorder aka multiple personalities. There are 7 different personalities all vastly different. Carolyn grew up being abused by her father then went into the foster system. After an incident happens that involves the police she is ordered to see a psychiatrist. Drama ensues. 

The premise, very different and very intriguing. I enjoyed the writing and the cast of characters. Like other reviewers have said I think this would be a great movie. The ending was a bit eh, could see it coming. I could see people with or who know people with DID might not like that ending and the portrayal but that is merely a guess on part. 

Could have been a 3 star but had to bump it down to 2 purely because of the questionable racial comments

Very interesting exploration of mental health and how people with mental illness are treated. We need books like this to explore the biases in the system, The characters were good and I was totally engaged.

A wildly interesting premise and it definitely lived up to it for me.  Took a little get use to all the characters but after a bit I didn't even notice.  Good story, good writing and great ending! Thank you so much!

This is the story of “siblings”:
1. Victoria - The responsible sister. She’s a leader, conservative, and the best one for face-to-face conversations. 
2. Martha - Also responsible and a leader. She takes care of the cooking, laundry, paying bills, and making sure money gets to the bank. She doesn’t like outsiders. 
3. Tina - Remembers everything. She carries a lot of pain and has suicidal tendencies. 
4. Serena - The carefree sister. She loves fruit and flowers, and thinks of herself as a hip kind of artist. 
5. Eleni- The promiscuous sister. She has very urgent needs. 
6. Kirk - The brother. He’s heterosexual. 

These are all of the personalities currently living in 37-year old Carolyn Grand’s body. Carolyn has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) due to a traumatic childhood involving her father, who sexually abused her and filmed videos of her with other pedophiles. Now, when he gets released from prison and turns up murdered, Carolyn is the prime suspect. If she is, in fact, the murderer, which one of her identities committed the crime?

This premise is very intriguing and original, and only recently came to be on my radar (Thanks Christina!). The writing is smart, and the subject has clearly been researched. It’s easy to keep track of who’s who, and it’s engaging and suspenseful. It does lose some steam as it gets closer to the conclusion. The explanation of what happened is told in an odd fashion, and I didn’t really care for the last chapter. Overall, I would recommend this to mystery fans looking for something a bit different. 

TW: Besides the obvious that’s mentioned above, there is yet again the death of an animal, which I’m getting really sick of. Fortunately, it’s very brief. 

Thank you to author A.F. Carter, The Mysterious Press, and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book and became completely immersed in it! It was unique enough to hold my interest all the way through. The protagonist has DID, which is Dissociative Identity Disorder commonly known as split personalities, which stems from being abused as a child. The author handled the various viewpoints expertly. She gave what I thought was a realistic portrayal of what someone with DID would go through. The conflicts and suspense were strong, and the mystery was compelling. In a time when so many books have similar plots, it's nice to read something that is so original.

What a premise!  A "locked room" whodunit with six suspects who are all locked in one person's head.

The first thing to know about this book is that it is about Dissociative Identity Disorder ("DID") or "multiple personality disorder" as it is more colloquially known.  The basic premise of the book is that the protagonist, Caroline Grand, was sexually abused by her father, and developed six distinct personalities.  When a murder occurs it seems likely that Caroline was the culprit, but was she?  And if so, which personality did it?  

If you don't like books on multiple personalities you might still like this book.  I found it was done much better than some of the more cliched mysteries featuring this theme.  I could tell that the author either did some serious research or had a very creative mind, because these personalities co-existed in a way I had never read before.  Some of them can see and hear eachother and they know they are all living in the same body.  They view eachother as brothers and sisters with birthdates.  All this was new and fresh to me and made the premise extra interesting.  The author does an incredibly good job distinguishing all the characters' voices from eachother - much better than most multiple narration books in this genre.  There was never any doubt as to who was speaking and the personalities were distinct and interesting.

I really liked the first 3/4 of the book and was totally riveted by the personalities and their unique voices and coexistance.  I liked the ending fine but had a few nitpicks with it that I won't go into from here due to spoilers.  Despite some reservations about the ending, overall, this was a very interesting and original book that I would definitely recommend, especially to people who like psychological thrillers.

Thanks to NetGalley, A.F. Carter and Mysterious Press/Grove Atlantic for this totally original ARC in exchange for my honest review!

Carolyn Grand is not an "I" - she is a "we."  Afflicted with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) stemming from horrific sexual abuse in childhood, there are six different people inhabiting Carolyn's body, none of them actually Carolyn.  These personalities include Martha, the dour motherly figure of the group; Victoria, prim, proper, and put together; Serena, the head-in-the-clouds dreamer; Eleni, the sexual temptress; Kirk, the only male out of the six; and Tina, who is stuck in the mindset of an abused 9 year old child.  Together, they make up Carolyn Grand's psyche in all of its manifestations.  

A.F. Carter's All of Us follows Carolyn's personalities in the aftermath of an unfortunate encounter with the police, which finds Carolyn receiving state-mandated therapy to determine if she is suitable to live independently.  Carolyn's therapist is nefarious and judgmental, not quit believing that Carolyn has no control over her numerous identities, and he seems to be doing her more harm than good.  Furthermore, when Carolyn's father Hank Grand, a sexual deviant who used a young Carolyn as the star of child pornography films he produced, is released from prison, she finds herself being stalked by him, wreaking havoc on her mental stability.  When Hank soon ends up murdered, Carolyn naturally finds herself as one of the prime suspects.  But are any of her personalities responsible for the crime, and if so, which one?  

All of Us is an unconventional, yet engaging novel that explores the ways that childhood trauma manifests itself in adults.  With that being said, All of Us is not an easy, nor enjoyable book to read.  Rather, I would classify it as interesting and revealing.  The book contains several descriptions of the abuse Hank afflicted upon Carolyn as a very young child, making this novel quite unsettling, stomach-turning, and triggering.  It should be obvious that this book will not be enjoyed by everyone.  

Looking past the instances of sexual abuse, I did appreciate the way Carter worked the multiple personalities into the novel, switching the character POV in each chapter as a new personality took over "the body."  This plot device proved to be very disorienting and sometimes confusing, helping the reader experience what someone suffering from DID deals with on a daily basis.  All of Us is a solid and intriguing read, yet not one that I wholly enjoyed, hence my 3 star rating.

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Content Rating: 18+
Genre: Fiction, Thriller        
Published: June 2, 2020, by Mysterious Press

 All of Us is a noir thriller with an unnerving psychological twist. A.F. Carter takes the reader deep into the fractured mind of Carolyn Grand. Since early childhood, Carolyn has endured horrendous abuse at the hand of her sick, twisted father, Hank, and then she suffered at the hands of her foster family. As if that is not enough, Hank also exposes Carolyn to his pedophile friends and films them. 

“I have no memory of my father, now in prison, or of his sadistic friends. Nor do I remember Benny Aceveda and his wife, the foster parents who rented us by the hour.”
                                         Martha
 
Carolyn’s mind copes with this trauma by splintering into six distinctly different individuals, each with their own unique personalities. Carolyn Grand suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), sometimes called Multiple Personality Disorder or Split Personality. I loved that the author took a murder mystery and added this unique twist.

All of Us is told to us by each of Carolyn’s personalities. These six different personalities work together and have enabled Carolyn to have a reasonable life. She still struggles and needs help from the state, but she can live on her own. Carolyn Grand’s people are the makeup of Martha, Victoria, Serena, Kirk, Elina, and Tina, who have their particular purpose in protecting Carolyn both physically and psychologically. 

“Our past is imprinted somewhere inside the brain we share, but Tina alone has access. If that saves the rest of us a lot of pain…”
                                  Martha
 
I won’t explain what each person does for Carolyn, as that would take away the fun of reading the book but know that A.F. Carter does an excellent job in the development of each character and perfectly showcases the internal struggle between each of the personalities.  

“Victoria and Martha want to eat me, me and Eleni, to swallow us down, to digest us, to empty us from their bowels, to flush us away.”
                                    Serena

Everything is going along “normally” until Carolyn hears that her father will be released from prison. Upon release, he starts stalking Carolyn, she reports this to the police, but they are unable to do anything. And then Hank is murdered. 

A.F. Carter leads us down a well written suspenseful path that leaves us wondering and yes, hoping if any of Carolyn’s personalities were capable of murdering Hank. These six characters/personalities were all so well developed, and I became attached to all of them. The pacing of this book was well executed and kept me on edge throughout the whole book. If you like the thriller genres, All of Us delivers that edge of your seat reading with a unique twist. 

* Please note the quotes in my review are subject to change once the book is published. * 


** I kindly received this galley by way of NetGalley, publisher, and author. I was not contacted, asked, or required to leave a review. I received no compensation, financial or otherwise. I have voluntarily read this book, and this review is my honest opinion. **

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of All of Us by A.F. Carter.

I'm going to start this out by saying that I think to write a water-tight story about a person with multiple personalities would be hard.  The disorder itself is super complicated, and often a result of a traumatic background, which adds more layers.

I definitely appreciated the spin that the author took, and the underlying suspense, but for the most part it was just too messy.  To have split personalities and a timeline that switched back and forth was just too much for me.  It became so switchy-shifty that I begun to lose interest because my brain was tired of keeping everything together.  But I very much liked the idea of the story.

I liked this one.  Easy to read and a decent story.  I'd read further books by the author.  I'm rating it 3/5 stars.

Who D.I.D. it?


Having studied psychology in college when this book came to Netgalley I rushed to request it. This type of mystery is completely up my ally. So, thank you to all parties involved in my getting a copy of this book. A.F Carter you have a new fan with me I really enjoyed this new twist to a thriller so thank you. Carolyn Grant had been subjected to extreme and horrible sexual and physical abuse from her biological father, then by the foster family, she was sent to. Even after she aged out of the system, she continued to be exploited by others around her. She had fractured into several different people all sharing the same body, all with the goal of surviving one day at a time. Their lives are put at risk when Eleni the rather promiscuous personality gets picked up by the police and their freedom is questioned. The story takes an even more interesting turn when the father who abused Carolyn for so many years is paroled after serving a large part of his sentence. I don’t want to give two much of the story away but I will say someone does die and we don’t know who did it until the very end. 

This is one of those novels that will do well with book clubs and friends because it opens the discussion for mental health. I love how the author treats the subject with respect and gives the reader a proper insight on treatments. I enjoyed that the separate personalities had a great deal of details and independence to them. Who I hated was the psychiatrist that the court appointed I will say that I enjoyed that he made all the personalities work together to better support the collective but that is about all I liked of him. Overall a 4.5 star read. I will continue to support this author in the future because I enjoyed the original concept.