The Perfect Daughter – D.J. Palmer

Grace Francone has just returned home from a run to find that her sixteen-year-old daughter, Penny, has left the house and taken her father’s car without permission. With attempts to call her and texts sent with no response, Grave feels a wave of fear when the police show up at her home. Envisioning a horrible accident, Grace opens the door to hear even worse news – her daughter has been arrested for murder.

Penny is Grace’s adopted daughter – a gift from God in Grace’s mind after Grace found her crying, soaked to the bone and alone at a nearby park. When her mother was determined to be drug addicted and unfit, Grace and her family immediately started the proceedings to adopt her, and she became a full-fledged member of their family a year later, with a name change to Penny, a name given to her by her brothers. Penny also has been diagnoses with DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder, which began manifesting itself at the age of 12. With four distinct personalities known to the family, Grace knows that she needs immediate legal assistance, and contacts an attorney she met by accident, literally, to see if he can help.

When Grace arrives at the police station, she learns that Penny was found at the scene of the crime, knife and head, and covered in the victim’s blood. To Grace’s shock, the victim is none other than Penny’s birth mother, Rachel Boyd. With what appears to be a slam-dunk case, Penny is arraigned on murder charges and remanded to Edgewater Psychiatric Hospital until trial. It is there, that Penny comes into the care of Dr. Mitch McHugh, who works with Eve, one of Penny’s alternate personalities as they try to understand the demons that Penny carries and what lead to the events of that fateful night.

With little clues that each of Penny’s persona’s provide, Mitch and Grace work to piece together a small child’s trauma, not realizing the past is very much a part of the present…

This was a fascinating look into the psychiatric disorder of multiple personality disorder, a topic that remains controversial in the psychology field today. It was intriguing, easy to get lost in, yet had me scratching my head as more and more of Penny’s past was revealed. I kept looking for clues as to how the book would end, and I have to say, I was completely floored at the very unexpected outcome! If you’re looking for a psychological thriller that’s refreshingly different, this is the book for you!!

I received this book as an Advance Reader Copy from #Netgalley & St. Martin’s Press in exchange for an objective review.

D.J. Palmer does it again!! This was an excellent read mixing true crime, personality disorders, and an investigation all in one.

When Grace finds a young girl alone in the park on a rainy day, she instantly feels connected to her. Formally adopting the girl, the Francone family starts calling her Penny as she is suffering from PTSD won't respond to her birth name, Isabella. As Penny gets older, some odd behaviors start coming through - for example, she occasionally adopts a British accent and asks to go by Ruby, or when she's particularly moody and sullen, she prefers to go by the name Eve. When a psychiatrist finally diagnoses her with DID (dissociative identity disorder, more commonly referred to as multiple personalities), the pieces start making sense and the Francone family hope they'll be able to move forward.

But Penny (or her alters), won't make it easy on the Francone family. Penny, or more likely Eve, was involved in graphic and violent death threats against many people in the community ultimately leading to an arrest. Penny was also the only one present when their father dies and Penny's brother Ryan can't seem to accept the fact that it was a heart attack that took his life blaming Penny even if wrongfully so.

Even more damning, when Penny is later found at a murder scene, covered in blood, holding the murder weapon, it's hard to believe there could be a conceivable explanation other than Penny has viciously murdered someone. And when Penny seems to disappear and only her alter Eve is present, the Francone family worries they've lost her forever. At Edgewater Hospital awaiting her trial, Penny's family chooses not to give up on her. But convincing themselves and others that Penny is innocent, and even that she truly does suffer from DID, will be harder than they ever imagined.

I loved that this novel was about so much more than the murder. From the beginning, the reader is primed to question if Penny even really does have DID or if she's just been playing her family and is truly a sociopath. Penny was adopted when she was four years old, but no one knows anything about her past. Did she come from a home where she was abused so badly that she coped by creating multiple personalities? Or did her past turn her into a monster?

We receive breadcrumbs about Penny's past through therapy and try to fit the pieces together about the night that left a woman dead. We also learn about the victim and possible reasons why she was targeted. All the while, the Francone family is spiraling out of control trying to save Penny from a life in prison or at a mental institution.

I've read all of D.J. Palmer's novels and it's safe to say she's an auto-buy/-read author for me at this point! This one has definitely been my favorite as it kept me on my toes the whole time. I had no idea what to believe, who to trust, and kept waiting for another big reveal or twist around every corner!

If you're into true crime or psychological thrillers, this is an absolute must read!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this novel.

I could not put this book down. Wildly entertaining, I was hooked from the start. I stayed up well past my bedtime desperate to know every single detail about Penny, her past, and the night in question. I think fans of The Silent Patient will especially enjoy this thriller.

D.J. Palmer you did take me on a journey that was thrilling, surprising and kept me riveted until the very end of the book. The Perfect Daughter is the first book of yours that I have read and I look forward to reading others.

Penny is adopted into the Francine family and Arthur their father has instilled the motto “Better together”. This theme runs throughout the book and brings the family back together at the end. I love this saying and will adopt in into my family when needed!

I fell in love with Penny and all her alters. Penny has DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder, which I had never heard about before. Everyone needs a mom like Grace in their lives. Her devotion to her adopted daughter and to her biological children is remarkable. She is a single mother fighting for her daughter and her sons lives while trying to run a family restaurant. I do not know how true to reality DID was portrayed in the book, though I am hoping it was fairly accurate because it brought a lot of light to the illness and what families face when dealing with mental illness and multiple personality disorders.

If you are looking for a physiological thriller, that is very well written and will keep you engaged until the last page you must read this book. It will be out April 20, 2021. Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Perfect Daughter, by DJ Palmer

Short Take: Kind of like me - hot in the front, smokin in the back, but a little flabby around the middle.

Hello, my lovely nerdlings!! This is the spot where I usually write a hilarious but insightful intro, generally involving the weather, my state of mind, or world events, but today I’m actually going to leave the house for once, so let’s get straight to the good stuff, hmmm?

Widowed mom-of-three Grace is just finishing up her shift at the pizza place the family owns, when she gets the call no parent ever expects: her adopted sixteen-year-old daughter Penny has been found at the scene of a murder. Penny is holding the knife and covered in blood, and has no memory of committing the crime, but just in case there is any doubt, she also has a very, very good reason to hate that person, and was even arrested for threatening them the year before.

But there’s more to Penny than meets the eye - namely, Chloe, Ruby, and Eve, her alternate personalities. See, Penny has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder). Penny herself probably didn’t kill anyone, but one of her alters may have, or there may even be other violent personalities hiding deep inside her mind.

With the clock ticking down to her trial, and Penny et al confined to a mental hospital, her family and Dr. Mitch McHugh (who has some issues of his own) must figure out a way to convince a jury of a whole lot of things that probably seem impossible to most people: DID is real. Penny has it. Penny’s body may have committed a crime, but Penny herself did not. And finally, Penny needs help, not prison.

It’s a tall order, and a fascinating journey. Grace is understandably desperate to keep her daughter out of prison, but what will her obsessiveness do to her relationship with her sons? Dr. McHugh wants to save Penny to get some kind of redemption for his own failings in other parts of his life, but as we all know, it doesn’t really work that way.

And at the center of it all is a teenage girl who has a whole lot of hideous secrets locked in her mind.

Overall, The Perfect Daughter is a fantastic read. Mr. Palmer has done his homework, and he breaks down complex psychological concepts in a way that’s easily understood without being dumbed down. The story itself, the central mystery of Penny’s life and her victim’s death is brilliant, and the ending caught me completely by surprise. Trust me, whatever you think you know, you don’t. Just go with it.

My only gripe is the pacing. Between the sudden-death opening and the OMG ending, there’s quite a bit of flab. Grace’s visits to Eve in the mental hospital, and Dr. McHugh’s attempts to draw out her memories and help Penny to become whole are interesting, but start to feel a little repetitive, and most scenes seem to play out just a little too long.

Now, I’m off to Do Things today. What the heck is that giant yellow thing hanging over the horizon?

The Nerd’s Rating: FOUR HAPPY NEURONS (and a big old slice of pizza, duh).

The Perfect Daughter had the perfect setting for a psychological thriller although it could've been somewhat of a cliche too. A mental institution for criminals. If that isn't the perfect place to give us a slew of good stories, I don't know what is.

The story starts out with a brutal murder and the only person they have as a suspect has blood on her hands, literally. Penny is the young adopted daughter of Grace and recently departed Arthur. She came to live with them and their two sons when she was 4. How she came to live with them is kind of sad, but it shows what a huge heart this family has. She is family and they will do anything for her. Even try to defend her, although she looks more than guilty. You see, Penny has DID (formerly known as multiple personalities) and has no memory how she came to be where the murder took place and how the blood is all over her and the weapon is in her hands. We don't know all her personalities, but they slowly come out over the course of the story through her own account as well through the stories told by her brother Jack, her mother and her doctor at the institution. One of those personalities MUST know something.
The whole story is like one HUGE puzzle. DJ Palmer feeds us little pieces of the puzzle throughout and you have to figure out what details are crucial and what is a throwaway. It's breadcrumb after breadcrumb leading us on and not every breadcrumb is even relevant. Those breadcrumbs leave you questioning every-freakin-one! You begin to wonder who is safe and who is telling the truth? Why do we need to know all this background information about her Doctor (Dr Mitch)? What secrets are her brothers keeping? Who was her biological father? What about her biological mother's on and off again boyfriend? And how did Penny's adopted father die? Did Penny have something to do with that too? So many questions, so many pertinent and not so important details all throughout. We are left to weed through all the details.

Even with an overabundance of details, this thriller was a page turner that I was utterly captivated by. I didn't want to stop reading until I figured it all out and had the answers. Penny and all her personalities weren't exactly likable nor were they reliable. They all made up one person and you had to figure out who she was by all her personalities. And the fact that we got her story from her mom and brother Jack along with Dr Mitch's POV, you didn't really get to see her from her OWN eyes. But this story set up something more special. A story of one family's love for their daughter whether by blood or not. She needed someone to care for her and show her she was wanted and she got it with a family that showed up continuously.

This is a book that will appeal to the thriller/suspense lover. THere's the bloody murder, the setting was perfect and I liked the family involvement, but a lot of characters weren't needed for the story. BUT with that, it left you questioning everyone that was introduced and I liked that. The ending was almost tied up too perfectly for my taste but that didn't hinder my enjoyment of the book. Overall, a well paced thriller that kept me on my toes.

Oh my! Excellent book!! I could not put this down, and was stumped as to what the outcome was going to be. I love how it integrated medical issues and law issues...seemlessly. A must read!

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC.

Heart palpitations and holding my breath. This was me reading the last few chapters of The Perfect Daughter. What a crescendo of emotions throughout these characters. The narratives throughout this novel just pulled me in. Psychological thriller at its best! My heart is still beating and it’s been a good 30 minutes since I’ve finished!

Thank yo u NetGalley and St. Martin’s press for the digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I have read all of D. J. Palmer’s novels as ARCs - and I am so privileged to do so! I can honestly say that Palmer’s writing only gets better with every novel published! This one is fantastic!

I have a school counseling degree so Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) is something I’m pretty well-versed in, and I think Palmer did a great job portraying it in Penny’s character. I have worked with students who have Borderline Personality Disorder, and studied the DSM thoroughly, so it was interesting to me to see if I could unofficially diagnose Penny throughout the novel.

This was creepy, sad, and fascinating all at the same time.

I loved how little clues were sprinkled throughout the novel like little puzzle pieces that just needed to be assembled correctly. It made the reading quick and fun (mostly because I wanted to solve it before the end - but I can assure you I did NOT).

The characters were all well-developed and each added something new to the story. And that ending? It got me. 😭

I was worried that it would portray mental illness badly and portray mothers as crazed women who only see their child as perfect. But I was truly surprised at how well this was written. It portrays even depression and anxiety as something you can’t just “walk off,” and that addiction isn’t something you choose.

I can honestly say I have never read a book with dissociative identity disorder in it. I learned a lot! I love that her family was never afraid of her diagnoses and supported her fully with it. It was a breath of fresh air in a thriller!

READ THIS BOOK IF YOU LIKE:
- Books about mental illnesses in a positive light.

-Books with Murder trials that focus on building the case (but aren’t heavy in the legal stuff)

- A twisty book with an ending you won’t be able to predict!

The Perfect Daughter had me intrigued from the first. A daughter, Penny, arrested for murder? And it was her birth mom? But said daughter has multiple personalities- or is she a psychotic killer doing a great job of pretending to have multiple personalities? My favorite characters were Dr.Mitch, the tortured psychiatrist and Jack, the brother who could forgive Penny for anything. The story mostly took place at a mental hospital. I have decided the people who work in these kind of hospitals are angels on earth. The story had many twists and turns but a very satisfying ending. Great psychological thriller.

Now this is a thriller!

Usually, when I put a book down to continue another day it's because I'm content with what I got and I'm not in a hurry to continue or I want to stretch it out for as long as possible because it's good. In this case it was a mix of the latter and the fact that I had to process everything that was happening.

Right from the beginning there's a lot going on with Penny, the main character, who's accused of murdering her birth mother in cold blood. She was found with the victim's blood all over her, murder weapon in hand, but with no recollection of what happened.

Penny has multiple personality disorder so it's very possible one of her alternate personalities murdered Rachel and the memory of it got lost during the switch to her "base self".

Was it the darker alter, the one called Eve, who killed Rachel? Was it one of the others? Was someone else inside the room with Penny? Or is Penny fooling everyone and actually a psychopath? Read to find out.

I was scared while reading this book which means it achieved its desired effect.

I really appreciate how well the mystery is crafted, there's nice little details that make it work. For the most part it kept me guessing until the very end, but I did see some things coming. One in the beginning (the one thing the police didn't look into), and also the big plot twist at the end (due to the character's odd behaviour).

Penny and all her alters were my favourite character(s). Jack was nice too and Ryan was angsty but I liked him as well.

Grace I both liked and found annoying. There were a few scenes where the story could've ended sooner if only she'd let her daughter talk (or let Annie shoot) instead of going coo coo bananas. But it's okay, she's a mother, she wants to protect Penny and I respect that.

Mitch was good as a doctor. I didn't care about his son much though, or his own issues. I can see why it paints him as the perfect doctor for the job but...would've been just fine without any of that.

Vince is someone I want to single out. He's not a good character by any means, but he's written expertly well, and in my opinion he's the most real of them all. From the way he speaks to his behaviours.

Another thing worth mentioning is the alter switches and the in between state. I adore how that was written. In general I think the disorder was presented properly (with some liberties) and someone with no prior knowledge of it will be able to follow along just fine.

I liked the ending too, everything got resolved even though the second-to-last chapter teased a cliffhanger. I would've been livid if it ended on that note since I'm a big fan of closure.

I can tell thinking about this book will keep me up at night.

*Thank you to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review*

The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer 

Grace's adopted daughter, Penny, has multiple personalities and is finally diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). When Penny is sixteen, she takes the family car to secretly visit a stranger. Later, Penny is found holding a knife and covered with the slaughtered women's blood. It looks like a clear cut case of murder but who really murdered this woman? Was it Penny or one of her other personalities and how can Grace save her daughter from prison? 

With the help of psychiatrist, Dr. Mitch McHugh, who works with Penny at the facility where Penny is being treated before she goes to trial, each of Penny's different personalities gives insight to things that have happened in Penny's past. Grace will go to the end of the earth to clear Penny of murder charges or to at least keep her from a life in prison. I wasn't too impressed with some of the things Grace did, hoping to shift the blame off her daughter. Grace takes dangerous risks and is also willing to have another teenager blamed for the death when it was her own daughter holding the knife. 

But it's very interesting learning about DID and it is very scary being inside a facility that houses mentally ill people who need guards to keep the peace and to attempt to keep the residence safe from harm. We have other suspects hinted at or openly named and we are even shown that Penny's coddling, because of her diagnosis, has caused problems within her adoptive family. The ending comes with a huge twist that throws everything into a new light. 

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this ARC.

D.J. Palmer is one of my favorite authors, so I couldn't wait to read this new book! Just as I had hoped, it left me on the edge of my seat with the turn of each page! You may lose sleep, because you won't want to put this book down, but you will definitely not be disappointed! If you've never read this author, you should. Highly recommend!!

**Many thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and D.J. Palmer for an ARC of this book!**

She may look like the Perfect Daughter...but who is she REALLY?

Penny Francone has a textbook case of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder)...at least, according to her adopted mother Grace. When she is found at the scene of birth mother Rachel Boyd's murder, however, bloody weapon in hand, is it Penny who is present? Or is it one of several disparate alters...snarky and acerbic Eve? Posh Brit Ruby? Do-gooder straight-A student Chloe? Was Penny just a witness to this terrifying crime....and will she ever be able to remember a single detail? Grace is determined to get justice while Penny awaits her trial, biding her time in a mental hospital. But does the answer lie buried in Penny's psyche...or somewhere else entirely?

After enjoying the straightforward domestic suspense of Palmer's The New Husband, I was incredibly excited to hear this particular story centered around multiple personalities. Some of my favorite thrillers have used similar devices even if they didn't use DID specifically, so I figured I couldn't go wrong with this combination.

Well...color me incorrect.

I cannot believe it took me over a week to read this book. Not only is it entirely too long to begin with, but the action was slow and I just never felt like the plot was actually going anywhere. For instance, the trial doesn't even START till about 80% and still managed to take ages. This book's strength should have been in character development, but not only did these characters come off as unlikable, I felt like I barely knew any substantive or interesting about any of them---even the alters! Even on a base level, most of the dialogue felt very stereotypical, and didn't help to give any credence to the fact that these were supposed to be 'real' and separate personalities. I also think not having the alters themselves (rather than side characters) function as narrators was a fairly basic missed opportunity. While I didn't necessarily predict the outcome, I wasn't at all surprised by it either and didn't feel I had been properly tricked on any level. There is also an entirely unnecessary and cheesy epilogue that comes out of left field, just to put a cap on my overall disappointment.

While this premise had unlimited potential, this novel didn't live up to it on any level for me personally and I can't say the juice was worth the squeeze in this instance. I do appreciate Palmer's attention to detail and the research that went into this book, however, and hopefully his next book will give me the sort of satisfied feeling I had at the end of The New Husband. 3 stars

The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer
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Is she Penny? Is she Eve? Or is she lying?
This book drew me in really quickly from the beginning. A teenage girl charged with first degree murder, but she has Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personalities) so the case is much more complicated. This story flips back and forth between a few characters but the two main POVs are Grace, the mom of the alleged murderer, and Dr. Mitch, the accused’s new psychiatrist.
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I really enjoyed this book! I figured from the beginning there would be one of two endings....and the ending still wound up surprising me! I kind of can’t believe I didn’t see it coming! 😅😅
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If you love psychological thrillers, then I definitely can recommend this one! It will be available 4/20/21.
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4⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ and thank you Netgalley for this digital copy to read.

D.J Palmer’s book threw me back to my old school Soap Opera days, and I mean that in the best way!

I will share the link to my review when it goes live on FreshFiction.com.

#FirstLine ~ At thirty minutes past eight o'clock, red and blue strobe lights lit up the sky outside Grace Francone's modest Cape house with the frenzy of fireworks display.

I loved this book, like REALLY loved it. I was entranced, fascinated and fully engrossed from the first page. I loved the slow burn of this book. It gave information in such a smooth way. There are lots of twists and lots of turns and a few major bombshells, that left me satisficed and surprised. I would say that this was one of my favorite books in this genre. The premise and topic was so interesting and something that made this book an one-of-a-kind hit in my mind. a MUST read and I book I HIGHLY recommend!!!

Loved it!!! I would give it 4.5 stars. I was hooked from the very start. There was a murder, a teen with multiple personality disorder and a mother who would do anything to prove her daughter is innocent. I found Penny's character so interesting and of course all her multiple personalities. Would have never guessed the ending. I was a completely surprised during the court hearing. The Epilogue was my least favorite part. I would have rather learned what was going on with Grace and her family rather than Mitch and Adam. Ryan was my least favorite in the book. I really don't know why he didn't come forward with his information. He blamed Penny for everything that happened to his family.

Definitely recommend the book. I loved the characters, story and writing style. It was a great mystery/thriller with so many twists and turns. Look forward t reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from St. Martin's Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

D.J. Palmer has done it again! “The Perfect Daughter” grabs you from the very first chapter and doesn’t let go until the end of the story. We meet Penny Francone covered in blood, holding a knife next to the dead body of her birth mother. Penny was abandoned at the age of four, apparently abused by her bio mom, and therefore appears to have the perfect motive. At the police station, Penny insists that she be addressed as “Eve.” Why? Well, Penny has Dissociative Identity Disorder… what used to be referred to as multiple personalities. It turns out Penny isn’t alone inside her head… she has several other pieces of her identity (aka her “alters”) to keep her company and compartmentalize her childhood trauma. Did one of these alters that commit murder, or was it someone else entirely?

This taut, fast-paced medical thriller kept me on the edge of my seat. I’ve long been a fan of stories about multiple personalities, and this one did not disappoint. Each of Penny’s alters is very well written with a distinct voice, and the other characters are very compelling as well, especially Penny’s adoptive mother Grace. As a mother myself, I could identify with Grace’s desire to do whatever it took to try to get to the bottom of the situation, desperately hoping to exonerate Penny.

I deducted a star because I thought the Dr. Mitch storyline was a distraction and irrelevant to the novel as a whole. There are plenty of characters central to the plot, especially with all of Penny’s alters. Dr. Mitch’s personal drama wasn’t really necessary and didn’t add anything to the story.