Unfortunately I could not get in to this one. I think my reading tastes are changing. I will update my review if I try and read again.

The Perfect Daughter, by D.J. Palmer, is a twist-turning thriller that kept me riveted until the very end! Penny was found abandoned in a park when she was a young child - with no memory of how she ended up there or her past life. Adopted by the family who found her alone in the park, Penny is now a teenager suffering from DID. Things seems manageable and her mom Grace is letting her guard down when Penny is arrested for the murder of her biological mother. Is Penny responsible for killing her bio mom or is one her alters responsible? As Grace explores every avenue in order to give her daughter the best possible outcome, bombshell truths will be revealed There's a lot more hiding beneath the surface than just Penny's alters.

Told in multiple POV's from several of Penny's family members, this novel comes together for a firework finish. 4.5 stars from me!

LOVED! DJ Palmer’s writing is phenomenal. He just knows how to suck you in and feel emotions that you didn’t know you had. Literally with every turn of the page he had me second guessing what I thought I knew(which I was wrong 100% of the time). The characters and their development was exciting and you cant help but love the mom. He is just an awesome author and I can’t not wait for another book by him.

This book was a fascinating look into multiple personality disorder, full of plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing!

When I read My Wife is Missing last month, I remembered that I hadn't read last year's domestic thriller The Perfect Daughter so I moved it to the top of my reading pile. It was so good so if you too missed it, make sure you add it to the top of your summer reading list.

When I was a teenager, I devoured books about troubled teens - those who were depressed, suicidal, runaways, etc. So this book was kind of a throwback for me and it brought on some feelings of nostalgia.

Penny has dissociative identity disorder (DID), you might know it as multiple personality disorder. She's the adoptive daughter of Grace and has two older brothers Jack and Ryan. Her adoptive father recently died from a heart attack. Penny's biological mother Rachel has reached out to her and she goes to her apartment. The next thing she knows she is in a prison mental hospital with no memory of how she got there.

Grace is convinced that Penny did not murder Rachel and hires an attorney who she was in a car accident with a while back and has been coming into her family's restaurant. Ryan, who is reeling from his father's death, has dropped out of college to run the restaurant - he harbors a lot of anger for Penny and believes she did it. Jack, who has just started college, is probably the closest to Penny growing up and has decided to make a movie about Penny's life. It's also his way of helping with her defense.

The chapters either focus on activity surrounding Grace - her visiting Penny at the mental hospital, her meeting with the doctor and lawyer, her trying to uncover new evidence to prove Penny's innocence - or on Jack - his chapters are mostly of him "talking" to Penny about the movie he is making and memories he has of them growing up. We get a lot of background info on Penny through Jack. Then there are a few chapters with Penny and Dr. Mitch sprinkled throughout. We get to meet Penny's alters and found those scenes very interesting.

The Perfect Daughter definitely had me on the edge of my seat. Was Penny faking her DID? Did one of her alters kill Rachel? There are a lot of red herrings and twists and turns about what might have really happened that night. The memories we see from Jack also make you wonder if she isn't a borderline personality sociopath like the first doctor at the mental hospital thinks. The reader isn't sure what to believe at any given moment.

I will warn you that there is a pretty descriptive scene involving an injured cat that I found quite disturbing. I was listening to the audiobook at that point and I wanted to cover my ears it was so upsetting. I'm not sure if needed to be quite so detailed.

I didn't see the ending coming and it was a little too Jerry Springer-ish to feel believable but it did have the shock value such a reveal required.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It is tied with Saving Meghan as my favorite DJ Palmer book.

My review will be published at Girl Who Reads on Wednesday - https://www.girl-who-reads.com/2022/06/can-you-solve-mystery-in-these-two.html

THis is my first book by DJ Palmer and i loved loved it!! The story did not disappoint in the least!!!

The Perfect Daughter is an intriguing story, one of those you just keep on reading to understand what is really going on. It is full of suspense, twists, and turns but at the same time shows what means when someone has to deal with difficult mental health issues. Multiple personality issues are real and do not only exist in the movies or books. I got hooked from the beginning, a fast-paced thriller and a must-read for those who enjoy the genre.
I downloaded a free copy of this book through NetGalley and this is my honest opinion.

DNF - Did not finish. I did not connect with the writing style or plot and will not be finishing this title. Thank you, NetGalley and Publisher for the early copy!

What a fantastic thrilling page turner! When I first started reading it I wasn’t so sure I was going to get into it but boy it didn’t take me long to get hooked, and the ending. I did not see that coming! Thank you for writing such a fantastic book!

This Perfect Daughter is one of the most thrilling novels i have read. It is a real page turner. Be ready for a sharp twisted ending

Palmer's last book was a hit with me and this one was too. What a compelling and original story. I loved reading it and found myself putting off other things so I could keep reading. This one will keep you up at night and you need to make sure it's on your list.

DJ Palmer has done it again, pulled me into another amazing story that left me thinking what in the world did I just read? A great thrilling adventure that keeps you turning the pages late into the night. I highly recommend this one for anyone looking to get lost in the pages of a great thriller.

Like a few other reviewers on here, I picked this one up a number of times trying to get invested in the story but I just keep putting it down to read other books unfortunately.

Another example of a psychological thriller that starts off so strong that you don’t want o to put it down. Then, you get further into the book and it begins to drag and be drawn out. The middle was too wordy and I started losing attention and skimming sections. Then the last 20% of the book became interesting again as all the pieces were put together. I have always found DID and the controversy over whether it is an actual psychological condition interesting. I liked seeing the different identities of Penny and how the different identities held different pieces to the puzzle of how her biological mother was murdered.

Very good book. Good character development and the plot was great. Thank you for letting me read this book.

“Are you deranged or damaged? Sick or evil?”

Penny Francone has DID (dissociative identity disorder). She has 3 alternate personalities with Eve being the most violent. After being found at a crime scene with the dead body of her birth mother, the murder weapon in her hands, and claims of no memory of the murder, she is sent to Edgewater Mental Hospital. There, her psychiatrist is tasked with finding out if Penny really does have DID and if so, if one of her other alternate’s committed the murder or if she’s faking it.

This book read slow for me. I understood Grace’s (Penny’s adoptive mother) pain and willingness to fight with everything for her daughter. But the viewpoints were only from Grace and Mitch - Penny’s doctor. They did tell and show us instances where Penny’s alternates showed up but I wanted more. I would have loved some chapters from her perspective.
The twist seemed a bit convenient and it came out of left park for me. But with that being said I truly did enjoy learning more about DID. I don’t think a lot of people are aware exactly of what the disorder is and what it entails. I also enjoyed the references to the movie Split and the book The Shining.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the book in exchange of a review!

The Perfect Daughter ~ D.J. Palmer - Domestic Thriller 🌟🌟🌟🌟
A young girl is found covered in blood at the scene of the murder, but she doesn't remember anything. Her name is Penny, or is it Eve, or it could be Chloe or even Ruby. Penny's adoptive mother hires a lawyer to defend Penny and prove that she has DID and one of her other personalities may be responsible for the crime.
I enjoyed this book and it's examination of the mental health issue of DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) The idea of it fascinates me. The twisted road this book takes you on will shock you. With DID nothing is really what it seems. Is it real, is it fake, just a clever out for murder? Though at times the storyline was a bit slow I found the ending very worth my time.

Thank you NetGalley and St Martins Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
I found the premise of this book to be intriguing. DID is a favorite topic of mine and I couldn’t wait to uncover the layers I was sure the book would have. The author’s research and knowledge of DID was impressive— it was represented with spot on accuracy and I appreciate the length the author went to in order to achieve this. The book itself really was a slow moving story for me. At times I found the storyline hard to follow mostly due to its slow pace. It wasn’t really until about 80% in that I thought wow here we go! And then we did have a very interesting ride with a memorable ending. I struggle because much of the background was necessary to do justice to the DID character, but at the same time I wanted a faster pace. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Perfect Daughter was one of the best psychological thrillers I have read in a long while. It explored mental illness and drug addiction and the impact they can have on their family members. I did not see the ending coming. It totally surprised me.

I found the subject matter of this book fascinating and felt the author did a good job of realistically portraying DID.

I loved the pace of this book and found that I could not put it down. I was able to fully engage with the characters and felt they were well written.