The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer is a psychological thriller novel. The story is one that is told by changing the point of view between characters and deals with mental health issues, specifically dissociative identity disorder or D.I.D.

Grace Francone was worried when she found that her sixteen year old daughter Penny was not at their home but what happened next was beyond her worst imaginings. When police came to the door Grace never expected to hear that her daughter was a murderer.

Penny had been found covered in blood and with a dead woman. All signs point to Penny being a killer but Grace begs help knowing that her daughter suffers from dissociative identity disorder and the Penny she knows could never have done what they say she did.

D.J. Palmer is an author that I continue to come back to time and again and always enjoy so I was not surprised to find myself enjoying The Perfect Daughter. This latest psychological thriller was one that I found myself caught up in rather quickly and didn’t want to put down until I found out the truth. I couldn’t help but be fascinated with the story and in the end I rated this one at four and a half stars and will definitely return to this author again in the future.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.

Again, D.J. Palmer never disappoints. An exceptional writer. It was such a great read that I recommended to my book club.

The perfect daughter was a well researched and entertaining book. I read it awhile ago thanks to netgalley and forgot to write a review. Definitely worth the read. Thank you netgalley, stmartinspress and DJ Palmer for the copy!

What a ride! I was hooked from the first page and just had to keep going! The twists and turns made it impossible to put down! And that ending! I definitely did not see that coming!

It took me a while to get into this one, but once I did, I was hooked. The twist at the end is one that I definitely didn’t see coming!

My heart breaks for people who actually suffer from MPD, and this book rocked me to the core with how disturbingly well written it was. Great read!

This was my first D.J Palmer book and it wont be my last. I really enjoyed this one, although I did feel like it dragged on it parts. The premise was interesting and I loved the alternating points of view! I always think that add another level to a good thriller! I enjoyed the mutliple personality aspect of this one and I think the author pulled it off well.

Grace and her son, Jack, found Penny abandoned in a park at the age of 4. Penny couldn’t or wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened. Grace and Arthur, her husband, adopt Penny adding her to their family of two boys. They discover that in addition to Penny, they have adopted her alters – Ruby, Chloe and Eve, Fast forward to Penny at age 16. She is found, covered in blood, next to the body of her biological mother. Penny is placed in a mental hospital awaiting trial. Grace is convinced she is innocent and tries her best to prove that innocence.
The book kept me intrigued throughout. It is told in alternate voices – Grace, Jack, and Dr. Mitch. I did find this a little disconcerting but feel the author did this to give a glimpse of what Penny lived with on a daily basis. Who would show up and who’s experiences would you learn about? The ending took me by surprise. I would recommend this book highly.

It took me almost a year to actually finish this book so I think that says something about how I felt about it. I started it at least 4 separate times and just could not get into it. When I would stop reading for the night, it took me months to engage again. I went in without fully knowing what it was about and immediately felt using the DID as a main plot point might be problematic. The only character I cared about was Grace, despite her ridiculous actions, because they're done out of love and attempting to seek justice. But the others were unlikeable, uninteresting, cliched, and/or flat. The plot was a bit slow until the end and the twist was disappointing. Overall, I just wasn't interested.

D.J. Palmers writing is amazing! I absolutely look forward to every new book by this author.

This psychological thriller kept me up all night because I became so engrossed that I had to finish reading it. Throughout the entire book I kept going back and forth on my decision about penny and her insanity. It really was perfect how the author strung you along until the last minute with the truth.

I highly recommend The Perfect Daughter to anyone who loves a twisty thriller, because this one hit it out of the park!

This was a super book. Love the wasn't Palmer writes. Very suspect ful. Twists and turns you never expect.

Thank you net galley

Penny’s birth mom is found dead and Penny is covered in her blood. Open and shut case, right? Not so fast. Penny is believed to suffer from DID, Dissociative Identity Disorder, formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder. She can’t remember ever committing the crime. In fact, the secrets of that day are in the memories of the alters with the protector alter, Eve, holding the key. Penny’s mom, Grace, and her Doctor are in a race against time to figure out what really happened.

💭 I admit, this was a little slow to start. Trying to learn all of the different personalities contained in one character while keeping the family history straight was a lot. But as the alters in the story started giving hints to what had happened, I could not put the book down. I craved a resolution. I learned more about DID through the therapy process in the book. I should have never doubted that this would be a great one. That ending... 🤯!

The Perfect Daughter by DJ Palmer is a wild ride of a psychological thriller. There are multiple narrators, and the focus of the book is Penny, who is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Penny is also a murderer. The question is where she'll serve her sentence.

A gripping story of mental illness and a mother's love!

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sharing this book with me. All thoughts are my own.

I was very much excited to read this because of the DIDS in the story. Although I did learn a lot about this mental illness and the story had a strong start, I unfortunately did not enjoy the second half. I didn't go into this thinking there would be much court room or legal jargon. I plan to pick up more from this author but this was just not what I was thinking it would be.

This book grabbed me from the start and kept me guessing and reading.... Until the very end, when the ending twist was absolutely ludicrous and ruined the whole book for me.

I sadly could not get through this book. I tried multiple times. I liked the premise, but sadly this was not for me.

3.5⭐ - I liked the premise of this better than the execution, It was interesting at times and dragged at others, and while I enjoyed the multiple POVs, I just wanted to feel a little more engaged in the story than I was.

initial thoughts: just okay.

while the premise of this book had me intrigued, the execution was lackluster. for me, what didn’t work: the plot moved extremely slow, the “twist” at the end was not surprising, and the epilogue at the end seemed very out of left field.

I read this slowly, a chapter each night in bed, and towards the end I just wanted it to be over with.

a big thanks to NetGalley & St. Martin’s Press for the ARC. while this wasn’t for me (and I’m in the minority, I know), I’ll definitely pick up D.J. Palmer’s future books.

Loved this book. I have never read anything like it before. I was constantly wanting to know more. A mother love is so strong, despite being blood related or not.

Fun thriller with well developed characters! Loved this author’s writing style and I’m dying to read what else this author will provide in the future.