Appropriately enough, there are multiple names for the multiple personality disorder. Doesn’t make it any easier to live with. But Carolyn Grand manages. Which is to say the collective of personalities under the umbrella of Carolyn Grand manages. Following a nightmarish severely traumatizing childhood of horrid abuse, Carolyn has developed other personalities to help her cope with various aspects of what might have otherwise been an unbearable existence. There’s Victoria, who handles public appearances, Martha, who takes care of all practical matters, Serena, the dreamer, who, as she states, provides colors, Eleni who manages the carnal affairs, Kirk the tough guy and Tina, the child, tragically tasked with remembering the years of abuse, so that the others don’t have to be crippled by it. Six in all, different enough to have a somewhat contemptuous relationship, they must come together and cooperate like never before, when first their autonomy and then their freedom comes under a threat. It is Eleni’s sexual adventures that originally get the multis under the power of a possessive bastard of a therapist, but the real danger comes when the perpetrator of all the abuse, their father, gets an early release from prison where he’s been for the last 27 years. Redeemed on paper and far from it in real life, he reappears in their lives, causing a great disruption. But before too much damage can be done, he winds up dead, murdered. With no one (in theory) more motivated to do the killing than his longtime victim, his accuser, his mentally unstable daughter. But is she guilty? And how can guilt even be attributed to a person whom six comprise? So that’s the meat of the novel, but there’s so much more to it. No gristle, no fat, at 201 pages it is much too lean for that, but the author does manage to deliver a powerhouse of a character driven story in such a relatively slim package. Split personalities have been used in books, tv shows and movies and always provide a lot to play with, most notably recently in a movie titled Split. In fact, this book would make a great movie, I’d love to check it out in a cinematic form, I’ve been trying to mentally cast Carolyn, it would require a considerable acting skill. But anyway, as a character driven story, this novel lives and dies with its characters and the author did such a terrific job of creating memorable, compelling and (notably so) distinct personalities for Carolyn Grand’s composite. Each chapter is narrated by a different person with a completely authentic perspective and voice and it makes the entire thing come together really well. The sort of book that goes by so quickly (and it really did, 215 minutes, one sitting) and you kind of don’t want it to end just yet. Maybe because I didn’t all the way love the ending. But then again I didn’t all the way love the inclusion of the lovelorn cop either and still it worked. It was just a really great read. I read entirely too many thrillers and to find something so different and fresh and exciting and to find all of that in a debut is just…awesome. It was an awesome read. I really enjoyed it. Immensely entertaining psychological thriller. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

This was a book to let you in the head of someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder). As someone who works in the psych field I love both fiction and non-fiction related to diagnosis.
This was a story that posed the question: Did “they” kill their father? We hear from all the personalities, and the struggle they face because they don’t possess the body for more than a little bit at a time.
One personality will come to trying to figure out where they are and what went on. The murder added a new element that other books may not have added previously.
I finished it in about 24 hours!