I truly liked this. It was a very good psychological thriller and a real who dun it. I thought I had it figured out so many times but it turns out i was pleasantly surprised. I would have screamed to the mountain how amazing this is but i felt it was a bit longer than needed.

Book Review: The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer
Published by St. Martin's Press, April 20, 2021

4.25 Stars.

Following "Saving Meghan", author Daniel Palmer pens another uber-thriller that keeps the reader guessing. With a final twist that leaves you stumped in your favorite reading nook!

Swampscott, North Shore, Boston.

Sixteen-year-old Penny Isabella Francone, adopted daughter of Grace Francone, is arrested for homicide.

Rachel Boyd of Lynn, MA, Penny's birth mother, has just been brutally stabbed twenty-five times to near decapitation. With the woman's blood found splattered all over the teen's face, body and clothes, and an angry email exchange that ensued just before the incident in evidence, Rachel's death is an open-and-shut murder case.

But for adoptive mom Grace, this simply cannot not be.

Penny is her perfect daughter.

Adopted when she was four years old under providential circumstances, the former Montessori preschool teacher and owner of "Big Franks", an oceanfront pizzeria, is adamant and resolute.

Penny is innocent.

Along with Ruby, who speaks with a British accent, Chloe, an A-student perfectionist, and Eve, a precocious, alluring and aggressive teen, who'd all joined the Francone family when Penny was twelve.

All of them live inside Penny…

To the rescue, counsel Greg Navarro, a "Big Franks" regular and reputable local North Shore attorney, former Navy, and former chief public prosecutor.

Plus Dr. Mitch McHugh, Penny's doctor at Edgewater State Hospital where she is confined. A former Mass General employee, Dr. McHugh does have his own personal issues, and is still pretty much on the fence and skeptical of her disorder and identity alters.

DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) isn't legally a valid diagnosis. McHugh, along with many others, question if Penny simply has an antisocial personality disorder, playing everyone along with invented identities and excuses. He has to determine if she is deranged or damaged, sick or evil.

Then comes Day 11 of Penny's murder trial.

And a lost four-year-old girl who'd gone into hiding, emanates.

Right on the witness stand.

And shakes up her entire world.

Who's your daddy, Penny?

This is the second brilliant D. J. Palmer book I've read. But unlike "Saving Meghan". a 5-star read which grabbed me, the build-up to the final twist in this novel tilts a bit to the non-sequitur side, and does feel a tad abrupt and contrived. I wouldn't be surprised if, for a few readers, the ending just doesn't cut it and eyes roll with incredulity.

Nevertheless, this is one quasi-medical, family suspense thriller I thoroughly enjoyed, and recommend.

Reviewed based on an ARC from St. Martin's Press and NetGalley.

Grace has returned from a run to find her sixteen year old daughter, Penny gone. She has no idea where she could be. She then sees a police car with its lights on. The two men walked up her walkway. Grace opens the door and Detective Jay Allio from the Lynn Police Station introduces himself along with Sergeant Brent Adams. They asked her if Penny Francone was her daughter and then told her that she was arrested and was at the Lynn Police Station. They told her that they believe that she killed a woman and its a homicide. They also told her that Penny was found covered in blood and that she is calling herself Eve and that was not the name found on her driver's license. She also does not remember anything that happened. They said that she killed a woman named Rachel Boyd, which is Penny's birth mother.

Penny then ends up in a psychiatric hospital. The day Penny came into Grace's and Arthur's life it seemed like a miracle. She was found abandoned with a mysterious past. But as Penny grew up her actions were disturbing and personalities emerged. They find out that she has DID, which is Dissociative Identity Disorder. But as Grace and Dr. Mitch McHugh dig deeper they uncover dark and shocking secrets which puts their lives in more danger.

This book was like a roller coaster ride! It is an awesome psychological thriller. It deals with mental illness. It had me guessing till the end. It also has a courtroom drama in it and thats when it gets so Crazy! OMG! It was so shocking. I could not put it down. I loved the twist near the end that I did not see coming! It was a great jaw dropping moment! This is the best book that I have read by this author and it won't be my last. He hit this one out of the ball park.

I want to thank Netgalley, St. Martin's Press and the author for the copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. (less)

"The Perfect Daughter" by D.J. Palmer is a Psychological Thriller.

Grace and Arthur Francone adopted Penny when she was four years old. Grace found Penny abandoned and crying in a park. Grace had always dreamed of having a daughter and with a mission to make it work, Penny was welcomed with open arms not only by her new parents, but by Ryan and Jack, her two brothers, as well.

Life for this family became very interesting with the addition of Penny. Over the top interesting!

At sixteen years old, Penny is found in her birth mothers apartment covered in blood, a knife in her hand, her birth mother dead. It's obvious that Penny is the murderer and she's arrested at the scene.

Psychiatrist, Mitch McHugh is assigned to observe and diagnose Penny while she is held in a high security state psychiatric hospital pending trial. Did I mention Penny has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)? Multiple personalities? Which one is the murderer? Grace is convinced it may be someone else...

Psychological Thriller is not my preferred genre. I've tried over and over again to love them. But, I just know there is one out there with my name on it. One I would eventually connect with. After so many attempts, I'm due a winner! Right?

Truth is, folks, I was fooled again! Yes, I wanted to keep reading it the further I was into it. I was drawn in by the "whodunit" suspense that continued through the story. The ending was twisty and I felt satisfied. Yes, everything felt pretty good!

Then, after I took time to reflect and gather my thoughts, something changed for me. Jotting down my notes, I realized I disliked more about this story than I liked! Ouch!

- I wanted more meaningful background on Penny growing up. Not just snippets.
- There was too much unnecessary personal information about Dr. Mitch. Way. Too. Much.
- I wanted more interaction between Dr. Mitch and Penny. There just wasn't enough IMHO.
- Penny wasn't the only family member who was disturbed. This family had issues.
- I'm trying to find a single character I liked. I tried. I failed. This alone is a deal breaker for me!
- The epilogue should have been about Penny, right? So, what was up with that?
- The kitty issue was very disturbing. Period. The end.

I could go on....but I won't. I thought I liked it...but I don't. I'm not giving up on Thriller's because I just know that one marked for me is still out there somewhere and I'm determined to find it!

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press and D.J. Palmer for a free ARC of this book. This is my honest and voluntary review.

This book is creepy, disturbing, and utterly addicting. After Grace’s adoptive daughter, Penny, is arrested for brutally murdering her birth mother, Grace embarks on a journey to prove her daughter’s innocence. The problem is she can only do so by showing beyond a doubt that Penny has multiple personalities and therefore cannot be held accountable for the crime. Many books about Dissociative Identity Disorder are cliched and overdone but D.J. Palmer has managed to create a compelling and realistic read. The plot moved in a direction I wasn’t expecting and the twists caught me completely off guard. I also really liked the characters and how the story was told from their differing points of view. Highly recommend!

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