Unfortunately disappointed in this one. I love the author but this one didn't I couldn't get into. I stopped half way through. I really wanted to like it. I loved the Storyline and concept of the book but something about it I didn't care for. I think I was slow read. The story line was not picking up like I thought it should. I may give it another chances but not one I was overly happy about.

Sixteen year old Penny Francone who has dissociative identity disorder is arrested one night after being found at the scene of a murder with blood all over her and the murder weapon in her hand. She has no recollection of anything that happened that night.

Her mother Grace believes Penny is innocent and hires an attorney to see to it Penny is found not guilty, while Grace does her own investigation. The central questions are did Penny or one of her alters commit this murder and does she have DID or is she an evil psychopath?

The story is told through multiple points of view, we have Grace, her son Jack who is making a documentary about the case, Mitch who is the doctor at the hospital Penny is being held at, and Greg who is Penny's attorney. These changes in POV happen with starts of different chapters, but it isn't confusing. The plot is a bit of a slow burn and I enjoyed the build up to the big reveal, but I had a hard time finding Grace to be a likable character and that took away from my enjoyment some what. I just don't feel that she made good decisions in her actions and there had to be a lot of suspension of belief in this one. Overall, a worthwhile read.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press, author D.J. Palmer, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This was one good book! You have family drama, death, murder, and multiple personalities! Well, I call that a homerun.

A mother who wanted a daughter so badly that she takes in a girl abandoned in a park. Two sons who don't get along, one who seems to just be at ends with the family. Then a daughter who is accused of murder.

Have I been vague enough? Just read the book!

The Perfect Daughter Is An Attention-Holding Psychological Thriller...But It Is Far From Perfect!

The Perfect Daughter is the first book I’ve read by D.J. Palmer (including those he’s written using his full name, Daniel Palmer). It is a psychological thriller that explores the truth or lies behind a teenage girl’s personality disorder.

Bottom line is I found The Perfect Daughter held my interest enough to finish it but I had very mixed feelings about it. This was due to my overall level of satisfaction being marred by some plot vs. character issues.

Specifically, my positive feelings pertained to the plot’s psychological subject matter, its counseling and courtroom passages, and its slow-building, yet suspenseful pace. All of which contributed to me wanting to turn the pages to find out what happens next.

These positive feelings, however, were offset — and at times outweighed— by some character development issues I had.

One issue pertained to Palmer’s creating secondary characters that I found to be thinly developed and just serviceable at best. The second and much bigger issue, without going into detail, pertained to serious credibility issues with some of the characters — particularly Grace, the perfect daughter’s adopted mother, and Grace’s sister-in-law, Annie. While I found their thought processes, behaviors and dialogue served to move the story along, they often did not “ring true” to me; to the point that I sometimes found myself rolling my eyes in disbelief.

As previously stated, while I consider the book to be an attention-holding psychological thriller, The Perfect Daughter is quite far from being a perfect book.

2 1/2 stars generously rounded up to 3 stars.

#The Perfect Daughter. #Net Galley

This was such an interesting read. A main character with Disassociative Identity Disorder made for such a unique plot. You can really see how much research D.J. Palmer must have done around D.I.D. before writing this.

Penny Francone, the adopted daughter of Grace Francone, has been arrested for a brutal murder and the evidence against her is pretty damning. Grace is convinced her daughter isn't guilty of this crime but has quite an uphill battle to fight to prove it. Penny's doctor, Mitch McHugh, who's got a plethora of his own personal issues to deal with, isn't quite convinced of her innocence but is committed to helping Grace find out the truth of what happened that night.

This story is a bit of a slow burn, but keeps you totally engaged. The last quarter of the book really picked up and twists and turns were coming left and right. The setting of this book is totally ominous throughout and keeps you guessing!

Thank you to @stmartinspress for my gifted copy of The Perfect Daughter (and fabulous gifts)! This highly anticipated thriller is out on April 20th, and the synopsis is in the comments.

There were lots of great thriller elements in this book: a brutal murder, a mental hospital, possible Dissociative Identity Disorder, and more. I thought they were balanced well, with no one thing sticking out more than the other. I loved the unreliable narrator in this book, I thought it was so well done!

This book kept me guessing - and this time, I didn’t see the big twist coming. I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough once I realized what was going on! This may have been my first DJ Palmer book, but it certainly won’t be my last.

Huge amount of thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an e arc of this book. The following opinions are my own.
Grace’s daughter Penny is a special girl. Or girls, to be more accurate. Penny has DID, which is Dissociative Identity Disorder. Multiple personalities, in other words. Penny also has another huge problem. She’s a suspected murderer.
This is a psychological thriller of the highest caliber. There are so many twists and turns throughout the story, none of which are predictable. This is a story that grabs you from the beginning and never lets go until the end. Definitely add to your TBR list! You won’t be disappointed.

D.J. Palmer is such a gifted author, and this one was such a gem! It kept me hooked the whole way through. So well written and amazing character development. Already looking forward to Palmer's next book, whatever it may be.

This was a twisty and suspenseful thriller with an underlying theme of mental illness. The main character has multiple personality disorder and when she is accused of murdering her birth mother, her therapist and family members have to tap into her alter personalities to sort out the truth of what really happened before she is sent away to prison forever. Well written and fast-paced. Could not put it down.

An incredibly addictive thriller. Grace never dreamed of visiting her daughter Penny in the ward of a state psychiatric hospital, charged with the murder of a stranger. Police found her fingerprints on the deadly weapon, and the deceased blood was on her clothing and body. However, they did not have a motive. Grace blames herself, but sometimes she thinks about other possibilities. What if something different had happened? An engaging book in which Grace investigates her daughter's case and the tragic event. I liked the dedication Grace had to find the truth. At all times, I was interested in what would happen next. It is a book that I read in one sitting. I thank St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

SUMMARY:
This is the unsettling story of Penny and her quest to be understood. When she is found, covered in blood, everyone assumes she’s guilty of murder. But is she? Her mother Grace certainly doesn’t believe it, and will stop at nothing to prove her innocence. But what will happen when she starts to dig into the events of that night, and of the past? Resolution? Answers? Or catastrophe?

PROS and CONS:
Wow this author really loves a medical mystery...he obviously has a passion for mental illness and the issues associated with it. However, his passion does take away from the story. I found myself somewhat distracted with the ins and out of dissociative identity disorder, taking away from the mystery that was unfolding.

READ IT?
I wouldn’t be in a huge rush, but YES - if you’re looking for an interesting medical mystery, give this one a try!

3 Stars

Such a good story with writing that makes the book fly by so much so that before you know it, you're halfway through. A book to devour, DJ Palmer explores crime, mental diagnosis, and an absolutely thrilling rollercoaster of clues. Well done.

This is an absolutely wonderful book for the lover of psychological thrillers. A superbly well crafted novel about a teenage girl with multiple personality disorder told in three narrative voices the author does an outstanding job of keeping separate.

The book opens with every parent’s nightmare. Your teenage daughter is not home, the car is gone without permission and there is no note explaining her absence. The knock on the door comes from the police and the harrowing quest for the truth begins. Further complicating this scenario, Grace Francone’s missing daughter suffers from DID, dissociative identity disorder. Penny has been charged with the murder of her biological mother and the evidence is overwhelming. Grace is Tiger Mom personified in her search to prove Penny’s innocence.

A more surprising ending than one could imagine. You won’t see it coming.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read another excellent ARC.

3.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️. I was so excited to get an advanced copy of The Perfect Daughter in NetGalley because I absolutely loved The New Husband and gave it 5 stars. This one on the other hand was a little harder for me to rate and review. I didn’t love it but I didn’t hate it. I actually thought the storyline was quite interesting with Penny’s multiple personalities and the mystery of Rachel’s murder. I liked trying to figure out whether Penny really killed her or not. I also liked reading Grace’s determination to help her daughter. She never gave up on her. It fell short for me about half way through, when it seemed to get repetitive. I felt like I kept reading but it wasn’t going anywhere. The ending had a big reveal but to be honest I suspected it about 3/4 of the way through the book so it wasn’t really a huge shocker to me. Overall I’m glad I took the time to read it, I just don’t think it was as good as the first book that I read by D.J Palmer.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

To read more of my reviews please visit my Instagram and Goodreads profile:
*Instagram - Cherihy808
*Goodreads - bookworm_traveler808

Whew. This one made my head hurt- in a good way. The idea of multiple personalities has always been fascinating to me, in an “I can just barely wrap my head around it” kind of way. Even though you know from the beginning what is going on, I was still shocked each time a new piece of the puzzle fell into place, and I loved trying to figure out the how and why. And of course- that twist. 🤯 Definitely another solid read from DJ Palmer.

I received a digital advance copy of The Perfect Daughter by D.J. Palmer through NetGalley. The Perfect Daughter is scheduled for release on April 20, 2021.

Penny is the perfect daughter. At least, she is the daughter that Grace always wanted, the abandoned girl that Grace rescued from a park when she was only four. As Penny grew up, it became clear that Penny was more than Grace knew, with various personalities appearing as she matures.

Teenage Penny is found at the scene of a gruesome murder. It is clear that Penny did the deed, as she is covered in blood and holding the murder weapon. What is less clear is which personality did it, or if Penny has faked them all.

As a character, Grace is a woman who will do anything to save her daughter from a life in prison. While this trait gives her character clarity in terms of motivation, it was also an issue as she has two sons that she is willing to push aside in order to help Penny. The parental devotion she shows to Penny is great, but I didn’t understand the lack of balance (or attempt to find balance) for the needs of all of her children. It begins to feel that Grace’s total devotion to Penny above all else is simply because she is the daughter she always wanted, which feels a bit icky for a parent.

The most interesting part of this novel for me was Penny and her apparent alters. It is clear that Palmer did extensive research on Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), including the debate that is still ongoing regarding its validity as a diagnosis.

What worked less well for me was the central question of this book. Penny’s doctors and family are very focused on figuring out if Penny truly has DID or instead suffers from borderline personality disorder or even psychopathy. While on its surface, this question seems innocent enough, a desire to find the truth, the novel presents it in a way that is far less innocent. In this novel the question really becomes is Penny suffering from a mental illness (DID) or is she evil (borderline personality disorder/ psychopathy)? The driving need to answer the question is not to find Penny’s truth, but to determine if she is worthy of saving and the continued love of her family.

This central question is presented early in the novel, with clips from her brother Jack as he is working on a documentary film following his search for Penny’s actual diagnosis. It took quite a while for me to figure out why this novel, and the central question in particular, were not sitting well with me. I finally realized it is this framing, that some mental illnesses (depression, anxiety, DID) are seen as “okay” and something that is not something the individual should be blamed or punished for, while others (sociopathy, psychopathy, etc.) mean that a person is inherently bad or evil. This framing is not unique to this novel, but is a reflection of our society as a whole. We have made progress in discussing and accepting some forms of mental illness, while we continue to see others as a very negative characteristic of the individuals who suffer from them. I think the current dividing line might be who is negatively impacted by the mental illness. Illnesses that primarily impact the individual with the illness (depression, for example) have moved into the realm of “acceptable,” while those that are more likely to have a direct negative impact on those around the ill individual remain “bad.” While I partially understand this divide, it still made this novel very difficult for me to read, as it asked me to wait for a diagnosis before I decided if Penny was a character I should feel sympathy for.

I am very curious if other readers had this same experience with The Perfect Daughter, and in general if anyone agrees with my take on the issue of mental illness as it is presented in the novel and the changing understanding of these illnesses in society as a whole. While I did struggle to enjoy the novel as a story, I do believe it could become an interesting focal point for continuing discussions.

A very interesting psychological thriller, which focuses on 16-year-old Penny Francone, who is found covered in blood, holding a bloody knife, near the body of her birth mother. The question then becomes whether Penny, who perhaps has DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder), has committed a savage and brutal murder — or has one of her alters? Or has someone else?

This is a multi-layered novel which expertly explores the trauma of a severe mental illness, as well as the effects on those family members around the afflicted person, especially Penny’s adoptive mother, Grace. It is a tense, complex read, and I applaud the author for the research done into DID and weaving it into a page-turner of a thriller. The characters were well-developed and likeable, though at times even though I admired Grace’s compassion for and do-anything willingness to help her daughter, her character seemed just a bit too much. And, I found that the backstory belonging to Dr. Mitch, Penny’s psychiatrist, did not really fit into the storyline all that well.

Nevertheless, I really did enjoy this read, which definitely kept me turning pages and guessing. There were plenty of twisty aspects throughout, and the ending was a surprise that tied many loose ends together well. I especially found interesting the intriguing insight it provided into a complex medical condition such as DID.

When sixteen year old Penny Francone is found holding a bloody knife, covered in blood and standing over the body of a dead woman she is arrested for murder. Penny claims to not remember what happened and while her adoptive parents are convinced that she couldn't kill anyone, they are concerned that she suffers from dissociative identity disorder (DID) and one of her other personalities could know what happened. Penny is sent to a psychiatric hospital while awaiting trial where she is seen by a doctor, Mitch McHugh, experienced with DID patients. He will need to decide if Penny is truly suffering from DID or is a psychopath who is very good at fooling everyone, as the Prosecution will claim in court.

This is a very twisty psychological thriller. The author has researched the current thinking on DID and produced a realistic and plausible scenario where Penny's alters serve different purposes in her personality, with one being dominant and protecting the others. Penny's mother Grace is brilliant at supporting her daughter and assisting her lawyer and doctor in trying to unravel her condition. Her brother Jack, a film student making a film about Penny's case is also supportive and working in the background to find out more of Penny's history before her adoption. The climax of the novel is shocking as secrets and lies come tumbling out with a surprising twist making for very addictive reading!

This is my second read by D.J. Palmer, and it didn’t disappoint. We meet Grace & Arthur & their two sons, Jack & Ryan & adopted daughter, Penny. Penny has been placed in a psychiatric hospital following her suspected involvement in a homicide. Penny also has Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Throughout the story we meet her alter personalities & learn more about her life pre-adoption. Could she have murdered someone, was it one of her alters, or someone else entirely? It is quite a ride & Palmer paces the story skillfully. Thanks to #netgalley #stmartinspress for this ARC in exchange for my honest review. #theperfectdaughter

Wow! The description of this book sounded fascinating and it did not disappoint. Teenager Penny Francone, covered in blood and holding the murder weapon is arrested for the brutal murder of her birth mother. All the evidence points to her guilt. Except Penny does not remember any of it. Penny suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), sometimes referred to as Multiple Personality Disorder. Grace, Penny’s adoptive mother doesn’t believe that Penny is capable of committing such a heinous crime and sets out to prove her innocence. What ensues is a roller coaster ride in which we meet three of Penny’s alters as Grace, with the help of Dr. Mitch, tries to figure out what really happened on the night of the murder. As the case unfolds in court readers will discover the truth is not at all what anyone expected. Highly recommended. Thanks to Netgalley for giving me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.