This was an absorbing psychological thriller that kept me guessing throughout. It centers primarily on Grace, whose teenage daughter Penny is arrested for murder. Turns out that Penny has what we used to know as multiple personality disorder but is now called DID, which is a diagnosis that is difficult to confirm and not fully supported by all mental health practitioners. We don't know if Penny really has it (or what made it happen if she does) or if she is just a brilliant psychopath who is fooling everyone. The chapters alternate between Grace's POV as well as those of Penny's doctor and brother.

I am fascinated by this topic anyway, and the story was well researched while doing a good job of showing the reader how this condition might manifest itself. There were many things that happened which made me question what might be really going on with Penny and who else is involved. This is one of those books where I read late into the night because I needed to see how it all worked out.

When the mystery is revealed, I was absolutely surprised, which is often hard to do with me. I thought I knew some of what was going on and was frustrated that the characters were so slow on the uptake, but turns out I was wrong about a lot of it. The author did a good job of tying up the loose ends and the ending of the book was satisfying.

Overall, I would recommend this book to those who are interested in mental health conditions such as this as well as those who just like a good psychological thriller. I am going to check out some of this author's other books! Thanks to Netgalley for providing me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Complex characters, family drama, mental illness and murder...this book has it all! I couldn’t put it down and just when I thought I had it all figured out, another twist would happen. Great read! Thanks NetGalley for the ARC!

Thanks Netgalley for allowing me to read this book. Grace is shocked to discover that her adopted daughter Penny is charged with murder. Penny is currently in a mental hospital. Several years ago Penny was diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. This book kept me guessing until the very end.

I'm writing this review over hear in Outliers Land...*Waves* 🖐

It appears that I am not nearly as enamored by this one as much as all of my other Goodreads friends. The Goodreads average rating for this is 4.45 stars and I'm over here like..."What you talkin' 'bout Willis, I mean, Goodreads?" 🤦‍♀️ In fact from 50% on I really, really struggled.

* Unlikeable AND uninteresting characters - I don't mind unlikeable but you had better be interesting.😒

* Suspension of disbelief - the outrageous actions of some of the characters was too much. 🤨

* Repetitive, repetitive, repetitive. (See what I did there? 😉)

* Unnecessary side plots - who are you again and why do I care? 🤔

* Ridiculous plot twist - Instead of the jaw drop I was hoping for 😮 I got a case of the eye roll 🙄.

* A useless epilogue that I had no interest in due to the said unnecessary side plot. 🤷‍♀️

I did manage to finish this because I kept hoping at some point I was going to get my AHA moment but it never happened. At nearly 400 pages I feel like an editor should have really gone to town on this to tighten it up and even then I'm not so sure I would have enjoyed it. Oh well, can't win them all. 2 stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for my digital ARC.

This hooked from the first page and entertained me thoroughly with gripping narration and intriguing story. This is a tale of a mother Grace, goes to any lengths to protect her daughter who is perfect in her eyes despite the mounting evidence stacked against her. Grace possesses steely determination, and iron will to take over an uphill battle where the path is made of prickly thorns.

Admire her perseverance, though the path she chose capable of shattering dreams of other children, livelihood. Apart from these struggles, she is riddled by guilt because her split-second decision turned the fate of the family upside down and has unbearable consequences.

This tale starts with cops knocking on Grace’s door to notify her about the murder committed by her teenage daughter Penny. Penny savagely killed her biological mom Rachel. The way the killing had been carried out was utterly spine chilling.

Remaining story is told is Grace’s attempts to prove Penny’s innocence and glimpses of Penny’s childhood through the eyes of brother Jack. My favorite part is Jack’s perspective as it’s very honest, clever, witty, amusing and heart breaking.

This takes the unreliable narrator to a whole new level and rewards us not only with one but a few of them. I am scared of Eve but she is sassy, audacious, and her wicked actions took my breath away. Other alters are also lovely and they make you sad for Penny.

It’s clearly evident how much research Palmer had undertaken from the way the mental health issues and personality disorders were depicted.

I couldn’t have guessed the brilliant twists at the end and it was completely mind blowing.

Overall, it was an engrossing thriller that keeps at the edge of your seat until the last page. Highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and DJ Palmer for the opportunity to read this in exchange for my honest review.

I'm really conflicted about my feelings on this.
The beginning started out really great. I really liked the switch of POVs, the premise, the way the story began. Penny was such an interesting character and I liked the therapy sessions with Mitch as well.
However, I feel like the book sort of lost me halfway through. A lot of scenes were repetitive, the whole plot was just honestly pretty confusing and a lot of things or characters were introduced only to throw off the reader and served no real purpose. I feel like the author tried really hard to avoid anyone guessing the ending.
I do have to say, I didn't manage to figure out how it would end. I also really really liked the courtroom scene in the end, it was super intense and I was basically glued to the book. The way the author played with the crumbs she gave the reader throughout the story was very clever. I was fully convinced that Grace was the killer throughout the entire book. I did find the last twist shocking and unexpected, but also very random. I feel like there were no hints towards this ending, and the way it was explained was pretty weak. I wasn't really a fan of that resolve.
Overall this was a mixed read for me, but I would still definitely recommend it to anyone who likes a good thriller.

The Perfect Daughter by D. J. Palmer was one fascinating read. This story touched on family dynamics, mental illness, multiple personalities, you name it. I found this book very hard to put down, and when I had to, I was constantly thinking about the story and characters, and what was going to happen next. It’s been a very long time since I have read a book that totally captured my attention like this one did. Oh, and the ending, ,You Will Not Believe It! . Don’t peek by any means. I will be purchasing multiple copies for my library, and this book is going on the highly recommended shelf when it’s available for my patrons to read. Thank You to NetGalley, D. J. Palmer and St. Martin’s Press for the opportunity to read this amazing story. I highly recommend this book.

And that is how you write a book! From the first chapter I was captivated, all the way until the very last page. The first chapter sets up the story perfectly. Penny has DID and is charged with a murder she does not know she may have committed. The story is about not only Penny’s journey, but her doctors as well as that of her family. Written by multiple viewpoints, adding to the storyline. This is by far this author’s best piece of work and I find myself sad that the story is over.

This book was fantastic, and it was unlike anything I have read before. There are many books out there that have mental illness, and link it to some type of murder and/or thriller type theme. This book, however, tackled a mental illness in a term that is not usually used. DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), is a term that refers to something that we all have heard of as Multiple Personality Disorder. This is where someone has multiple personality states, and it is often highly sensationalized. The "crazy" and most evil personality usually takes over and does terrible things. This is always the common theme, and it can often be completely misleading as to what people actually go through. This author actually did a lot of research, and consulted with a psychologist to make sure they did a true representation of what its like.
The story follows Grace, whose daughter Penny, has been implicated and arrested for a murder. Penny was found covered in blood at a murder scene with the murder weapon in her hand. It couldn't be more clear except, Penny has DID, and was completely unresponsive at the scene and has no recollection of the murder. Grace,and her family, can't believe that Penny would ever do something like that, so the set out on an investigation to prove the police, and everyone else wrong. Definitely a lot of twists and turns to keep you on your toes!
It truly touched my heart as I have a family member that has DID, and I know what they go through. Thank you to this author for coming at this story the way they did, and doing their research!

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.
DJ Palmer - I knew this book was going to be good based on the last 2 books (Saving Meghan and The New Husband) of his that I read and this book surley did not disappoint!
I haven't seen another author take on Multiple Personality Disorder (DID) in such a real and captivating way since Mary Higgins Clark. He took on this condition with understanding and professional. The story showed many different angles of how this condition affects not only the patient, but their family, their friends, their doctors, even the general public.
I love how Mr. Palmer made us all really connect with Grace, the mom. I felt her joy, her struggles and her turmoil throughout the whole book.
Penny - my heart broke for her so many times throughout this book. Not only because of her condition, but her life growing up.
Those final chapters- wow! I don't want to spoil anything, but one of the revelations about blew my socks off!!!! I didn't see that one coming.
I can't wait to read Mr. Palmer's next book!

I was drawn into the story immediately. It was very interesting with a great plot and a great cast of characters. There were some twists and turns and I did not figure it out. If you are looking for a good read that will hold your interest until the last page this is it.

Started this book with great expectations, given the high rating. But was disappointed...The plot revolves around DID ,a mental disorder afflicting the main character who is accused of committing a murder..The author does try to explain DID to some extent but I couldn't get into the book,. The narrative had some cliche sentences and many scenes repeated. The mother character ,Grace was irritating .The twists were quite easy to guess ,the ending was unbelievable. Started losing patience and skipped paragraphs to get to the final reveal. The lawyer appears to be totally dumb and the doctor equally so. They were so easily manipulated by the mother !!.All in all not a great thriller but an average book for me.

I received an advance copy of, The Perfect Daughter, by D.J. Palmer. Wow, what a book. A mothers adopted daughter, who has multiple personalities, kills her biological mother. Such great writing.

Well this was probably one of the best suspense novels I have read. So many twists, turns and surprises and an ending you won’t see coming. I have a book hangover today and I don’t regret it. Highly recommend to everyone!

A look about mental illness and multiple personalities at its best!!!! DJ Palmer told such an awesome story about all of it. Loved all the characters (even the multiple personalities!) and I could not put the book down. And there’s a nice twist towards the end that I enjoyed too! Best book of 2021 so far! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this early release in exchange for my honest review.

Wow, Usually, it's not difficult to guess the ending of a thriller with all sorts of hints in the chapters, This one was a complete surprise and exciting like finally reaching the top of a gigantic mountain and at last being able to breathe with ease.

This is a fast paced medical thriller about a mother, Grace Francone, that sees a toddler alone in the playground and immediately has a connection with this lost little girl. After discovering that her birth mother is addicted to drugs and not able to take care of her, she starts the proceedings for adoption. Grace and her husband, Arthur, have two sons and she has always wanted a daughter. But this little girl comes with a serious medical condition: Dissociative Identity Disorder or what's usually known as multiple personality disorder. This wasn't apparent for the first few years after adoption. And when they did come out, Grace said, "We were all too in love with Penny to notice" the signs.

The beginning puts you on the edge of your seat when Penny Isabella Francone is now 16 and she's been arrested for murder of her birth mother. The reader dives into her background to learn about the different personalities of this girl: Penny, Eve, Chloe and Ruby -- all with different traits. One of the personalities also has a friend Maria would keep me as a mother up at night.

The most interesting part of the book is about the characteristics of this medical disease and how it can be confusing in the court system. Did "the Devil make her do it?" How does an attorney approach this case? It shows how little we know about mental illness and how difficult it is for parents, siblings and friends to relate. The author also tosses tidbits of related medical information like drugs that may help and how smell is closely linked to memory. This book is on my list of favorites.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGallery for allowing me to read this advanced copy expected to be released in April, 2021.

All I keep saying is OMG!! Our main character is Penny, adopted daughter of Grace and Arthur, who is diagnosed with Disassociative Identity Disorder (DID). Penny is arrested of the brutal murder of her birth mother, Rachel Boyd! She is sent to a psychiatric ward where her parents visit and begins to dissect what actually happened, does Penny truly have DID, or is Penny a murderer? Grace is Penny’s biggest supporter though she too begins to have some doubt. Penny has a few personalities that it took a bit to focus on, but once you do it’s crazy I can’t imagine someone actually having this disorder. The author does a wonderful job developing the characters and giving us a suspenseful, twisty story! Thank you to the author, St. Martin’s Press, and NetGalley for a gifted ebook arc. This is my honest review.

I absolutely love DJ Palmer! This book had me hooked, and I struggled to put it down! Very suspenseful with great twists. I think I could have done without the Mitch side story, but it did make him a likable character. Wonderfully done!

I got to read this book as an ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

Another 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 for Palmer!! I absolutely loved his previous 2 books and loved this one as well. Totally gripping from page 1 till the end. Highly recommend

I don’t understand the hype and glowing reviews about this book. The plot is ludicrous, the ending implausible, and the writing not at all sophisticated. I had high hopes but was very disappointed.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher and NetGalley.