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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
4.5 stars. Very engrossing. Kept me on edge through the novel.
I felt the ending was like a big bow on a package, tied up neatly with a flourish. A bit too neat.
I felt the ending was like a big bow on a package, tied up neatly with a flourish. A bit too neat.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Title: The Perfect Daughter
Author: D.J. Palmer
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Thriller
The Perfect Daughter is one of those thrillers that will have you interested from the very first sentence and the very first page! It begins dark and gory; with a suspect covered in blood and no memory of what happened, so you know it’s going to be good!
The Perfect Daughter is a thriller that explores the truth or lies behind a teenage girl’s multiple personality disorder; more specifically dissociative identity disorder (DID).
It’s a nightmare for mother, Grace, to have her teenaged daughter Penny locked up in a decaying psychiatric hospital, charged with murder. The only question is: Did Penny do it? Or one of her other personalites: Chloe, Ruby, Eve; or is she lying? Grace is determined to get to the bottom of things. With the help of Dr. Mitch McHugh they dig deeper and deeper until they uncover dark and shocking secrets in the past. Are they all in danger!?
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This one wasn’t my favorite. It kind of drug in the middle and was very repetitive. I’m not a big fan of mental illness thrillers, so it’s probably more of a it’s not you it’s me situation. I also didn’t care for the her brothers and their narrated chapters didn’t offer any knowledge, paranoia, or suspicion like maybe they were intended. They simply didn’t work for me.
Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for honoring my request to read and review this eARC. #gifted
Out today 4/20/21 Happy Publication Day!
Author: D.J. Palmer
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Genre: Thriller
The Perfect Daughter is one of those thrillers that will have you interested from the very first sentence and the very first page! It begins dark and gory; with a suspect covered in blood and no memory of what happened, so you know it’s going to be good!
The Perfect Daughter is a thriller that explores the truth or lies behind a teenage girl’s multiple personality disorder; more specifically dissociative identity disorder (DID).
It’s a nightmare for mother, Grace, to have her teenaged daughter Penny locked up in a decaying psychiatric hospital, charged with murder. The only question is: Did Penny do it? Or one of her other personalites: Chloe, Ruby, Eve; or is she lying? Grace is determined to get to the bottom of things. With the help of Dr. Mitch McHugh they dig deeper and deeper until they uncover dark and shocking secrets in the past. Are they all in danger!?
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ This one wasn’t my favorite. It kind of drug in the middle and was very repetitive. I’m not a big fan of mental illness thrillers, so it’s probably more of a it’s not you it’s me situation. I also didn’t care for the her brothers and their narrated chapters didn’t offer any knowledge, paranoia, or suspicion like maybe they were intended. They simply didn’t work for me.
Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for honoring my request to read and review this eARC. #gifted
Out today 4/20/21 Happy Publication Day!
3.5 rounded up. The first half was amazing, as I had expected. I loved his book The New Husband, so I was eager for this one. The last half was a little too much and I found myself skipping paragraphs and it didn't much matter. The ending was a little ridiculous, but that likely stems from my years in law and experiences in the courtroom. It was too far fetched for me. But it was a good book. The mind is so fascinating! I feel horrible for people who suffer from DID and other mental illnesses. It sounds like torture to be trapped in a mind like that with no control. For those reasons, I would recommend the book.
I'm a hardcore romance reader, but I love to mix in some psychological thriller and suspense novels in here and there. I enjoyed D.J. Palmer's The New Husband last year so I was excited to dive in to The Perfect Daughter. I have been fascinated by multiple personality disorder, or dissociative identity disorder as it is now called, since reading and watching Sybil in the 80s. This book was filled with interesting characters, 0=twists and turns and quite a few red herrings. I found the writing compelling and was immediately drawn in. The ending was a surprise to me and wrapped the loose ends up nicely. What a ride!
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Finally! A psychological thriller that is actually about psychiatry and mental illness. I loved Dr. Mitch and the way he explained his thoughts about his patients and why he was going to try different approaches. The scenes in the secure mental hospital were very realistic and very disturbing and you couldn't ask for a better unreliable narrator than a teen who had been diagnosed with DID. (Dissociative Identity Disorder). The ending was a big surprise until the final courtroom scenes. But it managed to tie in all of the loose ends and was very satisfying. I hope this is just the beginning of a series and we will be seeing more of Dr. Mitch.
Listen, this got wild toward the end in a very excessive way, and I don't have DID so I have no idea how accurate the portrayal is, but what I appreciated about it is that it didn't demonize the perfect daughter in question and it didn't use her mental illness as a way to further stigmatize mentally ill people. Often, in thrillers and horror narratives, mental illness is the boogeyman and mentally ill people are evil and violent and scary, and I'm so tired of that. I can't stand reading or watching one more thing like that.
I hated Grace, the mother and the main narrator of the story. It's nice that she believed in her daughter and never wavered, but she was so awful to follow. She did such stupid things and was so reckless with her own safety and the safety of her family, and she was just irritating to listen to on top of that. Honestly most of the characters weren't great, but the doctor evaluating Penny's case was good and I enjoyed his arc, and the brother who was writing his film diary about the case was likable enough.
But speaking of brothers, the other brother was...hilariously awful, and the way he was just forgiven for everything he did at the end with barely any discussion was unbelievable. A lot in this book was unbelievable, but it was an enjoyable ride and it ended in a satisfying way, so I'm okay with it.
I hated Grace, the mother and the main narrator of the story. It's nice that she believed in her daughter and never wavered, but she was so awful to follow. She did such stupid things and was so reckless with her own safety and the safety of her family, and she was just irritating to listen to on top of that. Honestly most of the characters weren't great, but the doctor evaluating Penny's case was good and I enjoyed his arc, and the brother who was writing his film diary about the case was likable enough.
But speaking of brothers, the other brother was...hilariously awful, and the way he was just forgiven for everything he did at the end with barely any discussion was unbelievable. A lot in this book was unbelievable, but it was an enjoyable ride and it ended in a satisfying way, so I'm okay with it.
This DJ Palmer book started off with a bang and never let up. We are introduced to Penny when the police find her covered in blood holding a knife, standing over her birth mother who has just been brutally murdered. Much of the novel is from the POV of Penny’s adoptive mother Grace, who found Penny in a park when she was a little girl and later adopted her. Penny suffers from dissociative disorder, and the novel is part mental health facility psychological thriller, part legal thriller as readers try to piece together what really happened that night from Penny’s alters—Eve, Chloe and Ruby—in the weeks leading up to her trial. But does Penny truly have DID, a diagnosis that has split the psychiatric community, with half claiming it doesn’t exist, or is something else at play? All the DJ Palmer books I’ve read have featured crazy twists at the end, and this was no exception. One of my favorite books of his that I’ve read to date!
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It is twisty thriller/mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat. I read the book in one sitting what with all the twists and turns it had, very chapter bringing a new angle to the story and all of it being set in a mental institution. We get to know a lot about DID and although I am not sure if the book manages to portray an accurate representation of the disorder, the book does go in depth into the subject and tries to educate the viewer on it. I loved the multiple POVs we got, especially the one from Jack which showed us the sibling dynamics with Penny and compared it in contrast to Ryan’s behavior.
What kept me from rounding it up to a 4 star was the cliche and cheesy dialogues for the various personalities that Penny had. Also, we literally get one measly chapter from Penny’s perspective which I felt is too less. Grace is too ready to pin the murder on anyone but her own daughter which I found to be a little too much(she was ready to accuse another teenager, Maria of the same thing with no remorse).
Overall it’s a thrilling read with an amazing twist towards the end that totally makes up for any flaws in the writing.
What kept me from rounding it up to a 4 star was the cliche and cheesy dialogues for the various personalities that Penny had. Also, we literally get one measly chapter from Penny’s perspective which I felt is too less. Grace is too ready to pin the murder on anyone but her own daughter which I found to be a little too much(she was ready to accuse another teenager, Maria of the same thing with no remorse).
Overall it’s a thrilling read with an amazing twist towards the end that totally makes up for any flaws in the writing.