Synopsis

The Perfect Daughter is a thriller that explores the truth or lies behind a teenage girl’s multiple personality disorder, from D.J. Palmer, the author of The New Husband.

Grace never dreamt she’d visit her teenaged daughter Penny in the locked ward of a decaying state psychiatric hospital, charged with the murder of a stranger. There was not much question of her daughter’s guilt. Police had her fingerprints on the murder weapon and the victim’s blood on her body and clothes. But they didn’t have a motive.

Grace blames herself, because that’s what mothers do—they look at their choices and wonder, what if? But hindsight offers little more than the chance for regret.

None of this was conceivable the day Penny came into her life. Then, it seemed like a miracle. Penny was found abandoned, with a mysterious past, and it felt like fate brought Penny to her, and her husband Arthur. But as she grew, Penny’s actions grew more disturbing, and different “personalities” emerged.

Arthur and Grace took Penny to different psychiatrists, many of whom believed she was putting on a show to help manage her trauma. But Grace didn’t buy it. The personas were too real, too consistent. It had to be a severe multiple personality disorder. One determined psychiatrist, Dr. Mitch McHugh, helped discover someone new inside Penny—a young girl named Abigail. Is this the nameless girl who was abandoned in the park years ago? Mitch thinks Abigail is the key to Penny’s past and to the murder. But as Grace and Mitch dig deeper, they uncover dark and shocking secrets that put all their lives in grave danger.

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Review

This book was like a roller coaster….a slow build-up before it dumps you down the hill and leaves your heart pounding not believing what you are reading.

Penny was found in the park by Grace Francone. Grace has two sons from her marriage but always wanted a daughter and when they discover that Penny was left alone and the mother willing to give up her rights to avoid prosecution, she finds this to be the perfect answer to her prayer. What she doesn’t expect is to discover that Penny has DID – Dissociative Identity Disorder – or multiple personalities. I’m sure her family didn’t know what to make of the various personalities and they mostly just went with the flow and didn’t call attention to the alters.

Penny’s two brothers have different feelings about her. One adores her and the other dislikes her intensely. I can see why, Grace seems to put a lot of her attention on Penny and when Penny is accused of killing her birth mother, Grace is willing to lose everything to save Penny. This includes the family restaurant and possibly even her family. But I have to admire and appreciate Grace’s devotion to Penny and her belief that Penny is innocent. As the events unfold, we will learn what caused the split personalities to emerge and I can’t even imagine what horrors Penny observed prior to being found in the park.

This book does move along a bit slower than the last 20% when everything unfolds and we learn the truth. I was quite shocked by the ending and did not expect that to happen. Everything that I believed was turned upside down.

There is one event in the book that turned my stomach tied to animal abuse. While I understand the importance of it to the story and revelations further in the story, it still gave me the heebie jeebies. There are other potential triggers for people including child abuse.

Overall, this was a psychological thriller that left me with a slightly better understanding of DID and how it can impact a family.

We give this 4 1/2 paws up.