Author: D.J. Palmer
Publication Date: 20 March 2021
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Page Count: 384
Reading Method: Physical ARC [thank you to the publisher for the advance copy]
Synopsis:
Penny Francone, age sixteen, is a murderer. Her guilt is beyond doubt: she was found alone in the victim’s apartment, covered in blood, holding the murder weapon. The victim’s identity and her secret relationship to Penny give Penny the perfect motive, sealing the deal. All the jury needs to decide now is where Penny will serve out her sentence. Will she be found not guilty by reason of insanity, as her lawyer intends to argue? Or will she get a life sentence in a maximum-security prison?
Already reeling from tragedy after the sudden passing of her beloved husband a few years before, now Grace is on her knees, grateful that Massachusetts doesn’t allow the death penalty.
As Penny awaits trial in a state mental hospital, she is treated by Dr. Mitchell McHugh, a psychiatrist battling demons of his own. Grace’s determination to understand the why behind her daughter’s terrible crime fuels Mitch’s resolve to help the Francone family. Together, they set out in search of the truth about Penny, but discover instead a shocking hidden history of secrets, lies, and betrayals that threatens to consume them all.
Review:
Hello love muffins! I received The Perfect Daughter a little while ago in the cutest PR package – including a color changing mug – and now it’s time to share my thoughts on the book! The Perfect Daughter is a psychological thriller set in a mental hospital. It’s bound to be good, right?
Plot:
The plot of The Perfect Daughter (furthermore referred as TPD) was incredibly fascinating. Penny has committed murder – but was it really her? The only person who can really answer that question is Penny herself. But with a DID (dissociative identity disorder) diagnosis, Penny has retreated and her alter, Eve, has taken the lead. While Eve is locked in the mental hospital, her mother, Grace, and a team of professionals work to discover what really happened the night the police found Penny covered in blood and holding a knife.
In addition to the main plot, there are several little plots happening. The family business is failing, one of Penny’s brothers is writing a screenplay about the incident, the other brother is acting strangely, and the doctor in charge of Penny’s case has his own family drama. Let’s discuss these for a second.
The family business failing made sense, and Penny’s brother, Ryan, coming back to take over for the business made sense – but it was worked up to be a bigger deal because he dropped out of college to do so and his attitude is completely out of whack. We do eventually learn why he’s acting so strangely and I found it to be completely dissatisfying.
Dr. Mitch’s family is struggling because his son is a heroin addict. I don’t mean to be callous, but I did not care about this little side drama one bit. It felt really out of place, distracted from the main story, and didn’t add much (if anything) to the story. Towards the end, I started skimming these parts because I just didn’t care.
Characters:
Grace, Penny’s mother, is our “main” character, though we see through the eyes of other characters as the story goes on. She is tenacious, caring, and wholly believes that her daughter is innocent. She doesn’t always make the right decisions but she’s trying her absolute best to fight for her family.
Dr. Mitch, the doctor assigned to Penny’s case, is incredibly patient. He takes the time to talk to the patients and understand where they are coming from, in a setting that isn’t always the best for the patients – thanks to power tripping guards. Though he’s new to the hospital, he works to make sure it is a better place and I really liked that about him. Some of the techniques he applied to try to draw out Penny’s alters were brilliant.
Though the story is about Penny, we don’t really ever get her perspective, so the reader’s impression of her is based on looking through the eyes of others.
Writing:
There is so much to this story, and I thought it was done quite well. The beginning of the story sucked me right in, but then it started to really drag. It just felt very information heavy and redundant for the entire middle portion of the book. Like…really redundant. But once the trial starts, it picks back up.
We are giving the story in multiple perspectives and I didn’t really have a preference. We get to see things through the eyes of Grace, Dr. Mitch, and we occasionally switched to the screenplay writer’s perspective throughout the story and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it. Sometimes it was really helpful and provided more insight into Penny’s past and the signs she exhibited leading up to this point. Other times it felt like we were just repeating what had already happened in a different font.
There was a lot of information included about DID and it really felt like the author was fairly educated and wasn’t trying to sensationalize anything about it. Disclaimer – I don’t know much about DID and don’t know anyone with it, so I may not have been the best person to notice if there was problematic rep.
Overall:
Overall, this was an enjoyable read – though, I think some of the middle section could have been edited out a bit. The story was interesting and the characters were (for the most part) likeable. The ending is quite the shock!
[…] The Perfect Daughter (physical arc) […]