The Perfect Daughter

The Perfect Daughter is the perfect thriller.  It is a murder, medical and legal mystery with a psychiatric twist. It begins with sixteen-year-old Penny Francone being arrested for the murder of her biological mother. She was found by the police at the crime scene covered in the victim's blood and holding the murder weapon, a knife. To the police, this is an open and shut case and a jury only has to decide whether Penny will spend the rest of her life in prison or in a mental hospital. As Penny awaits trial in the Massachusetts state mental hospital, she is being treated by Dr. Mitchell McHugh, a psychiatrist battling demons of his own concerning his son's drug addiction. McHugh is not sure that Penny really has dissociative identity disorder, a/k/a multiple personality disorder. His testimony concerning her illness will either make or break Penny's defense. Her attorney plans on defending her with a not guilty by reason of insanity defense. Penny's adoptive mother, Grace Francone, believes her daughter is innocent. One of Penny's identities is Eve, a cold woman who she believes is capable of murder.  Penny is a quiet, polite teen. Her other identities include Ruby, a British girl, and Chloe.

We learn alot about dissociative identity disorder (DID). It was quite interesting to read how Penny's doctor planned on figuring out whether Penny had DID or was fooling everyone. His approach was revealing. Before reading the book I did not know how psychiatrists made this diagnosis. Another big part of the novel was Penny's legal defense. The reader learns the requirements of the law in an insanity defense, particularly with a defendant with DID. Penny's lawyer knows what he has to prove and much of the evidence he needs will come from Dr. McHugh. Penny, herself, is not sure whether she committed the crime. The novel is also a classic murder mystery. When Penny's adoptive mother, physician and attorney delve into her past before she was adopted, the reader is treated to an intricate plot that assumes, falsely, Penny had a good reason to kill her biological mother. Without reading the book, you won't know why or how this could have happened. I don't want to be a spoiler so I won't go any further here. However, I will say that there is a surprising ending.

I highly recommend The Perfect Daughter to mystery lovers.  5 out of 5 stars.