The Perfect Daughter: is she truly mentally ill or is she playing them all?

The Perfect Daughter by DJ Palmer is a thriller that explores the truth or lies behind a teenage girl’s Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Penny Francone is 16 years old and suffers from DID. She has three alters or personalities: Ruby, the one with the British accent, Chloe, the perfectionist who strives for straight A’s in school and then Eve, a spiteful, vicious and vindictive one. They all live in Penny or do they? Grace Francone’s world falls apart when her daughter, Penny, had been accused of murder. To some, her guilt is beyond any doubt as she was found alone in the victim’s apartment, covered in blood and holding the murder weapon. The victim’s identity and her secret relationship to Penny provides the perfect motive. With everything so cut and dry, All the jury needs to decide is where Penny will serve her sentence: a secure mental institution or a maximum-security prison. As Penny awaits trial in a state mental hospital, she is treated by Dr. Mitch McHugh, a psychiatrist who is battling his own demons. Fueled by Grace’s determination to understand the why behind her daughter’s terrible crime, they set out in search of the truth. Is Penny truly mental ill or is she playing them all? 

Last year, I read and reviewed DJ Palmer’s The New Husband and loved it. When the opportunity came to review his new release, I couldn’t wait. It was so worth it. The Perfect Daughter is another great book by DJ Palmer. Many in the psychiatric community don't believe that Dissociative Identity Disorder even exists and that the “alters” or split personalities is just the clever ploy of a highly manipulative mind of a psychopath. Mr. Palmer doesn’t shy away from the ins and outs of this horrifying crime and takes an honest look at DID and the possible reasons why the mind may split the way it does. He also delves into the stigma of mental illness and the snap judgment of those who do not understand the mentally ill. It is a haunting and terrifying story with twists and turns that no one will see coming. The story will keep you guessing and on your toes. You will be hooked from the opening chapter until the very end when the shocking truth is revealed. After reading The New Husband, I would expect nothing less from DJ Palmer. I highly recommend The Perfect Daughter. 

The Perfect Daughter will be available April 20, 2021 in hardcover, eBook and audiobook. 

Split: movie review

Split is the 2016 movie starring James McAvoy portrays a young man with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) with 24 distinct personalities. Although it is stated the main character has 24 distinct personalities, only three was really seen on film: Dennis (the neat freak), Patricia (the manipulator) and Hedwig (the naïve 9 year old). One of those personalities abducts three teenage girls on their way home from a birthday party. Claire (played by Haley Lu Richardson), Marcia (played by Jessica Sula) and Casey (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) must learn to navigate the puzzle of this man’s mind in order to survive. With haunting memories of her own past, Casey tries to build a rapport with this man in order to help them escape. In true M. Night Shyamalan fashion, this movie has many twists and turns.

I am not a M. Night Shyamalan fan and having a movie with a patient with DID is tricky. DID is very controversial and rare to manifest in real life. Most DID patients are not psychic or even a danger to those around them as it is portrayed in this film as well as others. Shyamalan took inspiration from the real case of Billy Milligan, a man who claimed his other personalities perpetrated the crimes he stood trial for. I loved James McAvoy’s performance. He is simply amazing as he seamlessly creates and switches between his character’s personalities. He was able to make these personalities believable and frightening. I also enjoyed Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as Casey. She plays the unpopular, introverted and awkward Casey so convincingly that you are trying to figure her out as well as her captor. The audience may question if she’s really a victim or could she be an accomplice. The movie focuses so much on the interaction between Casey and her captor, it makes sense that McAvoy’s and Taylor-Joy’s performance needed to be spot on.

The main aspect of Split I didn’t like is the runtime. The runtime of the movie is 1 hour and 57 minutes and you feel every minute. In classic M. Night Shyamalan style, the movie is painstakingly slow until the final act and then it feels rushed. Although I have seen other movies with longer run times but some of them you don’t notice the time. And I will admit that every detail needs to be seen in each minute, blink or leave the room and you will miss something important. You may not know it at the time but when the movie wraps up, it will make sense. I will also admit that with McAvoy’s performance, you are draw in and mesmerized. If you are going to watch this film, I recommend watching it when you are well rested because if you doze off at any time (like my husband did), you will miss so much. If you aren’t prepared to pay attention, you aren’t going to enjoy the movie.

Majority of critics and audiences praised this movie. One critic praised the twist at the end as Shyamalan’s best since the twist in The Sixth Sense. First, I won’t say what it is as it would be a spoiler. However, I would not call this particular scene a twist, it’s more of a set up for a possible future film. Some critics were not so kind to Split. One reviewer called it “exploitive trash” (the movie explores the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse) as “he returns to what he loves to do: use cheap horror tropes to create his own harebrained mythos” (David Edelstein, Vulture.com). I thought the subject of sexual abuse was done very carefully. It’s alluded to enough that the audience understands one aspect of the character’s past and how it affects his or her present. Another reviewer commented that once again a Shyamalan movie is set in Philadelphia. My response: so what? Most of John Hughes films are set in the Chicago area and no one criticized him for that (at least not to my knowledge). Overall, the reviews I read came into one of two camps: fans and those who enjoy Shyamalan’s films and those who do not and hate it simply because it is a M. Night Shyamalan film.

In conclusion, Split is the first M. Night Shyamalan movie I’ve been able to enjoy since the horrible ending to The Village (2004). Even if you are not a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, I recommend that you give the movie a try. James McAvoy’s performance makes the movie so worthwhile. Despite its flaws and inaccuracies, Split is an engaging film which will leave you guessing as to this man’s motive and how everything resolve. Even if you aren’t a M. Night Shyamalan fan, give Split a try, if even it’s just for James McAvoy’s performance, you may be surprised.