Review: Psychological mystery that requiers suspension of belief--Warning Spoiler Ahead
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 08 11, 2013
Could not enjoy this book because the whole premise is based on incorrect information.SPOILER ALERT*************************************************************There is no medication to treat multiple personality disorder. Some medications will assist with relieving symptoms such as antidepressants and tranquilizers for anxiety; but one for "integrating personalities" would not be possible. Medications only work if there is a chemical imbalance in the brain that the medication can correct. MPD is uncommon and little is understood about it except it is usually linked to a severe childhood trauma. Since a medication for MPD is a key part of the story the entire book did not ring true for me.The psychiatrist is a cliche right out of "The Silence of the Lambs". He cares only about publicity and praise for himself and the welfare of his patients never enters his mind. I don't think very many (if any) doctors in charge of state mental facilities actually see patients; most of their time is taken up with trying to solve budget problems. The doctor described by the author wouldn't be caught dead running a state hospital.The book needs more editing. I give e-books the benefit of the doubt that the print book was scanned and small errors in typing may be scanner mistakes but some of the unusual word usage in this book could not be blamed on a scanner. Such as "undo" when undue was meant to be used, "winded" for wound, "dreary, aesthetic surroundings" when dreary and aesthetic are almost opposite descriptions, "his" for this (maybe a scanner error), "more interesting new happening elsewhere" when news should have been used, "refuge" for refuse, "weighted" for weighed, and those are only a few in the last third of the book. They were getting irritating by then so I started keeping track.There really isn't much to recommend this book. The author used tiny cliff hangers at the end of each chapter so that seemed to keep the story moving, but other than that there wasn't much mystery worth reading. The story stands alone but it is only the first of two or three books in a series. By the time this book ended I didn't care enough to want to read the next one in the series.Overview of themes: Very little romance, no overt sex, author set a good foundation for why the heroine cared about her friend's welfare, lots of "it's my fault" and "it's your fault" type behavior in the end, possible demon possession, murder, suicide, weak story resolution (probably to allow for next book in series).