Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Dr. Jennifer White is a renowned orthopedic surgeon who specializes in hand surgery. She has recently retired after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. She is a widow who lives with a full-time caretaker. Her daughter is a professor at University of Chicago, and her son is a lawyer with a serious substance abuse problem. Jennifer's best friend, Amanda, is murdered, and Jennifer is the prime suspect. The problem is, though, that she can't remember if she committed the crime or not.

When I first started reading Turn of Mind, I was thrown off by the lack of quotation marks in the dialogue. I quickly became engrossed in the story and didn't even notice the lack of quotes. Jennifer's disease causes her to have lucid moments and moments when she has no idea of what's going on around her. At times, the book is heartbreaking to read, because you know that her family isn't being honest with her and that they're taking advantage of her. Throughout the book, you get glimpses into Jennifer and Amanda's friendship, and you wonder why they're friends at all. They certainly have an unusual relationship, and you can almost see why Jennifer killed Amanda. If in fact, she did kill her.

Alice LaPlante does an excellent job of building suspense and keeps readers guessing. I really enjoyed this book, and would highly recommend it.

Carrie