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Staff Pick
Dr. Jennifer White is a retired hand surgeon, who, unfortunately, is moving toward late-stage dementia. When her best friend is murdered and found with fingers surgically removed from one hand, Dr. White is the prime suspect. Yet, how to build a case, much less convict, on the bewildering ramblings of an Alzheimer's patient? Told from Dr. White's perspective, Turn of Mind is a moody, gauzy, wispy story; the haze of lost memory is almost palpable. As Dr. White's dementia deepens and her thoughts becomes more jagged and disconnected, the story continues to build toward an explosive ending. Completely gripping, Alice LaPlante's great literary mystery will keep you guessing until the end. Recommended By Dianah H., Powells.com
Synopses & Reviews
A stunning first novel, both literary and thriller, about a retired orthopedic surgeon with dementia,
Turn of Mind has already received worldwide attention. With unmatched patience and a pulsating intensity, Alice LaPlante brings us deep into a brilliant woman's deteriorating mind, where the impossibility of recognizing reality can be both a blessing and a curse.
As the book opens, Dr. Jennifer White's best friend, Amanda, who lived down the block, has been killed, and four fingers surgically removed from her hand. Dr. White is the prime suspect and she herself doesn't know whether she did it. Told in White's own voice, fractured and eloquent, a picture emerges of the surprisingly intimate, complex alliance between these life-long friends — two proud, forceful women who were at times each other's most formidable adversaries. As the investigation into the murder deepens and White's relationships with her live-in caretaker and two grown children intensify, a chilling question lingers: is White's shattered memory preventing her from revealing the truth or helping her to hide it?
A startling portrait of a disintegrating mind clinging to bits of reality through anger, frustration, shame, and unspeakable loss, Turn of Mind is a remarkable debut that examines the deception and frailty of memory and how it defines our very existence.
Review
"Turn of Mind is a uniquely entertaining murder mystery. Alice LaPlante's portrayal of the prime suspect's escalating dementia, told from her point of view, is gripping, unnerving, and utterly brilliant." Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author of Still Alice
Review
"Hey, readers, Alice LaPlante has arrived. Turn of Mind features a crazy-smart narrator in a gripping family drama that is itself a brilliant murder mystery. LaPlante possesses both the wild audacity to attempt such a tour-de-force and the pure talent to pull it off. Totally compelling, dark and yet at moments also darkly funny, completely unforgettable. Lord knows what LaPlante will write next. I can't wait." Colin Harrison, author of Afterburn and Risk
Review
"LaPlante's literary novel explores uncharted territory, imagining herself into a mind, one slipping, fading, spinning away from her protagonist....LaPlante tells the story poignantly, gracefully, and artistically. Jennifer White, as a physician, as a wife, as a mother, leaps from the pages as a powerful character....A haunting story masterfully told." Kirkus Reviews(Starred Review)
Review
"An electrifying book, impossible to put down. Gripping, thought-provoking, humane, funny, tragic, it is masterfully done, a tour de force that can't be a first novel — and yet it is. I'll read whatever LaPlante writes next, and the sooner the better." Ann Packer, author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier
About the Author
Alice LaPlante is an award-winning writer who teaches at San Francisco State University and Stanford University, where she was awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship and held a Jones Lectureship. Raised in Chicago, she now lives with her family in Northern California.