Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante

Is the perfect murder the one you can’t forget or the one you can’t remember?

Dr. Jennifer White, a brilliant former surgeon in the early grips of Alzheimer’s, is suspected of murdering her best friend, Amanda. Amanda’s body was found brutally disfigured — with four of her fingers cut off in a precise, surgical manner. As the police pursue their investigation and Jennifer searches her own mind for fractured clues to Amanda’s death, a portrait emerges of a complex relationship between two uncompromising, unsentimental women, lifelong friends who were at times each other’s most formidable adversaries.

Writing a fiction novel, crime or otherwise, is hard at the best of times. Add a sensitive subject to the mix – Cancer, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s to name just three – and you’ve guaranteed yourself triple the workload as an author (or at least you should have if you want to do the job right!). Get the balance wrong or the tone slightly off key and you’ve opened up a can of worms with the potential to alienate and make a lot of readers angry. Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante is most definitely one such novel.

Turn of Mind, LaPlante’s debut novel, is certainly no run of the mill crime novel. In fact I’d go as far to say you couldn’t class this as your typical crime novel at all. The book follows Jennifer’s debilitating journey as she fights Alzheimer’s, told through her eyes throughout, and examines the effects it has on her family and friends. Turn of Mind is an incredibly powerful novel, handled with an infinite amount of care and sensitivity that entertains and educates from beginning to end.

I have no doubt that a number of people will be put off reading this book due to the harrowing subject matter – either by first hand experience looking after a friend or relative or the simple desire not to discover the ins and outs of the disease – and although I would never actively search for a book of this type, I would without question be the poorer for not having read such a wonderful novel. I knew very little about Alzheimer’s before I read LaPlante’s novel and although my knowledge is still in its infancy I have discovered a huge amount of respect for the caregivers and family members who face the disease on a daily basis.

At our Alzheimer’s support group today, we talk about what we hate. Hate is a powerful emotion, our young leader says. Ask a dementia patient who she loves, and she draws a blank. As her who she hates, and the memories come flooding in.

As the book matures Jennifer’s mind slowly but surely disintegrates into a world of confusion, doubt, insecurity, anger and betrayal. The way LaPlante introduces this change in the narrative is nothing short of breathtaking. On a good day Jennifer recalls events from the past, recognises her family and friends and relives her glory days as a prolific surgeon. On a bad day, which happen with an increasing regularity as the book develops, she fails to recognise Magdalena her live in carer, believes her husband James is alive and simply at work and forgets to undress before taking a shower.

Halfway through a discussion Jennifer’s mind has the tendency to wander – it never fails to surprise me. One minute she is fully aware of her surroundings and the next, without warning, her mind travels back in time leaving her visitors as confused as she is. Not only do we follow Jennifer’s fight, we learn how her closest friends and family adapt to the change and her mood swings. Patience is called for and although not always readily available they do their best to protect her.

Characterisation is unsurprisingly focused on the doctor but LaPlante gives more than enough air time to the rest of her family and friends. In doing so she introduces enough doubt and mystery to keep everyone happy but by the end of the book I detested Mark, Jennifer’s son, as a character. I didn’t like him at all and although he certainly adds an element of confusion and greed to the novel there will be few readers who will like him – although more than enough families will have a Mark in their midst!

Fiona and I go out to lunch. Chinese. My fortune: It doesn’t take a good memory to make good memories. You couldn’t make this shit up, says Fiona.

The crime itself is well thought out and although it takes a supporting role in Turn of Mind, LaPlante develops the investigation confidently. The investigating officer, no stranger to supporting a loved one with Alzheimer’s, handles Jennifer with the sensitivity and respect you would expect. The investigation comes to a head in the fourth and final part of the book and although not a book full of twists and turns, there’s more than enough doubt to keep everyone guessing.

A truly remarkable and powerful novel, Turn of Mind is a book I would unhesitatingly recommend. The book and its contents will stay with me for quite some time.

Published by Harvill Secker Turn of Mind is available as a hardcover and Kindle

For more information on Alzheimer’s please take time to visit the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research.