Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlate - A Sad Story of Deterioration of the Mind

Dr Jennifer White was once a brilliant orthopedic surgeon who excelled in hand surgery – now, at the age of sixty-four, she suffers from Alzheimer’s and old age dementia. When her best friend Amanda is found murdered, with four of her fingers surgically removed, Dr White becomes a suspect… and she cannot remember whether she committed the murder or not.



A female police officer tries to find out what happened. It is not easy, as Dr White sometimes fails to recognise her closest family members and has problems with recalling what she has done within the last twenty-four hours. Her friendship with Amanda was marred by self-righteousness and frequent conflicts. None of the two is flawless, both of the women are aloof and grim – which is a good treat for me, however, even I hated the way Jennifer treated the dog.
Aside from that, Turn of Mind is a beautifully written, sad story, narrated in the first person: the reader can see the happenings from Dr White’s point of view. Alice LaPlate has written a precise, painfully credible and gloomy description of the illness.