All of Us by A.F. Carter ~ a Review

by MK French

Carolyn Grant had been subjected to extreme and horrible sexual and physical abuse from her biological father, then by the foster family, she was sent to. Even after she aged out of the system, she continued to be exploited by others around her. She had fractured into several different people all sharing the same body, all with the goal of surviving one day at a time. This is challenged when Eleni, the promiscuous personality propositions an undercover police officer and then is sent to a psychiatric facility and is under protective custody. It’s complicated further when her father is released from prison, and then when he’s found dead. Are any of the six personalities capable of murder?

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June 2020; Mysterious Press; 978-0802149435
audio, ebook, print (208 pages); thrillers

This is a fascinating concept, and thankfully the dissociative identity disorder is treated with respect and is factually represented here. I can easily see this novel being a book club recommendation because of the commentary on various aspects of life as a mentally disabled person, treatment by therapists using their position for a sense of personal gain, police interaction, and the question of autonomy. Of course, that is an especially fraught kind of life when there are alters cohabiting the same body. There are complications to living a fractured life, and they’re dealt with and explained in the text. Carolyn is the legal name for the body, and she lives a very solitary life. But each of the personalities are distinct and separate, and more than just the splinter that they had formed from. The way they dress, speak, and think are all distinctly different, and the chapters from their POV’s reflect that. Working with the court-appointed therapist forced them to stop jockeying for primary position and instead to work together, and their approaches are as separate as their personalities.

So many of the other background characters are something of caricatures, but that may be an artifact of the different alters’ fractured way of interacting with them. The lawyer representing Carolyn for mental health court is a gem in the system, and warns her regarding the tricks police can use to try to trip her up, which also serves the reader as a warning that things will go sideways. It does, and it’s not until the very end that we realize the truth of Hank Grant’s murder. It’s a bittersweet kind of ending, but fitting overall.

Buy All of Us at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever. 

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