“Dangerous Minds” by Priscilla Masters: Gratuitous Symptoms of Multiple Personality

“From deep inside, her naughty voice spoke up in her own defense.

“But she still got herself murdered, didn't she?” (1, p. 20).

Comment: An italicized voice inside the protagonist’s head, suggestive of an opinionated alternate personality.

“For someone like Barclay, a voice growled inside her, there is no ‘enough.’ "(1, p. 98).

Comment: As above.

“Then she gathered herself up and continued in a voice she hardly recognized as her own: prim, tight-mouthed, business-like…Heart tumbling over head, head tumbling over heart. She was dizzy, then that voice came out again” (1, p. 129).

Comment: The alternate personality takes over and she speaks in its voice.

“She [her alternate personality] spoke only to her reflection in the bathroom mirror [her regular personality] What are you waiting for, Claire…” (1, p. 133).

Comment: Since no character in this novel is labelled as having multiple personality, the above quotations are probably inadvertent reflections of the author’s normal, creative version of multiple personality disorder, which I call “multiple personality trait.”

1. Priscilla Masters. Dangerous Minds. Surrey England, Severn House, 2016.