I admired the author's skill in allowing the reader to enter the mind of her main character Dr. Jennifer White as she progressively deteriorated into dementia. It was horrifying to share with Jennifer her initial awareness of her disease. At first keeping a diary of her thoughts but inevitably losing more and more current memory and sense of time, Jennifer increasingly confuses past and present until her inevitable mental destruction. The sense of loss was felt by this reader through the skill of LaPlante's writing. The reason I did not give this book 5 stars was because I felt that the secondary plot of having a murder mystery was not necessary in this moving novel. It distracted me and I felt it hurt the unity of the theme of the novel which focused on dementia and it's effect on others.