Battered Mind - Sylvia Stein

On the night of May 26, 2023, Sadie Carlyle's perfect life shattered in an instant.

When her husband Dante arrives at their Chapel Hill home for dinner, a single gunshot changes everything. Dante is left clinging to life. Sadie is found covered in blood, holding the gun-with no memory of what happened.

As Sadie faces murder charges, her defense attorney Miranda Hamilton uncovers a terrifying truth: Sadie isn't just suffering from memory loss. She's been living with a hidden part of herself she never knew existed.

The only person Sadie can truly count on is her one true friend, Anna-and Anna has been carrying a devastating secret for eighteen years.

In a courtroom where justice and trauma collide, Sadie must confront the teenage sexual assault that fractured her mind and created a split she can no longer deny. But can the truth about what really happened that night set her free, or will it destroy everything she has left?

BATTERED MIND is a gripping psychological legal thriller about survival, dissociative identity disorder, and the price of buried trauma. Perfect for readers of The Silent Patient, The Last Thing He Told Me, and courtroom dramas that explore the devastating impact of sexual violence.

A story about the minds we break to survive-and the courage it takes to become whole again.

Content Warning: This novel contains depictions of teenage sexual assault, trauma, dissociative identity disorder, gun violence, and PTSD.