ABANDONED. Kay has a split personality in this horror/thriller from the 80's or 90's

[Lisa]

I only have vague memories of reading this when I was a teenager. The main character's name is Kay, and she developed split personality disorder from being abused as a child. Some of her personalities were male, enabling her to perform violent acts which were not connected to her small physical stature. It may have had to do with kidnapping children, but I can't recall for sure.

This was likely published by Zebra in the 80's or early 90's during their horror heydays. After having exhausted my search capabilities, I'm stretching for some help here. Anything is appreciated, thanks!

[``Laurie]

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/6...

Maybe this list will help you find your book. Good luck!

[Tab]

Was this book for teens or adults?
Part of a series?
Anything about the cover?
Time period/location story takes place?

[Lisa]

Laurie, thanks for the suggestions but I'm pretty sure it's too obscure to be on a "best" list.

Tab, I would say it was geared towards late teens and not likely part of a series. I don't remember the period being a big part of the story, so likely an 80's USA setting. I honestly can't remember anything about the cover.

I appreciate any and all leads; this group is awesome!

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Lisa, you'd be AMAZED at what makes it onto "best" lists, especially those compiled by non-critics. So I'd check out that link, just to be on the safe side.

[Lisa]

Ann, I did look through the list, but didn't find it in there. The majority of those titles have been written in the last 10 years, save for the classics, Stephen King, and Agatha Christie. After eliminating the obvious, I read the synopsis for many of the ones I'd never heard of.

Thanks!

[Tab]

Here is a list for 1980s Zebra horror books
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

Here is one of 1990s
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/8...

[Lisa]

Hi Tab, thanks for the suggestions. I've already looked through those lists and didn't come up with anything. Still searching...

[Ayshe]

Nobody Lives Forever appears to have split personality disorder from being abused as a child, but it's (view spoiler)[Laurel (hide spoiler)], not Kay.

[Lisa]

Ayshe, thanks for the lead. As much as my hopes got up that I may have been mistaken on the name (it's one of the few parts I'm sure about), this is not the end of my search.

I'd like to say that as a new member to the site, this has already turned up more than the last few weeks worth of searching databases. If only I could find one that has character names as one of the parameters.

[Ann aka Iftcan]

Some of the books here on GR have character names. It just depends on how dedicated the GR Librarians are about going back in and putting the names in. But considering how many books there are, and how much work the Librarians do, not sure that we'll ever get all of the names attached to the books.

[Tab]

Do you remember some of the feats the little girl was able to accomplish?

[``Laurie]

Could it be a book by Thomas Tryon perhaps?

[Lisa]

Laurie, I checked the descriptions for all the Thomas Tryon books I could find. None of them matched, but thanks for the additional lead.

Tab, I'm not sure this will help, as it's vague; (view spoiler)[I recall a scene where Kay (as a male personality) either entered or escaped by scaling a tall fence. This was one way she was not suspected due to her physical size not being consistent with someone that could climb or jump such a height. (hide spoiler)]

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

You can see a list of character names on GR, sort of. If you're willing to page through hundreds or thousands of pages. They're in alphabetical order:

https://www.goodreads.com/characters/

If you'd like the list to be better organized, or searchable, or at least be able to search it one letter at a time, join the Feedback Group and ask for it. It's a feature widely ignored by GR staff....

[Kris]

Lobstergirl wrote: "You can see a list of character names on GR, sort of. If you're willing to page through hundreds or thousands of pages. They're in alphabetical order:

https://www.goodreads.com/characters/ ... "

Oh, I didn't know that. Try using Google to search these Goodreads character pages:

Google search -- site:www.goodreads.com/characters/ "name of my character" (add more search terms, if possible)

[Lobstergirl, au gratin]

I figured there was a better way. Thanks Kris.

[Lisa]

Lobstergirl and Kris, thanks for the added search suggestions! I went through the characters named "Kay" starting on page 1706 of the goodreads character list, but didn't find what I'm looking for.

If anything else comes to mind about the book I'm looking for, I'll be sure to add it here.

[Tab]

Lisa, do you remember how old Kay is in the book? Did the story begin with the girl being abused? Or, did it start after the girl was older?

[Lisa]

Tab, thanks for asking since I didn't specify the timeline order. As I recall, the story begins with Kay as an adult (20's or 30's) and later reveals things from her childhood. Another possibly important fact is that she is unaware of the other personalities.

[Lisa]

Hi all! This is Lisa's husband, Jason, and I've hijacked her account in hopes of a Christmas miracle. I know she has been trying to recall this book for a long time, with too many memory gaps to get it right. I'd just like to bump this to the top for one last look as I go over all of the suggestions here and retrace search steps.

Thanks again, everyone, for all of the helpful suggestions!

-Jason

[Annamariah]

I just read this topic again and suddenly remembered reading a Reader's Digest condensed book like this when I was younger. Looking through the list of those I found the one I've read, which is All Around the Town by Mary Higgins Clark. It was originally published in 1992, so the time frame fits. The protagonist is called Laurie, but her last name is Kenyon – could that be confused with Kay?

-- Actually, I just googled a bit more and apparently one of her personalities IS called Kay! I found a Kirkus review which says: "Back in 1974, four-year-old Laurie Kenyon was abducted from her posh New Jersey home by Bic and Opal Hawkins, a pair of hippies who raped and terrorized her for two years before the heat got so close they turned her loose. Now she's an honor student at Clinton College who unwittingly harbors four personalities--sexy Leona, truculent Kay, four-year-old Debbie, and a nine-year-old boy--that she's developed to keep her childhood memories at bay."

[Lisa]

Annamariah, thank you so much for this suggestion! I've read every synopsis I can find, and while I'm not entirely sure this is what Lisa has been looking for, it's the best match I've found by far. I'll be adding this to her Kindle tomorrow, with fingers crossed that it's the one! I'll update here and let you know when I find out if this mystery has been solved.

Kindest regards,
Jason

[Annamariah]

Let's hope that's the one :) Merry Christmas!

[Amber (Daisymau)]

Another book to add to my towering TBR pile.

[Lisa]

This is Jason again. I wanted to thank everyone again for all of the input and suggestions. Lisa enjoyed the Mary Higgins Clark book, All Around the Town, but it's not the one. We will continue to search, or I'll try dabbling in writing and piece one together using the framework!

[Tab]

Another guess:
Sibs by F. Paul Wilson? The main character's name is Kara. It deals with (view spoiler)[twins with multiple personalities and an abusive childhood (hide spoiler)].

Here is the link to the Kirkus review. Heads up: it contains spoilers
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-re...

[Bonnie]

It's been over 40 years since I read this in high school psychology class, so I can't remember everything about it. The reason I am suggesting this is because Kay Lenz played Lisa in the Hallmark movie.

Lisa, Bright and Dark by John Neufeld

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070322/r...

[Amber (Daisymau)]

I'm going through a list of books with multiple personalities and found this book

Second Child by John Saul

[Rebecca]

I am pretty sure it's not Second Child, I've read that at least 3 times in the last 25 years. That's more possession than split personality.

[Amber (Daisymau)]

Thank you, Rebecca. I wasn't sure.

I've been doing google searches for fictional multiple personality books and found this

author Daniel Keyes wrote several books with multiple personalities

[Kris]

No response, moving to Abandoned folder.

Lisa (OP) was last active on the site in January 2018.