Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher as well as the author for this ARC.
#NetGalley #Don’tCallMeBeth #SimonJemmer
Title: Don’t Call Me Beth
Author: Simon Jenner
Release Date: December 23, 2021

This book is a deliciously dark psychological thriller. Protagonist Karen Harper is relegated to an orphanage when she is ten years old. There she witnesses the rape and murder of her twin sister. As an adult, she has gone down a dark road of anonymous sex. Only her only friend and her therapist keep her sane. After a one-nighter that results in a suicide, Karen is once again thrown into a chaotic world of trauma and torture.

This epic book is incredibly disturbing. At more than 1,000 pages, it takes its time, drawing out the intensity and dark emotion demonstrated throughout this book. The writing is extremely atmospheric and visceral, but there is also plenty of dark comedy. The sarcasm was spot on. This book was impossible to put down. The characters were well drawn out and extremely compelling. This was my first book by this author and I fully intend to read the others. I took my time reading and responding to this novel because it was so compelling and also because of its length.
Speaking of its length, it could have been much less. The story was extremely well written as were the characters, but it should have been trimmed down quite a bit. This is the only criticism I can come up with. I highly recommend this book!

Thrown into an orphanage at ten years old, Karen Harper is forced to witness the rape and murder of her twin sister. The adult Karen is damaged goods, misanthropic and angry. One friend, a psychiatrist and promiscuous sex with strangers are all that keep her sane. When a one-night-stand ends in a suicide, her carefully planned future begins to unravel and her own death becomes the least of her worries.

Don't Call Me Beth is dark,disturbing........and very,very long. Weighing it at over 1100 pages it's quite a saga but the action is relentless until the later chapters which drag a bit and during a key scene I was nodding along with some villainous types telling the heroin to "get on with it".

This is not a book for the squeamish , the easily-offended or those triggered or upset by a whole list of predatory crimes. It's violent,explicit and disturbing,it's also very good and often laugh out loud funny.

The book starts as it means to carry on with a violent murder, the Mother of 10 year-old twins Karen and Beth Harper is killed by an intruder and the girls find their affluent and happy lifestyle in Chiswick snatched from them as they are sent to "the Hatch" an orphanage in Hammersmith where the law of the jungle prevails and predators lurk. One of the girls is raped and murdered with the surviving twin becoming increasingly feral.

As an adult psychologically damaged Karen has one friend ,a psychiatrist and ongoing one night stands as an outlet for her complex psychiatric needs. When one of these expeditions ends up in suicide,with the victim, someone she'd only met a few hours before,carving her name on his chest
Karen's life spirals increasingly out of control. In maelstrom of page after page of assaults,murders and a whole catalogue of horrendous and abusive crimes Karen finds herself in dire peril and not knowing who to trust.

This is the first book I've read by Simon Jenner,his style reminds me a lot of a darker Chris Brookmyre with added brutality. It could quite easily be split into a trilogy,such is it's length, and the reader definitely gets value for money. There's a lot of violence,a lot of sex and quite a few "difficult" subjects are addressed quite explicitly.

I enjoyed it but thought the "big finale" dragged on for too long and nearly lost my attention with the "day time movie" device of characters launching into overlong monologues to knit the plot together and unlike the rest of the book there was a lot more talk than action.
That aside it's quite a ride,good enough for it to merit 5 stars .

A disturbing read but what a roller coaster of a book, a great psychological thriller I have to say, intense storyline and a great ending ..

I really enjoyed this one. It was a bit slow to start for me but once it got going I was pleasantly surprised. I’m glad I stuck with it.

When Karen was 10 years old, her mother was mysteriously murdered she and her twin sister were put in to a care home. As witness to her twin sister's rape and murder at the care home, Karen is left traumatised and as an adult she manages to hold down a good job with the help of her psychiatrist with whom she has met with since her sister's death she suffers psychotic episodes and night terrors, her only way of getting any sleep is by having sex with random men she meets at bars, until one night her world is turned upside down when one of these men she had left a few hours before turns up dead, and unsavoury people from her past begin to emerge to haunt her. Can Karen survive to figure out what happened all those years ago, who are these people and why are they after her after all these years?

I did enjoy the story and plot line the characters were well written and easy to relate to. However, I found the book way too long, it was very slow at the beginning and I felt it was dragged out too long, and it seemed to take me a long time to read it. I felt myself checking how much longer was left in the book. The chapters were also very long, some of them 15 minutes or more, which for me is just too long. I feel that even if this book was re-edited to make it shorter it still would be be a chilling and compelling read without taking out a lot of the main points of the story. The author has great talent for story writing, and the twists through the book especially at the end were very good, I didn't see the last one coming at all!

Thank you for letting me pre-read this book, apologies it's taken me so long to get through to read it and post my review.

Don’t Call Me Beth is a dark and disturbing psychological thriller for readers who like their revenge served ice cold.This book needs to be on your radar! I love it so much! A nail-bitingly tense thriller/mystery that will keep you turning the pages late into the night.

There is not an author on the planet that can rattle me to the bone the way Simon Jenner does.

Did you ever put Pop Rocks in a Coca Cola bottle? That is how I can compare Don't Call Me Beth, it is 110 percent explosive and you do not want to miss this . There were multiple times that I would say "whoa, whoa, whoa" and have to put the book down to take a breather, and then instantly picked it back up because I was addicted to finding out what would happen next.

This is an extremely violent and disturbing book but it is done with some precision and execution that you will know instantly, this is a book you will remember for the rest of your life.

Anyone who rates this book under 5 stars is crazy, pick up the book, buy the book, go to your library and get the book... Do what you have to do, but you need to read this one!

Karen survived the childhood from hell. Now those responsible are back to finish what they started.
Thrown into an orphanage at ten years old, Karen Harper is forced to witness the rape and murder of her twin sister. The adult Karen is damaged goods, misanthropic and angry. One friend, a psychiatrist and promiscuous sex with strangers are all that keep her sane. When a one-night-stand ends in a suicide, she is thrown into a world of psychological torture and a battle for her life.

This is a dark and sometimes disturbing read.
The author has handled all the subjects very well.
Wonderful well written plot and story line that had me engaged from the start.
Love the well fleshed out characters and found them believable.
Great suspense and found myself second guessing every thought I had continuously.
Can't wait to read what the author brings out next.
Recommend reading.

I was provided an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. This is my own honest voluntary review.

Not for me.
I was looking forward to reading this book from the description and I really tried but couldn't get into it at all.

This was such a gripping read that I couldnt put down, it dealt with hardhitting themes but it was done in a way that didnt stop me enjoying the book. KIt was well written with a good nattive, a well executed storyline and well developed characters.
It was suspenseful and unpredictable, I couldnt put it down.