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Name Them
13 Reasons Why meets Saw
Name who I am and admit what you did to me, and I will set you free.
Jasmine Saira is a thirty-six-year-old woman, living by herself in Chicago, living an uninteresting life, until one random night, she is kidnapped out of her home by a fully disguised, voice altered, motorcycle helmet wearing, person calling themself, ‘The Captor’.
The Captor holds Jasmine against her will in a remote location and tells her that she wronged them in their past, ruined their life and now they want to enact revenge against her. This revenge being playing a game with Guess their identity, name who they are and admit what she did to them to make them want to seek revenge against her. If Jasmine does not make a correct guess of who they are, The Captor will torture her. This game will repeat every time The Captor visits Jasmine in her makeshift holding cell, with torture methods of increasing brutality until Jasmine correctly names who they are. With no other options, Jasmine is forced to play The Captor’s cruel game and figure out their identity, and that involves thinking about every person that she has ever wronged.
Name who I am and admit what you did to me, and I will set you free.
Jasmine Saira is a thirty-six-year-old woman, living by herself in Chicago, living an uninteresting life, until one random night, she is kidnapped out of her home by a fully disguised, voice altered, motorcycle helmet wearing, person calling themself, ‘The Captor’.
The Captor holds Jasmine against her will in a remote location and tells her that she wronged them in their past, ruined their life and now they want to enact revenge against her. This revenge being playing a game with Guess their identity, name who they are and admit what she did to them to make them want to seek revenge against her. If Jasmine does not make a correct guess of who they are, The Captor will torture her. This game will repeat every time The Captor visits Jasmine in her makeshift holding cell, with torture methods of increasing brutality until Jasmine correctly names who they are. With no other options, Jasmine is forced to play The Captor’s cruel game and figure out their identity, and that involves thinking about every person that she has ever wronged.
- GenresThriller
459 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 28, 2025
19 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 22, 2025
4.75⭐️
"I want you to guess my identity......I want you to confess what you did to me... I want you to name who I am...."
"If you do not correctly name who I am, you will be moved to the torture phase."
"Something you should know about the torture phase is that every new phase will be more severe than the last."
"Accept the fact you will finally face the consequences of your actions. Accept that I will make you....NAME ME."
I dont even know how to begin to describe the writing style. It is so unlike anything I have ever read before. It's simplistic but completely engrossing. A catalog of factoids and conversation. Jasmine ate dinner. Jasmine went to work. Jasmine can't feel her legs. Jasmines head snapped up. Jasmines fingernails are missing. I was enthralled and sucked into it from the very first page.
I haven't been in this much of a chockhold over a book in a minute. It had me hook line and sinker. The author did an incredible job. If the sequel was published, it would already have been purchased. Cost? who cares? Shipping and handling? I'll pay it. JUST GET ME THE NEXT BOOK!
Jasmine has been captured. She doesn't know by whom. The point is to figure it out before the next round of torture. She slowly goes through flashbacks of every person who she hurt in her past, trying to figure out who she wronged so much they resulted too kidnapping and torture.
This book is described as SAW meets 13 Reasons Why and while I will agree that is accurate the main difference is that where the torture sessions are painful they are not life threatening. The Captor does not want to kill her. He wants her to admit that she ruined their life. This book could easily be considered YA. I would not hand it to my 13-year-old, but I would to my older teen, and I did.
Horror with an unreliable narrator.
I NEVER saw the ending coming!
Please D. J. McDowell I need the second book ASAP 🙏
"I want you to guess my identity......I want you to confess what you did to me... I want you to name who I am...."
"If you do not correctly name who I am, you will be moved to the torture phase."
"Something you should know about the torture phase is that every new phase will be more severe than the last."
"Accept the fact you will finally face the consequences of your actions. Accept that I will make you....NAME ME."
I dont even know how to begin to describe the writing style. It is so unlike anything I have ever read before. It's simplistic but completely engrossing. A catalog of factoids and conversation. Jasmine ate dinner. Jasmine went to work. Jasmine can't feel her legs. Jasmines head snapped up. Jasmines fingernails are missing. I was enthralled and sucked into it from the very first page.
I haven't been in this much of a chockhold over a book in a minute. It had me hook line and sinker. The author did an incredible job. If the sequel was published, it would already have been purchased. Cost? who cares? Shipping and handling? I'll pay it. JUST GET ME THE NEXT BOOK!
Jasmine has been captured. She doesn't know by whom. The point is to figure it out before the next round of torture. She slowly goes through flashbacks of every person who she hurt in her past, trying to figure out who she wronged so much they resulted too kidnapping and torture.
This book is described as SAW meets 13 Reasons Why and while I will agree that is accurate the main difference is that where the torture sessions are painful they are not life threatening. The Captor does not want to kill her. He wants her to admit that she ruined their life. This book could easily be considered YA. I would not hand it to my 13-year-old, but I would to my older teen, and I did.
Horror with an unreliable narrator.
I NEVER saw the ending coming!
Please D. J. McDowell I need the second book ASAP 🙏
February 28, 2025
The overall idea and scenes within this debut are incredible, with crumbs scattered throughout to set you up for a great twist at the end.
This novel would benefit from further editing to pick up minor mistakes throughout, to improve the dialogue, and to shorten parts of the book.
A solid debut that's piqued my interest in the author.
This novel would benefit from further editing to pick up minor mistakes throughout, to improve the dialogue, and to shorten parts of the book.
A solid debut that's piqued my interest in the author.
March 11, 2025
This book is definitely a page turner. It kept me curious throughout and eager to understand why The Captor was subjecting Jasmine to such brutal torment…and haha boy, did I get an answer!
This story is jaw dropping and jarring. You think you feel one way and this book makes you do an emotional 180.
That said I did find a few spelling mistakes and what I think are accidental word omissions throughout especially near the beginning. Easy to ignore but for the sake of honesty have to mention them. I did also find the dialogue a tad mechanical or forced at times. There were a few exchanges or dialogues between characters that would get a flat “ok” and then be returned with the same-which sometimes felt like I was witnessing C3P0 converse with IG-88. This can be good and bad but I did feel it took away from the commitment I had to the characters dialogues sometimes. Lastly I think Jasmines long detailed flashbacks contribute to her character and personality in ways but there were a couple times I wish she would’ve left some stuff out and just gotten to the point. During these times I felt I could’ve easily seen why she drew the conclusion she did without 1/4-1/2 of her flashback story. But again some of her rambling did contribute to her personality and character development so it’s a bit of a catch 22-don’t want to omit too much and take away from what eludes to her personality/why she is the way she is.
Overall I enjoyed this and think it’s got a great premise and fun twist. I am glad I read it and want to more importantly thank D.J. McDowell for the advanced reader copy. It was an honor to be a part of your early review team and I sincerely appreciate the opportunity.
This story is jaw dropping and jarring. You think you feel one way and this book makes you do an emotional 180.
That said I did find a few spelling mistakes and what I think are accidental word omissions throughout especially near the beginning. Easy to ignore but for the sake of honesty have to mention them. I did also find the dialogue a tad mechanical or forced at times. There were a few exchanges or dialogues between characters that would get a flat “ok” and then be returned with the same-which sometimes felt like I was witnessing C3P0 converse with IG-88. This can be good and bad but I did feel it took away from the commitment I had to the characters dialogues sometimes. Lastly I think Jasmines long detailed flashbacks contribute to her character and personality in ways but there were a couple times I wish she would’ve left some stuff out and just gotten to the point. During these times I felt I could’ve easily seen why she drew the conclusion she did without 1/4-1/2 of her flashback story. But again some of her rambling did contribute to her personality and character development so it’s a bit of a catch 22-don’t want to omit too much and take away from what eludes to her personality/why she is the way she is.
Overall I enjoyed this and think it’s got a great premise and fun twist. I am glad I read it and want to more importantly thank D.J. McDowell for the advanced reader copy. It was an honor to be a part of your early review team and I sincerely appreciate the opportunity.
January 29, 2026
The Captor: Name Them by D.J. McDowell has a compelling premise, especially for a debut novel. Jasmine is kidnapped by a mysterious figure calling himself the Captor, who gives her a brutal ultimatum: guess his name and what she did to him, or face vicious torture. It’s a dark, high-stakes setup that immediately pulls you in and promises a tense psychological thriller.
Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t quite live up to the strength of the concept. The novel would benefit greatly from a massive edit and significant trimming. Much of the story suffers from telling instead of showing, with frequent overexplaining and an abundance of details that don’t move the plot or deepen character development. This constant explanation drains tension from moments that should feel terrifying and urgent.
That said, the potential is absolutely there. With a tighter focus, sharper pacing, and more trust in the reader to connect the dots, this story could become far more cohesive and engaging. A shorter, more streamlined version would likely elevate the suspense and allow the premise to truly shine.
As it stands, this book shows promise, but it needs refinement to reach the level its concept deserves.
Unfortunately, the execution doesn’t quite live up to the strength of the concept. The novel would benefit greatly from a massive edit and significant trimming. Much of the story suffers from telling instead of showing, with frequent overexplaining and an abundance of details that don’t move the plot or deepen character development. This constant explanation drains tension from moments that should feel terrifying and urgent.
That said, the potential is absolutely there. With a tighter focus, sharper pacing, and more trust in the reader to connect the dots, this story could become far more cohesive and engaging. A shorter, more streamlined version would likely elevate the suspense and allow the premise to truly shine.
As it stands, this book shows promise, but it needs refinement to reach the level its concept deserves.
May 31, 2025
This is the debut novel from author D.J. McDowell, and the premise is compelling. A woman (Jasmine) is kidnapped by an unknown assailant and held against her will. She must identify her kidnapper or be subjected to torturous methods. This has the potential to be a strong psychological thriller, but it needs a massive edit. The majority of the book suffers from telling over showing, and overall, it could probably be cut down by at least a hundred pages to tighten up the pleonasm throughout. I think if it’s thoroughly edited, it could be a gripping story. There were also too many “guesses” as to the identity of the Captor, and while that comes into play later on, it would have been as captivating to trim the number down and simply review several of them. I will say that was a strong method of giving Jasmine a backstory as the reader is given a good chunk of her background while she’s captured. And some of the torture methods were creative (the mouse one made me cringe). The twist at the end was unexpected, which is always good, but I think the road to get there could be cleaned up, with perhaps a few Easter eggs tossed in to better explain the turning point.
February 15, 2025
Overall, I found the premise interesting. A young woman is captured and forced to name someone without having any idea who they are or given any clues.
I must admit I didn't particularly like Jasmine; she's quite horrible, having mean thoughts about her best friend and whatnot, etc., and she doesn't do anything redeemable. Therefore, I didn't feel that bad for her being tortured. I was surprised by a twist at the end of the book, but it's a cool twist and explains why she's the way she is.
That said, I feel the pacing would benefit from shortening some parts and editing, such as the flashbacks. Those can read as separate stories, and you get invested, taking away from the main story. When they end, it's like, right, back to Jasmine's current situation.
I was confused about some parts, but overall, I enjoyed the book, and it's a solid debut. Rating 3.5, rounded up.
I must admit I didn't particularly like Jasmine; she's quite horrible, having mean thoughts about her best friend and whatnot, etc., and she doesn't do anything redeemable. Therefore, I didn't feel that bad for her being tortured. I was surprised by a twist at the end of the book, but it's a cool twist and explains why she's the way she is.
That said, I feel the pacing would benefit from shortening some parts and editing, such as the flashbacks. Those can read as separate stories, and you get invested, taking away from the main story. When they end, it's like, right, back to Jasmine's current situation.
I was confused about some parts, but overall, I enjoyed the book, and it's a solid debut. Rating 3.5, rounded up.
April 19, 2026
3.5⭐️
The plot was interesting and bloody, told in different timelines through the main character's memories and the present. I came to very much dislike Jasmine more and more as we got to know her, but I think that was the point. This book could benefit greatly from a good editor, and could be reduced by at least 100 pages. It could be repetitive and overly detailed, especially the chapters with the back stories/memories. I did NOT see that twist at the end coming, and it made me want to find out what happens in the next book.
The plot was interesting and bloody, told in different timelines through the main character's memories and the present. I came to very much dislike Jasmine more and more as we got to know her, but I think that was the point. This book could benefit greatly from a good editor, and could be reduced by at least 100 pages. It could be repetitive and overly detailed, especially the chapters with the back stories/memories. I did NOT see that twist at the end coming, and it made me want to find out what happens in the next book.
February 11, 2026
I loved the concept of this book, the storyline is EXCELLENT! It's definitely a solid debut from this author. However, I did find the redundancy of dialogue and slightly discombobulated writing did take me out of the story. I have confidence that book #2 in this series will iron out those issues! This one is definitely worth a read!
February 17, 2026
Thank you to D.J. McDowell for this ARC.
Jasmine is abducted by a masked figure known as The Captor and forced into a cruel game of guessing their identity or facing punishment. The story has a strong premise that keeps you turning the pages.
Overall, I really enjoyed this debut and found it an engaging read.
Jasmine is abducted by a masked figure known as The Captor and forced into a cruel game of guessing their identity or facing punishment. The story has a strong premise that keeps you turning the pages.
Overall, I really enjoyed this debut and found it an engaging read.
December 3, 2025
Originally, I expected this read to take a couple of weeks. However, once I started reading I had to know how it ends. As the story progressed, the stakes escalate, with the Captor becoming increasingly unforgiving and unpredictable. Many parts had me at the edge of my seat waiting for the Captor's reaction. Will it be the right name this time? The twists are not only surprising but rewarding, keeping the reader in suspense throughout. While some refinement in proofreading, dialogue and over/under sharing could enhance the experience, it doesn’t take away from the fact this debut novel is very good work.
(ARC Review)
(ARC Review)
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews