The courage of Caroline Darian and her mother, Gisèle Pelicot, is truly remarkable. In her own words, Caroline has documented her family's very personal trauma with the hope of raising awareness of domestic chemical submission.

On broken justice systems and the lack of support for female victims, Darian astutely observes, “We take the walking wounded and abandon them in front of an obstacle course.”

It's not often the police are praised these days (and often for good reason) but a huge debt of gratitude must go to the officers who acted quickly to turn this investigation around in just two months, wading through tens of thousands of still and moving images and identifying over 50 perpetrators.

“Shame must change sides”, indeed. Best wishes to M. Pelicot and her family, and thank you to M. Darian for her brave honesty and commitment to effecting change. Both mother and daughter are truly incredible women. I fervently hope that some good (and some long overdue changes to legal process and victim support) can come from the experiences of these wonderful women.

This was an incredible book with a story that was really important to share. This was well written and translated and i'm glad it exists.

I'll Never Call Him Dad Again is a poignant, often excruciating, memoir a family's tragedy, written by Caroline Darian. Released 18th March 2025 by Sourcebooks, it's 224 pages and is available in the English translation in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links.

This is an unvarnished memoir from the daughter of the woman whose husband drugged and abused her over a period of years, filming his own (and others') abuse. She was unaware of what was happening for *years*.

The writing is plain and unembellished. It's set up as a journal, with dated entries. It's very difficult to read in places, and readers who have experienced sexual/domestic abuse should be aware going into the read that it's not at all easy to read. It's not prurient or sensational at all, and the author/investigators/legal representatives involved are respectful throughout.

The author uses her platform to provide some sobering statistics about the prevalence of "chemical submission" and the associated depressing statistics of prosecuting crimes when often the victim can't remember the trauma accurately (or in the case of Ms. Darian's mother, at all, over a period of years when she was misdiagnosed and feared she was in early onset Alzheimer's).

The author's strength, her mother's incredible resilience, the glimpses of hope and rising advocacy are all important, but it's not clear if the balance is to the positive column at the end. The alternative, remaining silent in the face of actual, real, evil, is even more unthinkable.

Awful (in the literal sense), very well written, and definitely important. It would be a good subject for a book club reading and although it's written accessibly and without technical jargon (and not annotated), it would have value for healthcare professionals and educators/advocates.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

A woman recounts her awful experience learning her father was a diabolical man. As I was going from page to page I couldn’t imagine going through her experiences.

What a brave soul she was to write about her experiences. I did find the translation to English was not very well written. I found myself having to reread parts just so I could figure out what the writer was saying. At times it would jump from one to be totally off topic. Like she was writing in her diary and all of a sudden had a random thought that came to mind. The notes to her father also seemed out of place.

My rating of 3 is mostly because of the format and not the story. It just wasn’t the style of writing for me.

One of the most powerful books I’ve read. Caroline’s story is something everyone should read. I cannot recommend this book enough.

Devastatingly brave. My heart aches for Gisele, Caroline and their family. This gorgeous book uncovers the messy reality of something so unthinkable happening to a family. I won’t forget about this for a long, long time.

This book opened a new line of research for myself. This account opened myself up to a new form of crime that we truly need to survey more. There is not many accounts of Chemical Submission and certainly next to no reports focusing on statistics or studies! Im hoping to see that area of study expand sooner rather then later.

This book is wonderfully written and gives a heartbreaking and detailed depiction of this case focusing on the daughter of Gisèle Pelicot. I'll Never Call Him Dad Again is such a powerful explanation of this case. This book is heartbreaking, powerful, and truly important to read for those who are in the criminal justice world or really in any area.

Bravery, redefining fighting back, and more, this book will have you sat start to finish and you will feel like you are there every hard step of the way.

This was a story about a man who used chemical submission, drugging his wife for nearly a decade. It was learned by the family that the man had been doing this for years for a shocking reason. He was allowing other men to come over and rape his wife while he filmed it, when she was knocked out. This case was over in France and the man was caught when his phone was seized after he was busted doing “upskirt” videos in public. The full extent of all he was doing may never be known.

A brilliant piece of writing which somehow manages to balance useful facts with deeply personal impacts. Its basis is horrifying - the drugging and raping of a spouse and others over time by multiple perpetrators. The author captures with dignity the wider impact and trauma caused by the crimes, crossing multiple generations, and identifies the desperate need for legal, health and social systems to join up in supporting victims of crime. Cleverly using prose directed towards the perpetrator as well as narrative writing, the author has created a book which is at once educational and heart wrenching.