An insightful read, through the eyes of a young female psychiatric doctor. Shockingly informative and a good read!

I actually received an ARC of this book a couple of years ago, but didn’t get to read it until, well, much more recently. That said, I didn’t notice any particular “artefacts” that would pointed to a review-copy-full-of-typos of anything of that kind, the book read just like what I expect the published version to be.

This was a fairly interesting account of the beginnings of a psychologist’s career in a prison, more specifically within a program geared towards sex offenders. Interesting, but also on the difficult side, precisely because of the type of work and the people it described. I’ve always found sex offenders specifically to be a very tricky subject: cases of rape are already hard enough, but when the whole thing is perpetrated on children on top of it, it reaches into even deeper recesses. In this way, the work of psychologists/medical personnel to try and understand and figure out if yes or not “something can be done” for the offenders is also tricky. Are these people truly evil? Are they sick, and if they can, can they be cured? If someone has offended once but then never offends again once in prison and then out of it, should they be stigmatised forever (which could be justified… or just as well lead to self-fulfilling prophecies where leaving them alone may have kept them on the straight path)? Or should they be given a second chance—but then, if they’re on the way to offending again, it’s akin to letting the fox inside the henhouse… All very, very tricky, and a very touchy subject indeed.

All the more because, here, it seems that the program didn’t help much in the end. And yet the author still wanted to share her experience, her findings, what happened, because the experience itself is worth recounting nonetheless.

Also, I’m usually not super keen when memoirs and true crime books include too much of the author’s personal life, because the latter can easily veer into being distracting. However, in this specific case, the parts about her own life were just as interesting. Notwithstanding the pressure and the impact dealing with sexual offenders can have on one’s psyche (especially as a young woman on her first job, with all the usual “surely she’s incompetent” that pop up in pretty much every job and sounded even worse in those circumstances), there were also some personal elements that could’ve… gone very wrong for her, as a sort of dark mirror of the people her job was concerned with. Both parts tied with each other, and I won’t lie, but there were a few moments when I was afraid something really bad would happen to her.

Conclusion: a bit of an unusual read for me in terms of what I’ll still loosely consider as “true crime”, and one that was quite hard at times—but also quite interesting.

This book tells of how Dr Rebecca Myers attempts to rehabilitate sex offenders and murderers in one of the UKs most notorious category A prisons.
A brutally honest and insightful read, which was both fascinating yet extremely disturbing, and did not make for easy reading at times due to the content.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for this ARC in return for my honest review.
#netgalley #insidejob #drrebeccamyers

A superbly and sensitively written account by Dr Rebecca Myers of her work with offenders of heinous crimes in one of the UKs most notorious category A prisons. Whilst the subject matter is incredibly difficult to read, it is interesting especially to try and ascertain whether many offenders can indeed be rehabilitated into society without being a danger and the rate of success with men that many consider a lost cause. Definitely not easy subject matter , but certainly enlightening and it has been relayed in such a way as to preserve the identity of the offenders and the victims, so as to avoid being sensationalist, or mere entertainment, but mpreover to be educational and informative. #insidejob #drrebeccamyers #netgalley

I really enjoyed this book it had brilliant real life experience and was heartbreaking at times also showing how prevalent mental health in prisons is

This was very interesting. It showed the work of a psychologist within a prison. It wasn’t the best memoir of this subject that I have read. It was a bit underwhelming

Wow what a difficult read. For a nonfiction it reads and flows so well but touches on such heavy topics. It covers some really disturbing topics and at times felt really uncomfortable and tough to get through. I can see how it could effect Rebecca in day to day life.

3.5⭐️
Received this as a free arc in exchange for a review. I enjoyed this book, but I wanted juicier details and more stories. Found it a little boring and not compelled to continue reading, although I did.

Inside Job Dr Rebecca Myers
As a person who doesn't shy away from the topics covered in this book, I found it absolutely fascinating, its unusual to hear from perpetrators.
I can't imagine what it must have been like as a young woman working with these individuals.
As a martial artist who has taught self defence to thousands of people over the years, I've heard some heartbreaking stories over the years, with people often coming for lessons after a serious incident. I have some understanding of the lasting effects of these incidents, on everyone involved, including myself as I do what I can to help them move forward.
I will be thinking about this book for a long time.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read this!

This book tells raw and honest stories from a prison psychologist, Dr Rebecca Myers, in one of UKS most notorious prisons and home to murderers, rapists and child molesters.

This book was interesting and educational and one that is definitely not an easy read at all! I found myself taking my time with this book because of the disturbing content.

It gives an insight on what it’s like being a prison psychologist and explains the processes and procedures that take place as well as giving some insight into the criminals and the crimes they committed.

If you were to read this I would recommend you looking at the trigger warnings as it’s definitely not for the faint hearted.

I have to say this book was not what i expected. I thought i was going to be reading a thriller not a memoir. I have to give Dr Myers credit for what she achieved and endured during her time in the prisons. The details she had to listen to from prisoners and the re-enactments must have been hard. A good read and great insight into prison life.

I read this book back in August 2022. I was given this book as an ARC from NetGalley for an honest review.
At the start of the book I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it as it would talk about the authors personal life and relationship with a colleague which didn’t interest me in the slightest. However, as the book went on I really enjoyed it and found it really interesting. As a student studying forensic psychology I found it fascinating to see the things I am learning being used in a real life situation and I liked reading about the journeys that the prisoners went on throughout the programmes.
All in all, a very good book! It is thought provoking and a definite must-have for your shelf if you find psychology interesting. Pre-warning: it is not for the faint hearted!!

A breathtaking and clever read, full of unimaginable insights that leave you heartbroken or shocked.
This is one brave woman and I bow to her.
You think your job is stressful? Read this and you’ll be grateful for your life.
Undoubtedly worthy of Five Stars.

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This disturbing memoir deals with the early days of a young woman in her journey to become a forensic psychologist. Straight away she is dropped in the deep end of facilitating sessions with prisoners who have all committed serious crimes.

The book is very informative in that it explains how and why sessions are run and what happens during them. It also details some of the horrific crimes that brought the men to the prison and the thoughts they express about their motivations. At times this is a very challenging read as this is not a work of fiction.

It is also a very personal account. As a young woman, the author faces a lot of sexism and objectifying both from the prisoners and the staff and there is a heavy emphasis on this. She is undoubtedly flattered by some of this attention at least and refers to the relationship she begins with a married, older colleague. Sometimes her lack of professionalism is highlighted but this makes the memoir more personal and authentic. These are her experiences after all.

​However, the real interest is the minds of those who find it in them to abuse and murder others, often vulnerable woman and children. The author (and readers, I imagine) often finds that matching the atrocious actions to the perpetrator is difficult as they often come across as vulnerable and immature themselves.

Despite the difficult subject matter, this is written in a very accessible style. The attitude to sexual violence and misogyny in the nineties is quite different to what is acceptable now, even in the judiciary and this is highlighted as well. All in all, this is a very good book that is informative and has the 'gripping' and human interest aspect of a novel. Recommended.

I enjoyed this book, it was an interesting insight into the job of a forensic psychologist. I could've done with less about her personal... experiences, that kinda put me off. Overall recommend it as a read if you want to understand a bit more about the role.

Thank you to Netgalley for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest (but late) review.

Over lockdown I became really interested in True Crime so I guess when I saw this book come up on Netgalley, I requested it because it sounded really interesting.

The main premise of the book, focuses on Dr Rebecca Myers as she gets a psychologist in a prison know as Monster Mansion- in the book it’s called Graymoor but a quick google told me it was actually HMS Wakefield. There, she is tasked with running the SOTP with a group of sex offenders in order to try and change their way of thinking.

The majority of the book covers the SOTP and what happens in the group. I’m not sure if any of the prisoners names are their real ones but you do see them as people by the end of the book.

We don’t get much on her life outside of the prison apart from the fact she had an affair with a married prison officer.

It was a really interesting book and I did find the SOTP stuff intriguing but you can also see why they don’t do it anymore.

The writing style wasn’t great and some areas I wasn’t sure if they’d been fictionalised or not. However, the topic remained interesting.

3/5 stars.
I never rate books about murderers or sex offenders higher than that out of respect for victims- even if in this case names have been changed.

Not for the faint hearted. This a bio by a prison psychologist. Very hard to read but utterly fascinating. I read someone saying this is as close as you’ll get to seeing what happens to notorious prisoners. Correct! It follows dome of the UK’s worst offenders and shows how they live, talk about their crimes and interact with staff and fellow prisoners. Where possible. Some are permanently segregated for theirs and their fellow prisoners safety.

‘Inside Job’ by Dr Rebecca Myers tells the true story of a clinical psychologist delivering the Sex Offender Treatment Programme in prisons.

This book is well written and will be of interest to true crime fans.

A harrowing tale and contains upsetting detail of offenses that the individuals who are in treatment have commited.

An interesting but not easy read.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley in allowing me to read in return for a review.

Absolutely brilliant book. Can I say I enjoyed it? I don't know because it's utterly horrific but it's so well written and insightful that I simply couldn't put it down.
To be able to make the reader almost feel sorry for some of the people in the book despite their horrific crimes shows how carefully constructed it is and also just how interesting as well as disturbing the work of the psychology teams in prisons really must be.
It makes you think about yourself, your views and opinions, your upbringing and just how any one derailment in your happy normal little life could change your world forever.
I strongly recommend reading this book.