The collegiate assault story in itself was a great idea, but I struggled with the side commentary from the author that didn’t flow throughout the whole book. The beginning did not capture my attention, almost stopped reading halfway through; but then it picked up with witness interviews and then the end I was skipping paragraphs because I could not wait for it to be over with. This could have been a short story but was drawn out with personal facts and I just don’t feel the memoir/true crime combo worked for this particular book.

Much better than the synopsis led me to believe. I like the personal essay additions to the case narration.

This is a great book. It's compelling, important, and beautifully written. The story is complex and layered, and I most appreciate the reflective thoughtful voice of the author. The story is heartbreaking but utterly necessary as a witness narrative, a story of justice (and the long struggle for it) against the powerful, and a story of the author's own journey to reconcile her mother's denial of the author's sexual abuse.

“Prosecutorial timidity is a huge national problem,” Grayson told me. “Check the case closure rates. In the 1960s, it was something like ninety percent. Now it’s about sixty percent. That means forty percent of criminals get away with it. Prosecutors don’t go to trial because they think, ‘Ooh, I might lose.’” Grayson could tolerate a lot of things, but not cowardice.”

Just one of the many, many reasons sick men continue to sexually prey upon others.

The structure of this book - intertwining her own personal story with the investigation of evil men at CU and the subsequent coverup/dismissal - worked well. The next person I hear/read who claims the patriarchy is an unreal feminist construct that actually subjugates women and unfairly punishes men … I may throat punch someone.

I really enjoyed this. I listened to it any chance I got. It's part true crime and part memoir. Intriguing story from the POV of the PI working for a lawyer presenting a r*pe victim. I liked the authors writing style and the approach she took sharing this story.

This memoir is on my short list of the best memoirs ever. Erika Krouse, known for her exquisite short fiction, turns her literary talents to telling a complex story that interleaves her work as a Private Investigator (a troubling case involving a culture of rape of young women at a university campus) and her own experiences of being sexually abused as a child, experiences made that much more traumatic by her mother's total lack of concern. This is gripping reading, and -- be warned -- it is hard to put the book down. From a literary perspective, the book is gold, beautifully written. But it's also deeply moving, and leaves readers with much to think about.

I was utterly baffled as to why Krouse went on and on about how she’s changing names and descriptions, etc. etc. to protect the identities and circumstances etc. etc. BUT THEN goes on to describe very real and obvious things that take the reader 0.2 seconds on Google to confirm exactly what and who she is referring to. When you make an F-level effort, you need to do a better job of explaining why you’re bothering to pretend at all?!
Also, I was personally inordinately annoyed that a few times she referred to newspapers not publishing the names of sexual assault victims as a form of journalistic ethics, when really the baseline of that, especially the protection of SA victims’ identities, is per CORA statutes.