Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - Tell Me Everything: The Story of a Private Investigation

This was a harrowing story of a prolific sexual assault case and just how far someone will go to protect reputations, status, and integrity. Hearing the details of the case and

how easily it was thrown out

makes my blood boil, but

in the end, justice prevailed.

I found it interesting how Erika let her own trauma and past drive the investigation and court case, and her determination when every odd was against her was inspiring.

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gj1's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

3.5

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kurtwombat's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional medium-paced

2.5

I almost put this down after the first paragraph. Something very….squishy about the way the author describes the mysterious power of her face to draw stories from people. Unsettling. And then continues to throw that face on the page throughout the book. When I was able to forget her face there was some interesting stuff here with the potential for a great book. Unfortunately, this isn’t it. The interweaving of a University sexual assault scandal investigation with unraveling a personal childhood of sexual abuse is a rich narrative opportunity that is presented here with mixed results. There were portions where it hummed—the investigation was compelling and the unpacking of the author’s dysfunctional family dynamics came into focus. Too often the paralysis of the main character—because of frustration with the investigation and the unwillingness of her family to acknowledge her paint--traps the narrative in amber. She can’t move—we can’t move. The analysis of her feelings seems to be happening in real time instead of from a thoughtful distance—real time meaning the jumbled, confused state we live in when first going through something. It’s important that these topics be explored so I was really rooting for this book. NPR spoke well of it. But despite the opportunities for growth along the way, it all seems to happen smack dab at the end as if she were told—we’ve reached our page limit—time to wrap it up. And that led to a car crash of thoughts at the end—two different drafts of the same page seemed to follow each other—and an I LANDED ON MY FEET ending that seemed out of nowhere. Wasted opportunity.

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travel_in_pages's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad medium-paced

3.5

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bookrecsby_em's review against another edition

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informative sad slow-paced

2.0

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