Unbelievable / A False Report: A True Story of Rape in America, by T. Christian Miller & Ken Armstrong- 5 Stars

[Joi]

Great piece if journalism, showcasing many sides of multiple cases, with some contextual history on rape in America (history of rape kits, statistics, and case studies), the victim's perspective, police perspective, even the background and some analysis on the rapist, and how one rape case went so wrong. 5 Stars, and is an important piece of non-fiction. A book everyone should read, despite how hard it may be.

Marie Adler was raped in her Washington apartment in 2008. After she reported it, the police got a report that she may be lying. Marie recanted her statement, and faced a $500 false charge penalty. Years later, in Colorado, police were hunting down a serial rapist. After the "takedown", they discovered multitudes of photographs and "trophy's', including pictures of Marie and her photo ID.

This story isn't just about Marie. It's about the minds. Why did Marie feel pressured to recant her statement? How did her upbringing in the foster care system effect how she dealt with this. Are we as a society too quick to judge? Why would someone lie about being raped? Is this something that really even happens? Why is the first thought when thinking of rape about the women- what was she wearing, how many drinks had she had? Why is it not about the minds of the rapist- how did he become that way, why is he acting this way, and how can we stop it.Where does the trauma of rape stop? Is it after the act? After the obtrusive rape kit? After detectives ask her to retell her story 6 times in a row and relive it? When they don't believe the victim? Many questions asked, and a food for thought discussed.

It really is an unbelievable story. Not because it's outlandish- but because you don't want to believe someone would have to endure what Marie Adler did. This was also made into a pretty haunting, and very well done Neflix mini series, which I watched before I realized it was off a book. If you're interested, the book was sparked after a large propublica article went viral, and was featured on NPR.

[Joanne]

This sounds extremely good! I love a good journalistic book-adding it to the tower-nice review

[Susie]

This sounds great. I'm going to cue it as my next audio (that's if I ever again manage to shake the kids and listen to audio!).

[Heather Reads Books]

I watched the Netflix series and it was fantastic. I knew about the ProPublica article (and a complementary episode of This American Life), but I didn't realize there was a book also. Very interested in checking this out.

[NancyJ]

Excellent review. This sounds like an important story. It happens with assault allegations and harassment in the workplace. I used to get frustrated when people were afraid to deal with harassment issues while they were still small, and could be resolved with relatively little drama. I believe in the broken window theory (fix the first crack before all the kids in the neighborhood use the house for target practice.) I’ve seen it work in a healthy org culture, but I’ve also seen employers retaliate against women ( and some men) who reported harassment, even to the point of firing them for it. There are so many ways to silence women, it’s no wonder they are afraid to speak up. What happened to a Marie reminds me of crime suspects who give false confessions.