Kayla Reviews TELL ME EVERYTHING

• Genre: Literary True Crime
• Page Numbers: 288
• Buy: Amazon

Summary:

Part memoir and part literary true crime, Tell Me Everything is the mesmerizing story of a landmark sexual assault investigation and the private investigator who helped crack it open.

Erika Krouse has one of those faces. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this,” people say, spilling confessions. In fall 2002, Krouse accepts a new contract job investigating lawsuits as a private investigator. The role seems perfect for her, but she quickly realizes she has no idea what she’s doing. Then a lawyer named Grayson assigns her to investigate a sexual assault, a college student who was attacked by football players and recruits at a party a year earlier. Krouse knows she should turn the assignment down; her own history with sexual violence makes it all too personal. But she takes the job anyway, inspired by Grayson’s conviction that he could help change things forever–and maybe she could, too.

Over the next five years, Krouse learns everything she can about P. I. technique, tracking down witnesses and investigating a culture of sexual assault and harassment ingrained in the university’s football program. But as the investigation grows into a national scandal and a historic civil rights case, she finds herself increasingly consumed. When the case and her life both implode at the same time, she must figure out how to help win the case without losing herself. 

My Take:

Oh boy. This book…I could not stop talking about it while I was reading it. I was appalled by the treatment of these women by their university, which was not named in the book, but one Google search named it as the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Krause covers the civil suit involving UC players and recruits gang raping a girl at a party. The DA refused to prosecute despite the evidence, so the girl sued the university, focusing on how they had failed to follow Title IX guidelines. As the civil suit continued, around eleven more girls came forward with similar stories. Krause was the PI for the case, and she layers the tale with examples of her dealing with her own trauma.

She also does a fantastic job of dealing with the dark subject matter in a way that is helpful instead of harmful to readers who’ve also experienced sexual abuse. She never goes into too much detail about the rape(s), but it’s enough.

Because this book highlights drastic injustices, I’m not sure I’d call it my favorite book I’ve read this year, but it might be the most important book I’ve read this year.