READ THIS BOOK.

I must preface this review by saying that this is a hard book to read, not because the writing is poor, or slow, or boring. This is a difficult book to read because of the knowledge that it is a true story. The writing is excellent and well paced. This book is further proof that reality can be more gripping (and terrifying) than fiction.

The horrifying (although, not surprising) true story of how easy it was for the police to believe that a rape victim (survivor) was lying without doing any follow-up is shocking... and yet, it isn’t. As has been made clear by both the #Metoo and #TimesUp movements, not being believed about a sexual assault or rape allegation (and possibly being prosecuted for coming forward) is an all to common occurrence.

That is why this is my selection for the “problem in society” prompt for the 2018 Popsugar Reading Challenge. Although, to classify rape and victim-blaming as a "problem" feels like a major understatement.

I was provided this book as an ARC through NetGalley & Crown Publishing in exchange for an honest review

This is about a young woman's report of being raped that gets all twisted up. Written by 2 Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists, the book follows the story of eighteen-year-old Marie. She is made to question herself because of doubters, so she recants, then tries to stand by her report, but police shake her confidence so badly she caves when she's actually telling the truth. She has been made to feel like she's not going to be believed by her rapist, preprogrammed before she ever came forward. Sad really, when someone who's been marginalized from birth can't get a square deal when she really needs to be heard and believed at an important crossroads in her life. People all around her fail her. What happened to Marie was bad enough. Even worse, the rapist goes free to move on to other areas and continue raping.

An advance digital copy was provided by NetGalley, author T. Cristian Miller, and Random House for my review.

The expected date of publication is Feb. 6, 2018

I wonder do police detectives read books on true crime in their spare time? I would definitely hope they do and that this title is at the top of their list. As much as it shows outstanding police work especially how cooperation among various units and department got results it also points to the fact that bad police work has serious consequences for victims and potential victims and this is why it should be a required reading in all police departments.

The research is impecable, writing excellent. The authors acknowledge their extensive work including numerous interviews in bibliographies at the end of each chapter. They also include very important historical context to the contemporary rape case trials by going as far back as 17th century England and providing some interesting information as far as one pious judge Mathew Hale who in 1600's set the tone for miscarrying of justice by insisting that women accuse falsely and who also presided in very first witch trials when he convicted two elderly women to death which set precedent for subsequent infamous Salem trials. His influence on the conduct of rape trials continued to endured for over 300 years. I found this and other historical information related to rape cases in general and the judicial leniency towards perpetrators very interesting and important in helping the reader to understand where we are today.

This book is a testament to compassion and cooperation and it is hopeful that as such it will set an example for future investigations by the police. The success of carrying out of justice was possible thanks to various detectives from different jurisdictions who fully cooperated in conducting the investigation. In the same spirit the two journalists who co-authored the book, and who had started on similar work unknown to each other upon learning of each other's efforts, chose to join forces and wrote the book together which resulted in an excellent piece of reporting.

Two police detectives remained etched in my mind after I finished the book: both were culpable of making fatal mistakes and gross insensivity towards the victim, Marie, who was coerced to recant her accusation and subsequently criminally charged for false reporting thus being re-victimized by the police. One of the police freely admitted to his errors of judgement, fully apologised and decided to learn from his mistakes, and had no problem with sharing of information with the authors while another one, equally culpable of wrong doing, showed a remarkable lack of professional integrity by refusing to acknowledge his hurtful actions, never apologized and finally expressed hope for financial gain if interviewed, tand when told that there was no payment for being interviewed, refused to talk.
Apart from this individual the detectives from the book stand out as role models of integrity, dedication, compassion and thoroughness, and that is a very good news.

"A False Report" is a riveting, frightening true story of rape in America, and how the crimes all too often go ignored or unreported. Although at times difficult to read because of the nature of the crimes and their aftermath, it is extremely well-written and well-researched. Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it down again. It should be required reading for veteran police officers and new recruits. An important book that I will be recommending to others.

When Pulitzer Prize winning journalists T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong discovered they were investigating the same story, they decided to join forces and create A FALSE REPORT: A TRUE STORY OF RAPE IN AMERICA.  As you would expect, this book is well researched and written - I found it hard to put down even though the content is very disturbing.  I don't want to give too much away, but it's the story of serial rapist Marc O'Leary and how one police department got things right and another got them wrong after he committed crimes in their jurisdictions.  The authors detail the crimes and investigations and, at times, it was hard to stomach.  They also share attitudes and techniques that are harmful to the victims.  This timely book sheds light on why victims don't report sexual abuse.  It will inform you and make you angry and hopefully it will help implement some changes.

A timely non-fiction account of women coming forward with their rape stories and the lack of support the women receive in having their accounts believed. Factual, interesting and very disheartening that in our current culture of rape and harassment that women are still struggling to have their voices heard and respected.

It's early but I'm going to go ahead and call it - this will be one of the most important nonfiction titles released this year, possibly in quite a long time.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists T. Christian Miller and Ken Armstrong discovered every reporter's nightmare - they were chasing almost the same story: that of a serial rapist recently caught and imprisoned thanks to cooperation among multiple police jurisdictions. They decided to team up, since they had developed different angles in their reporting the complicated, multi-faceted story. "We knitted our two halves into one - an investigation gone wrong tethered to one done right."

The false report of the title refers to one made by Marie, one of the rapist's earlier victims in the string of assaults that would eventually get him caught. Marie was a troubled eighteen-year-old at the time of her attack, recently living on her own after a childhood of abuse and neglect at the hands of her biological family followed by a shuffle through foster families. She was trying to get her life on track when she was targeted by a man in the throes of a psychological compulsion to tie women up and rape them.

Long story short, and to not give away too much of what is a must-read book, especially in our recent culture where rapists like Brock Turner are given slap-on-the-wrist sentences so as not to ruin their futures or lives, perish the thought of what the victim went through. Marie ends up hit with legal charges for lying to police and then begins the familiar process of court appearances, fees, etc that are so crippling for someone already down on their luck. (NPR's This American Life covered Marie's story as well, in the 2016 episode "Anatomy of Doubt".)

Her attackers' crimes are chillingly horrifying - he stalked ("hunted") women, watching them for months before attacking, even breaking into their apartments multiple times as he became more "proficient". One woman was 65 years old, another was recently on her own after suffering massive personal losses. He posed and photographed them throughout the ordeals, which lasted for hours. This is hard to read and know. It'll stay with you.

Which makes it all the more chilling that after enduring and surviving such an attack, the victims or survivors, whatever term they prefer, are faced not always with sympathy, but with skepticism - they have to pull themselves together enough to explain, multiple times to many parties, exactly what happened in excruciating detail. If any element of the crime scene or story has conflicts or inconsistencies, not only with their own versions of the story but with frequently accepted standards and protocols of forensics and psychology, doubt gets cast on them.

All I did was survive, and I was criminalized for it.
So wrote a woman named Denise Huskins, who was kidnapped from her home and sexually assaulted, then dismissed by detectives as having a Gone Girl type fantasy, insisting she owed the community an apology for lying. She was vindicated after video was eventually found of her being sexually assaulted by a disbarred lawyer.

The authors detail other too-common, "Kafka-esque" situations where police purposely lie and accuse rape victims of concocting their stories. These chilled me.

What's quite excellent about the authors' research is their demonstration of how police techniques are finally changing (about time). Investigators say that their responsibility is to listen to the story and thoroughly collect the evidence and determine what it all shows taken together, not to prove or disprove a story. They also are learning or being trained to accept that shock, trauma, and the flood of emotions accompanying a sexual assault don't always manifest in familiar or expected ways. Every survivor reacts differently, whether in the immediate aftermath of the assault, when telling their story, when being questioned, or when learning news related to their case. They can't be judged on these perceptions or personal biases, or from other people saying their behavior seems strange or unnatural considering the situation. This is a big part of what began casting suspicion on Marie.

Two of her previous foster mothers expressed their doubts to an investigator on her case, saying that she behaved strangely and had a complicated past, was struggling in her new apartment and independent living program, and needed attention. The investigator then began allowing the evidence to match this theory of doubt instead of telling its own story, which led to aggressive interrogation tactics and Marie's confused recanting of the rape allegation, which predictably led to much bigger problems for her.

I felt sick just reading it. As I've mentioned before, I'm fascinated by the phenomenon of false confessions, and this is another form of it, particularly heinous in that someone who's experienced a trauma and most needs the help and support of law enforcement is punished again. I also felt sick because the crimes committed, detailed here through the perspectives of multiple survivors and attending law enforcement, are really heinous and disturbing. That's not meant to scare anyone off from reading it: PLEASE READ THIS BOOK. I can't stress enough how important I think this piece of reportage is and will be in changing the national dialogue and attitude about rape and rape reporting. Just be very ready for what you're going to learn, words aren't minced here.

I'm not going to name the attacker because it seems that the publisher is mostly keeping his name out of the marketing (but for those who hate an unresolved case, this one is satisfyingly covered as far as it goes) and focusing on the victims and law enforcement. His case was alsp covered on a 48 Hours episode and drew heavy publicity in Colorado and Washington where the crimes occurred.

One chapter near the book's end blew my mind, as it laid out all the historical foundations, legal, procedural, etc., that have contributed to the widespread culture of victim-blaming and a reluctance to accept rape victims' stories and testimony. I knew this was nothing new, but the historical precedence is shocking and for lack of a better word, disappointing.

Consider passages like this, quoting the 20th century's leading expert in the field of evidence, John Henry Wigmore: "No judge should ever let a sex offense charge go to the jury unless the female complainant's social history and mental makeup have been examined and testified to by a qualified physician."

Sound familiar? Or even this line, referring to opinions expressed by certain Founding Fathers on women's truthfulness regarding rape: "The man who had authored the Declaration of Independence was writing to the man who would author the Bill of Rights - to warn of the woman scorned, crying rape."

This book will make you angry, there's no way around that. But it's absolutely a must-read, crucially important as I hope we begin a long-overdue move away from horrifyingly outdated, antiquated attitudes towards this crime.

Very very powerful stuff. Very well-written.

Though I don't think Lynnwood, Washington police were that off-base with the way they handled the case (the O'Reilly rape modus operandi, Marie's history, people around her as well as her own statements and the timing of recanting or repeating the assertion of rape in multiple statements, raised doubts), they did raise to quick judgement against Marie (in the span of a day!) and the writers raise important questions and precedents on how police need to deal with a rape accusation or report.

Also, someone needs to have another crack at the TrueCrypt protected 'Wretch'.

This book is about the myth of False accusation of Rape . It is a detailed account of what happens when there is a serial rapist and you are not believed not even your friends or family . It is a book that should be an acquired read by every law enforcement officer . Also it should be mandatory reading in high school and colleges and university . It shows that rape victims react differently and that there is no two victims going to react the same way . It is ironic as I was reading this book that on the show Law and Order Special Victims Unit was a similar case .I would have every politician, lawmaker and journalist read this book . As I said it should be required reading basically for everyone whom believes the myth of woman crying rape when they may not be hysterical or the typical victim .Wrll done I am going to purchase this book and pass it along to my niece as she wants to be a cop . This is worth reading and should be shouted out the roof tops and be discussed on every news channel and talk show as it is such an important and a far devestating topic that should be discussed and not hidden away like an old shoe

After reading this book, my mind is racing in multiple directions. I cannot help but feel sorry for Marie and the other victims, ashamed for ever rushing to judgment about a case I have seen in the news, disgusted by the rapist, frightened that there are people like this in the world, proud of the officers in Colorado, angry with the officers in Washington, and enlightened by reading this book. The authors did an amazing job of explaining the details of each case and exactly how the police failed Marie and went above and beyond for most of the rest of the victims.

Whereas this book is an excellent depiction of true crime, it is also so much more. This book highlights how our system has failed victims of centuries and how our own biases come into play to cloud our objectivity, whether it is a conscious decision or not. Everyone should read this book, but especially those of us tasked to serve and protect. Their are many lessons of what paths an officer should and should not take in an investigation.

I want to write several more words about this book, but I will abstain because this journey is much more impactful when the reader comes into the story fresh.

This book wasn't at all like i expected. While it was a hard book to read, you felt for the women in them. So glad they found the rapist, and he is in prison.

At it's core, this is the story of Marie, a teen who was brutally raped after being targeted and stalked. She reports the rape but is not believed and ends up being charged herself with mischief. She loses her apartment, her friends and her job all because she's a "liar".

After that, a series of similar brutal rapes go unsolved until one investigator has a lucky break. When they raid the rapist's secret room, they find videos of the rapes in progress -- including Marie's.

A thorough and well-written book, using the example of Marie to explore the ongoing "blame the victim" approach to women who report that they've been raped.

This book should be read by everyone. The authors are professional and thorough in their approach and let the facts speak for themselves - for example the vast number of rape kits that are sitting and collecting dust across America in police warehouses, their contents never analysed.


Thank you, Netgalley, for the e-review edition.