Tell Me Everything is a unique blend of Erika’s PI work on the sexual assault committed by college football players and recruits with her personal history of sexual assault.

I love the true crime aspect of this novel. The civil suit based on Title IX violations is riveting, frustrating, and heartbreaking. The story provides a good starting point for discussing the culture, the sport, and the responsibility to the women involved.

The memoir portion is just as raw as the true-crime victim story but more unstructured. At times, I feel like Erika is still working through her trauma. I completely understand why these two stories are tangled. But in speaking her own truth, the story loosens like she’s still trying to find her way. And this breaks my heart even more because I’m not sure how one recovers from a sexual assault.

I did enjoy both the audio and physical book. Gabra Zackman narrates the story and does a great job blending empathy with hard facts and the minutiae of PI's work. I’m happy I purchased the physical book because I did reference it when Erika provided CTE stats or interviews with a victim or member of the football team.

This is a non-fiction book, part memoir, part true crime investigation of a sexual assault scandal.

“That’s the consequence of rape in this environment. Nothing. There are no consequences.”

Erika is used to people confessing all of their secrets to her. That’s why she decides to accept a job as a private investigator investigating lawsuits. One day they receive a case about a college student who was sexually assaulted by football players and recruits at a party. When she start investigating, she discovers that it’s not just one case, but several victims that have been raped or abused by football players, that their behavior has been encouraged by people from their football program and that the university officials not only know everything about it but they deliberately silence and dismiss the victims.

“The culture of the crime is defined by the culture of the place where the crime is committed.”

The author alternates between the story of the investigation and her own story of abuse when she was a little girl and her relationship with her family who refuse to acknowledge her abuse.

Both of the stories are revolting and heart-wrenching and hearing the details of what happened to them, especially to what happened to the author, was very hard. You know these things happen but it’s different to listen to the victims talk about everything they have endured because of the toxic and victim-blaming culture in our society.

Tell Me Everything is a dense book, full of information about the case, the victims and about the author’s personal life. Despite discussing really heavy topics, it was very interesting to listen to a real crime investigation and to see how the people involved, from the university officials to the lawyers and victims, handled the situation and the resolution of the case. Erika’s story is devastating and very difficult to read but she did a great job at conveying and expressing her feelings and life experiences. The audiobook is narrated by Gabra Zackman who did a great job despite the very difficult topics.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the review audiobook and thank you Erika Krouse for sharing your story.

Content warning: the book includes descriptions of sexual assault, child abuse, negligence and abusive family relationships. If you need more information before reading this book, please feel free to DM me.

The football/University scandal is something I’ve heard about in passing, but never really truly dived into. I found this book to be truly interesting, engaging, and memorable about a topic that needs attention.

I loved the writer’s perspective as an outsider working within the ranks as a brand new Private Investigator. I found her viewpoint true to life and I appreciated that this wasn’t another book written by experts about experts.

Having said that, I could have done with less memoir. While I loved the author’s writing style, there were parts of it that I personally found unbelievable… like people telling her secrets because she has “one of those faces.”

Maybe I’ve just never met such a person, but I truly can’t imagine that.

Now onto the important part, this book hits on some deep and important issues and I loved that. It deals with hard hitting issues such as sex scandals, violence to women, systematic abuse, and it does so through the lens of a large public scandal.

This book left me wondering how much systematic abuse there is in aspects of our lives that go without attention.

The audio version that I listened to was pleasant and the narrator had a good grasp on the calm voice I would expect from the narrator and I fell into the reading easily.

I would call this one 2 parts True Crime, 1 part Memoir, and all parts an interesting read!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a review copy in exchange for an honest review.

Memoir of the life of an unexpected Private Investigator. The narrator was lovely and the story kept me mildly interested, but overall this was a miss for me. I wasn’t completely attached to the main character.

A story about a woman who knew nothing about being a private investigator, but managed help a law firm win a huge Civil rights case.

This book opens with the author talking about how she has a type of face that makes people tell her their secrets. She wasn't joking. She truly believes that because of the way she looks, people will open up to her. Then then goes on to talk about how people thought she was Japanese by how well she acted like a Japanese person. I found her descriptions in this borderline offensive, but I pushed on.

The civil rights case she is working dealing with rape ties into her own childhood trauma and I feel as though her trauma may have caused her to have a bias which is ABSOLUTLEY NOT a bad thing in this case. She may have been emotionally driven, but it probably aided her in communicating with other victims.

Two stars because I can't bear to give someone that speaks about their trauma one star.

This was a difficult read for me because of the subject matter. I am not usually a true crime fan and tend to steer away from such books. I did want to go outside of my comfort zone for this one because of the rave reviews that I was hearing. While this is a difficult subject there was not as much as the "behind the scenes" of the crime, more of the facts of what happened. Infuriating most of the time. I am sure this will be a read that will be loved more by others.

Thanks to NetGalley & MacMillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to read & review this amazing work.

WOW. THIS. WAS. SO. GOOD.

I enjoyed the audio narrator, Gabra Zackman. She had a good pacing and clear voice.

This book is part true crime and part memoir. It was so well written and kept my attention the entire time. This book was different than anything else I've read. I just loved it.

Erika Krouse's story is captivating. She tells her own story of abuse (as well as talking about her sorry excuse for a mother), while also telling the story of her efforts to take action to help uncover a college sex abuse scandal while working as a Private Investigator.

At one point in the story she says "What healed me most wasn't time, it was action."

Her history of being sexually abused fueled her efforts to keep pushing to hold abusers accountable for their vile actions. I was sad AND also furious while reading this story. Reading her words, made me want to go out and take action, it made me want to speak up & be heard. It really was an inspiring read.

I also liked how she applauded the conservative judge for making the right decision in the college sex scandal. Its easy to lump people into one category based upon their political leanings and a lot of authors cannot separate politics from individual decisions that are made, so I thought that was refreshing. She calls things as she sees them and I loved that.

The way Erika's mother handled the abuser (X) AND Erika's wedding infuriated me. What a gross person.

A few takeaways...
(1) In 2002 women had to PAY for their own rape kits (this is for real!) [We have evolved in this regard]
(2) C&nt is NOT a term of endearment, don't tell me otherwise.
(3) Seriously Simone was told she may have to pay $3+million in legal fees?!?

Tell Me Everything
The Story of a Private Investigation

by Erika Krouse
Narrated by Gabra Zackman

Pub Date 15 Mar 2022

[Macmillan Audio]

Biographies & Memoirs

I am reviewing a copy of Tell Me Everything through Macmillan and Netgalley:

Erika Krouse is one of those people that has one of the faces that have people spilling confessions to her. In the fall of 2002, Erika 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. When 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. Erika knows she should turn the assignment down. Her own history with sexual violence makes it all too personal. But she decides to take the job anyway.

During the next five years Erika 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, Erika finds herself increasingly consumed. When both her life and the case start to implode. Erika must figure out a way to help the case without loosing herself.

I give Tell Me Everything five out of five stars!

Happy Reading!

Tell Me Everything by Erika Krouse and narrated by Gabra Zackman is an all-encompassing story about the sexual assault investigation about the University of Colorado's football scandal. This is a true story experienced by Erika Krouse and is ultimately part memoir, part investigative journalism. Her own experiences mirror those of the victims she is investigating which makes for a complicated personal journey. Overall, this is a tough read but it is also captivating.

The audio version was extremely well done and Gabra Zackman did a great job of moving the plot forward with her choices and tone but the performance ultimately let the story shine.

Thank you to Netgalley and Macmillan Audio for the ARC. Tell me Everything is out now!

🕵️‍♀️ Tell Me Everything 🕵️‍♀️
by Erika Krouse

I read the description of this book and knew I had to read it. What I didn’t realize was how disturbing it would be. The story is VERY disturbing, so much so that I went back to make sure I was actually reading a non-fiction book, like I thought I was. I’m really shocked that I had never heard about the investigation and even asked my former football player husband about it and he hadn’t heard about it either, so it made me start researching, and what I found was that you would never get as many details in this scandal than you will from this book. Eyewitness accounts and more, these stories will have you cringing and wondering how something of this nature could possibly go on at a well-known university, or any university for that matter.

Erika is a phenomenal writer and I truly enjoyed the narrator in this audio book. The scandal is intertwined in her own personal memoir and I did like the way she weaved everything together. It’s definitely worth a read!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warning: This book is about an actual college rape scandal. The author is also a sexual assault survivor and this is part of the plot line as well.

I'm not really sure how to rate this book, it was almost a DNF at 30% and then at 50% but I forced myself to finish it. Going in to it I knew that it was about a real college rape case and that it would also be a personal memoir of sorts. So I knew this wouldn't be an easy story to read/listen to.

But most of what is covered about the court case are details that could have been found reading news articles. I didn't feel like a lot of new information was brought out. Krouse's personal story woven throughout often times has no relevance to her time as a private investigator or the college case and makes the overall plot feel chaotic. This read like two separate books spliced together.

Gabra Zackman did an ok job with the audiobook performance but it felt dry and one-note.

3.5 stars. This book is extremely hard to review. It is trying to do a lot of things at once which seemed like a good idea when I chose the book but in reality it was chaotic and kind of frustrating. I enjoyed the true crime aspect and the trauma/brain science parts of the book but found the author to be slightly annoying and a little but unreliable, to be honest. I flew through the first half of the book and then almost gave up during the second half which is why this book scored a 3.5/5 stars.

This was super-interesting, as well as infuriating.


Review copy provided by publisher.

_______________-

Erika has a face that makes people spill their secrets. Overnight, she goes from being a woman working an average temp job to becoming a PI. The book follows her investigation of sexual assault allegations against college football players. Meanwhile, she is dealing with her own trauma from sexual abuse as a child and her family not believing her.

I found the parts about the sexual assault investigation to be the most interesting and what really set this book apart. The university fostered a culture that allowed football players to get away with sexual assault and even encouraged it in some instances. It was so hard to read but so eye-opening as someone who didn’t go to a university with a big football team. I really enjoyed reading bout this landmark case. Some of the parts about her current life - relationship, her house - felt like add-ons that interrupted the story. They were beautifully written but I just didn’t need them in the story. It felt like this book couldn't quite decide what it wanted to be.

For fans of memoirs like Know My Name, true crime without the murder, and those who wonder what goes on behind the scenes of some big football programs in America.

Thank you @netgalley and @macmillanaudio for the ARC.

WOW. This story was well told. I personally live in Colorado and had no idea this case existed. The parts where the author spoke about Colorado were spot on and perfectly descriptive for the outsider. In terms of the case- ooooh wee mama. Amazing insight into what the life of a brand new private investigator is like. TW: a lot of sexual abuse in this story. A lot of gaslighting of victims and victim shaming from parties doing the abuse. Some parts were hard to hear, but overall, I am so grateful this author came forward with her story and the story of the other survivors. I personally think this story was a 4.5. It’s rare I find a non-fiction story that I can’t put down.

This book is a memoir/true crime story that reads like a novel. It is compelling, devastating, moving, and could definitely be triggering. It is partly a reflection on Erika Krouse's experience surviving abuse as a child, and how that loss and displacement shapes her life as an adult. When she encounters a successful attorney who tells this stranger more than he should, she is recognized for what has been a lifelong gift/curse/quick (depending on the situation): people tell Erika EVERYTHING.
So begins her career as a private investigator, immersing herself in the case of a series of rapes involving college football players, and a goal of showing that the university is violating the rights of female students by creating or tolerating a dangerous rape-culture in the athletics program.
Moments in the book are maddening, but so is the pervasiveness of the antiquated, offense "she asked for it" culture. For Erika, the journey is a rabbit hole of grief and pain and an obsessive pursuit for justice for the women raped by the football players, and for herself.
Compelling and painful.

An excellent investigative reporting story meets memoir. I didn’t realize that Title IX included sexual harassment and sexual violence, but this book is about the investigation of and civil suit case against a Colorado University’s football program for the sexual assault of female university students. It is fascinating (and disturbing) to learn about how deep the layers of protection run in defense of this university and their football players. Most notable is how Erika Krouse weaves in her own experience with sexual assault as a child. She smoothly transitions from “investigator” to “personal storyteller.” Recommended for fans of Chanel Miller’s Know My Name. These stories are important and all too common.

Erika Krouse tells us in the opening chapters that she has one of those faces. Everyone who meets her, including strangers, spill their confessions to her. In 2002, a lawyer she had met just moments before, offered her a job as a PI, despite the fact that she had zero training. Since everyone spills their guts to her, this should be easy-peasy, right?

Apparently not. Maybe her face changed? Or maybe she exaggerated her abilities? I’m already questioning her reliability, which is not a good way to start a book. Maybe it’s all true but the BS alarm was already buzzing in my head. She’s very self-c0ngratulatory about her abilities.

She ends up investigating sexual assault charges on campus colleges and the toxic culture surrounding recruitment programs and college football. The case turns into a civil rights case after a female student was raped by football players. The author uses pseudonyms and doesn’t name the university, although I’m not sure why since the case is a very old one and it’s quite easy to find online. Anyone who reads the news with any regularity is familiar with this case and the subject so nothing new was brought to the table.

Then there’s the memoir section, where she tells her life story, which includes her dating life during the time when she was investigating this case. No thanks! The author also talks a lot about her dysfunctional childhood and past sexual abuse. While I have the utmost sympathy for anyone who endures abuse, I just can't read about it anymore.

It's a memoir and the author can write whatever she wants, but I don't have to read it. I just don’t have it in me to continue on so I’m calling it quits.

Tell Me Everything is a true crime novel written by a private investigator Erika Krouse. Krouse has one of those faces that people just trust. Everywhere she goes people tell her their innermost secrets -sometimes without realizing why. This was the case when Erika met Grayson, an attorney who would have one of the biggest civil law cases against a football team and university with systemic sexual assault. Erika will work for Grayson to try to get victims, perpetrators and witnesses to tell her what happened to them.

The case involves a winning football team that is completely supported by its university. The university will look past everything its players do in order to have a winning team. The team host recruiting parties where host players are told to show the recruits a good time. At one such event, the football team crashes a girls only hangout and gang rapes one of the girls. The police do nothing, the team does nothing, the university does nothing. This is where the case begins.

Erika, herself, is a victim of abuse. Her stepfather abuses her from ages 4-7 and no one in her family believes her (then or now). Erika weaves her own trauma into the telling of her investigation. I have a lot of different emotions about this novel. I'll start with what I really loved about it. The history of criminology was fascinating and I truly learned a lot. I also appreciated Erika and Grayson's dedication to helping the survivors. However, the content of this novel is heavy and at times I needed a break because it is heartbreaking what happened to these women and how so many turned a blind eye in order to have a winning football program. I would suggest that people read or listen to this novel. I want to thank Netgalley for allowing me to listen to the audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This was absolutely fantastic. A memoir in a league of its own. Once I started this I could not stop. It was intoxicating and infuriating. I couldn’t get enough of all of it. I’ll be recommending this for months to come.