Rating: 4 / 5
TELL ME EVERYTHING: THE STORY OF A PRIVATE INVESTIGATION by Erika Krouse is a mix of a memoir and a true crime story. The author begins the book by telling us she has one of those faces, a rather regular face, but one which somehow convinces people to open up to her. All her life people have told her things they didn’t mean to and this made her a natural to work in private investigation. Working for a lawyer, she was tasked to research a pattern of horrific behavior happening at a university where ball players were treated as untouchable, even when they perpetrated rapes and harassment.
In specific, they are working on the case of a young woman who threw a party. When the players crashed the party, she is raped by multiple men. The case they are developing is against the university for allowing this type of culture to exist without punishment. Working under her lawyer boss, Erika is the one meeting with witnesses and others with information to offer, gathering their story to support the case.
This book is not an easy read while it also sadly is not a surprising story. The things that the university and the coaches allow (and encourage) will infuriate you. Mixed in with this, we are hearing a lot about the author’s personal life and history and how this overlaps with the research she is doing. She has had a lot of trauma in her own past that comes out through the course of the book (and the investigation) to be worked through.
I though the author struck a good balance between her life and the investigation with some excellent character studies for some of the people she met and worked with along the way. This was an excellent pick for the #NonfictionBookParty #TrueCrimeTuesday photo prompt from Jaymi @theocbookgirl!
DG Reads 