How is a survivor of rape meant to react? Why did the perpetrator carry out these assaults? Should the incompetent police officers have remained in their job after the way they treated Marie? What criteria do police officers use to determine that the survivor is 'looking for attention' or that this qualifies as 'actual consensual sex'? Does a woman invite sexual assault purely by leaving a window open? Do all women have a rape fantasy?

There were so many questions are raised for me while reading this book. This was a fascinating and disturbing read about how a rape survivor is interrogated instead of being interviewed, then labelled a liar and coerced into recanting her story, to be later charged with false reporting, only for her rapist to eventually be arrested miles away.

This book is a book of two parts. On the one hand, this is such an infuriating read. The way Marie is traumatised by the initial attack and then retraumatised again and again by law enforcement is heart-breaking. It is disgusting the way the officers analysed every bit of her behaviour as if she were a perpetrator and then accused her of lying and making her feel like those close to her didn't believe her.

On the other hand, Miller and Armstrong explore how this police department owns up to their mistakes and takes steps to make changes. The portrayal of the Lynwood police department was done very well. It would have been easy to simply paint the officers as misogynistic, but the authors presented the nuanced truth. The detectives, particularly Mason, acted in what he felt was good faith, but clearly lacked proper training to understand the signs of a sexual assault survivor and how these reactions vary among survivors.

The fact that the department owned up to their mistakes and is working to make long-term positive changes is probably to only silver lining to this story. There's also a bit looking into the disturbed mind of the serial rapist which provided some insight to his mindset, including whether he could have been stopped with earlier intervention. However, I am glad they didn't dedicate more than this to him, because his story adds a necessary element in terms of insight, but the focus is on the survivors.

The audio narration is perfect. The pacing is perfect. The content of the book is concise and presents the pertinent details with relevant background details. The authors have also made extensive effort to make sure that the language they used was in line with the survivors' stories (e.g. being referred to as a survivor and not a victim). They had Marie herself fact check the story, which is just a great approach to writing a nonfiction book about such a sensitive topic. It keeps the survivors at the focus of the story, making this a very well-written true crime story. It presents an important discussion of how rape is (or isn't) investigated in America.

Before I listened to this, I watched the Netflix miniseries, Unbelievable, which is based on this story. The show is very faithful to this book and did a very good job telling this story. Both are hard to read/watch, but it's an important story.

This story has similarities to Know My Name by Chanel Miller (which is narrated by her) and from a different angle, The Central Park Five by Sarah Burns, both of which I'd recommend.