First, Kevin Pierce is a great narrator. He does an incredible job distinguishing between the different characters in the book, including the voices of the women. His characterizations never sound unnatural. My only slight criticism is that sometimes his voice drops too low at the end of a sentence or phrase and I don’t catch what was said.
This is my second Jack Olsen book. His true crime writing style has to be some of my favorite. Olsen goes into details of the crimes, but it never feels lurid or unnecessary. The details are presented in a factual manner. What I love, however, is how Olsen paints a picture of the lives of the victims, not just the criminal. Spoiler alert: There are no murders in this crime book. This book covers the rapes of dozens of women in the Spokane, WA area committed by one man, Kevin Coe. Coe is one of the most disturbed, depraved sociopaths I have ever read about. He has NO redeeming qualities. Besides the story of how Coe went about raping dozens of women for years, what also is disturbing is how the police handled it. It took them forever to realize that any of the cases were related. Olsen describes how the many women felt after the rapes, how the police responded and worse, how their family, particularly husbands responded. Basically, with callous disregard. Husbands could not ( or refused to) understand what their wives’ or girlfriends’ problem was after the rapes. Women were raped and didn’t bother to report it, because they figured no one would believe them. It is truly sad that 40 years later, women who have been sexually assaulted still face the same challenges when it comes to reporting rape.
I recommend the book if you are not only interested in true crime but also interested in understanding how the lasting trauma of rape affects women, their families and the community.