RaveThe New York Times Book Review... beautifully written, disturbing and affecting ... This is literary nonfiction at a high level. Fans of true crime might be disappointed in the eccentricities of the writer, who regularly finds reason to detail, say, drought conditions in Colorado, instead of giving a straightforward accounting of crimes and cover-ups...The book swirls around major sexual issues of our day — consent, college rape culture, institutional accountability — without ever feeling preachy or didactic. Instead, we get beautiful sentences that leap out of nowhere ... In detailing her own trauma, Krouse is unsparing...I found myself gasping at some moments involving her mother, the pain heightened by tenderness ... There are occasional false moments, too. The author sometimes drops into hard-boiled noir tropes that feel at odds with the tone of the book. And occasionally the story reads like a creation myth for a hero P.I. ... At first, I worried that the dual narratives of Krouse’s personal story and the football team’s rape case wouldn’t coalesce. Sadly, they fit together all too well.
Patrick Hoffman
RaveBookreporterOn the pages of Hoffman’s fast-moving novel, readers may ponder if any of these unique characters have anything other than the dirtiest of hands as well as hearts and minds ... a noir journey through the streets and neighborhoods of New York, where characters ranging from Russian mobsters to black-market traders all become involved in the search for Crowley’s cell phone and its contents. At multiple junctures in the investigation, readers may believe that the threat has been averted, but soon will discover that is not the case. The twists and turns will bend your reading mind into a pretzel, but it will be enjoyable ... this is a fast-paced story with entertaining dialogue and a cast of unforgettable characters. And the end will leave you with just enough unanswered questions that you may want to go back to the beginning to see what you might have missed.
