...a captivating page-turner ... The book’s narrative is grounded in Marie, but brilliantly cuts back and forth between her story and subsequent sexual assaults in Denver suburbs. There’s a gripping 'you are there' immediacy as crackerjack officers and criminalists pore over scant evidence before finally homing in on their man ... The authors flesh out their through-line with vivid portraits of attacker, victims and police, speaking powerfully to our cultural moment (even as they skirt the thorny issue of due process). Rich in forensic detail, deftly written and paced, A False Report is an instant true-crime classic, taking its rightful place beside Vincent Bugliosi’s Helter Skelter and Dave Cullen’s Columbine.
Though stranger rape isn’t the norm for sexual assault, or the focus of the sexual misconduct fueling the #MeToo moment in which this book appears, it offers broadly relevant lessons ... Miller and Armstrong tell their story plainly, expertly and well. It’s gripping and needs no dressing up.
A False Report will fascinate readers interested in the finer points of police procedure — even if they grow dizzy trying to keep track of a dozen different police officers and detectives involved with unraveling the multijurisdictional case. An unexpected strength of the book is the chance it affords Jeffrey Mason, one of the original detectives who doubted Marie, to look back on his mistakes ... The message could not be clearer: old theories on why to distrust women reporting rape still influence many of us today, which makes this an especially timely work.
...an important piece of journalism ... The authors' exhaustive research brings to life not only Marie and other victims, but also the police and other authorities who are devastated by their own mistakes. Miller and Armstrong make it clear that no statistics are known about how many women lie about being raped. But at least three other women in addition to Marie have been criminally prosecuted for it since the mid-1990s. Even in the relatively enlightened 21st century, A False Report reminds us there is no standard response to trauma.
To say their work is needed is an understatement ... But...the book’s length has weakened their endeavor. The prose is often breathless, indulgent of its own shock ... a police procedural — untroubled by nuance, more concerned with suspense ...
Still, the argument could be made that this is not the moment for nuance. It is instead a corrective moment, one in which we as a society finally recognize that women who report sexual crimes must be believed. In making that case, A False Report’ succeeds.
Throughout the book, the authors display meticulous investigative reporting skills, using documents, case files, and interviews with victims and witnesses. Their urgent account delivers absolute vindication in a serpentine crime investigation that initially betrayed its victim. A riveting and disturbing true-crime story that reflects the enduring atrocity of rape in America.
The authors use this dramatic, almost unbelievable sequence of events as a springboard to a broader survey of the disturbing ways victims of rape are treated in America ... the book shines a critical light on an urgent and timely subject.
