Cry Rape: The True Story of One Woman’s Harrowing Quest for Justice

Justice and rape have a horrible history of rarely being bedfellows. This is one of the best chronicles of how torturous the justice system can be to women who have been forced into sexual acts against their will. Equally inspiring is the fact that it was written by a man, Bill Lueders, who is a news editor for Isthmus, Madison, Wisconsin's newsweekly. He does a great job of telling Patty’s incredible and moving story taking the reader on a step-by-step journey from the rape through the medical examinations, police investigation and interrogation, and the aftermath of the trial.

Typical of systems built on money rather than justice, offensively insensitive tactics that were intimidating and disrespectful were used with unrepentant fervor. Somewhere along the line “innocent until proven guilty” turned into “innocent by shifting blame to the victim.” You will read about the damaging, emotional wounds Patty held in this revealing expose of our justice system, and how her struggle with depression that resulted from the rape was difficult to reconcile when she had to continually defend herself. Not only is this book worth buying; it is also worth reading several times.

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