Praise for Cry Rape: One Woman’s Harrowing Quest for Justice, by Bill Lueders (University of Wisconsin Press)
“In a textbook example of how not to investigate rape, Patty was disbelieved, humiliated, and treated like a criminal while promising leads were ignored. Her fight for justice is an important and inspiring story, as well as a warning that old ways of thought about women persist in surprising places. As full of twists and turns as a mystery novel, and as tightly written, Cry Rape lays bare the underside of one of our nation’s most liberal and attractive cities.”
Katha Pollitt, columnist for The Nation
“Cry Rape provides a chilling example of how tunnel vision can lead even well-meaning police officers into forming conclusions that are flat-out wrong, how powerful interrogation techniques can lead innocent people to confess to crimes they did not commit, and how DNA can correct mistakes for the lucky few.”
Barry Scheck, The Innocence Project
“When others doubted Patty’s story and attacked her credibility, Bill Lueders continued digging and reporting, which ultimately helped this victim find justice. His account of the case is a thoroughly researched page-turner.”
Bill Christofferson, author of The Man from Clear Lake
“Well-developed cast of characters and vivid dialogue will captivate and outrage readers.”
Kirkus Reviews
“Riveting. [Lueders’] achievement is large the book is not a polemic, the tone is not angry, but the systemic fallibility Cry Rape reveals is frightening.”
Doug Moe, The Capital Times
“I don’t think it’s just an important book for this community. I think every single person who works for the criminal justice system every single person should be reading this book. [I]t’s an excellent expose of how people with the best intentions can be very, very wrong and how there are ways to stop that.”
Cheri Maples, former Madison police captain
This is a powerful example of how an investigative reporter can right injustices and expose the need for further reform. [A] compelling book, as suspenseful and harrowing as the best mystery novels. Patty herself emerges as a remarkable heroine: legally blind, scraping by on a paltry income, she keeps fighting to be heard. This works as investigative journalism, heroic tale, and exquisitely paced mystery.
Connie Fletcher, American Library Association
Lueders spells out how Patty suffered from incompetence and bias at every level of law enforcement. [A] shocking revelation of the abuse rape victims are sometimes subjected to by the very people who should be seeking justice for them.
Publishers Weekly
In fascinating and often graphic detail, Lueders takes readers on Patty’s gut-wrenching ride to vindication.
Madison Magazine, October 2006
Bill Lueders shows what it really takes to be an investigative journalist. Endless energy to keep on battering at the wall of denial and cover-up until he exposes the truth. Few have the patience and the skill. Lueders has, and he’s written an important, exciting book.
Alexander Cockburn
Cry Rape is an engrossing tale — all the more powerful for its detached outrage. Mostly, Lueders lets the facts speak for themselves….To those of us who fervently believe that good journalism can better the world, Cry Rape is a shining example of reporting at its best.
Jason Shepard, The Capital Times
As an investigative reporter who writes frequently about wrongful convictions, I thought I’d lost the capacity for surprise when it came to a malfunctioning criminal justice system. But Cry Rape, about a case in Madison, surprised me.
Steve Weinberg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A must-read, a powerful indictment of how tunnel vision can lead police officers and prosecutors even to turn against crime victims in a desperate attempt to protect the system.
Steven Drizin, director, Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern University School of Law
If I was teaching Criminology 101, I would use this text.
Former Madison Police Chief David Couper
A gripping mystery, a meticulous dissection of a police investigation gone wrong — an urgent read for anyone concerned about how police treat victims of sensitive crimes and how institutions defend their own.
Linda Lutton, Chicago Reader
Cry Rape is a Herculean piece of reportage that reads like first-rate fiction.
Michael Popke, Shepherd-Express