A review by bex_knighthunter
Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators by Ronan Farrow

challenging dark emotional informative tense medium-paced

4.25

An incredible story of the effort involved in getting the story out about Harvey Weinstein and the media conspiracy that got in it's way. Note: dark subject matter and many first hand accounts of sexual assault and rape. I listened to the audio of this in only a few days and found the story slightly addictive. I usually steer very clear of true crime, but I do love reading about larger scandals and conspiracies and how they are uncovered and brought down. It did interest me slightly less towards the end when it felt like attention was diverted to other sexual predators in the media involved in squashing the case, but not people I've heard of and I think the fact I'm from the UK meant so many of the company names didn't mean anything to me and so I started to get a few confused. I also struggled to keep all the people's names straight throughout, which I was mostly able to infer through context which side they were on, but maybe meant I missed some significant things. My only other criticism was that some of the accents on the audiobook (read by the author) didn't sound right to me - especially the British journalist, but then maybe he did really sound like that! However, being able to hear one of the clips within the audiobook was really powerful, and generally audio felt like a good fit for this kind of story (there is a reason true crime podcasts are popular!). I did find this story pretty enthralling and definitely anger-inducing throughout (in a good way). I'd remember seeing the story break at the time, but I hadn't realised quite how much resistance there was to this story within the media, threats and interference from Weinstein, and legal pressure on the women coming forward. All this meant it required a lot of personal sacrifice and risk from the side of the author and of course heaps of selflessness and bravery from the women who told their stories. It's very scary to think how easily this could have never come to light, and how the #MeToo movement may have missed it's spark that set it all off. An important story - showing really how much more there is to know about behind the scenes/press.