Review: Denial: A Memoir of Terror by Jessica Stern

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ecco (June 22, 2010)
• ISBN-10: 0061626651
• Source: Publisher

Jessica Stern has been studying the causes of violence for the past two decades. She often wondered why she could study such a horrid subject without being affected in some way.  Perhaps it is due to that one event that forever changed her life, the night of October 1, 1973.

Jessica was just fifteen years old, her sister just a year younger, when they were raped. When they reported it to the police they weren’t taken seriously.  The police believed they knew their attacker and were too afraid or ashamed to admit to it.

The story turned out to be much bigger than the rape of two girls.  It seemed as if the entire community was in denial.  The police had not properly investigated the crime. They gave up quickly…rape at gunpoint was unimaginable in Concord, Massachusetts in 1973.  Denial, I would learn, is immensely seductive.  It is irresistible for bystanders who want to get on with their lives.  In the moment of terror, denial and dissociation are life-preserving for the victim…in this case, the denial of our community resulted in many additional child rapes-at least forty-four-and the suicide of at least one of the victims.

All these years later, Jessica does what the police didn’t do at the time, she reads the police reports, investigates her own unsolved rape and uncovers years of buried trauma and denial.  With the help of a local police Lieutenant, Jessica was able to discover the identity of her rapist, a man who raped at least forty-four girls in Massachusetts in a three year time-frame in the early 1970s.  Unfortunately, this man, Brian Beat, killed himself years before Jessica began her investigation

Denial: A Memoir of Terror is a very intimate look at one victim’s search for knowledge, for truth.  Jessica doesn’t hold anything back, each detail of that horrendous crime is clearly laid out.  It is for this reason I say it’s difficult to enjoy reading a book on this topic, but I definitely think I gained a lot by reading it.  As a criminal justice/psych major, I too was interested in learning more about what causes crime and violence.  I learned a lot about the criminal but never very much about the victim.  It was interesting to read about how one event, granted one very big life-altering event, could forever change the life of one young girl.  The way she behaved, the occupation she chose, all were in response to this attack. I was infuriated to learn just how many rapes could have been prevented had the police investigated more, had the town wiped away the cover of denial.

I wouldn’t recommend this book to everyone due to its subject matter.  However, I do think it is an important book to read.  It’s not only a book about a rape, but one about self-discovery and awareness. If I had to mention one thing I didn’t like it would have to be the repetitiveness. Some scenes, thoughts, etc. were relayed over and over again.  Perhaps this was in an attempt to drive that particular thought or action home, but instead I found myself skimming these parts, skipping ahead in the book.  That said, this only occurred a few times, it certainly didn’t take away from the impact this book had on me.  Highly recommended.

Thank you to TLC Book Tours for providing me with the opportunity to review this book.   Be sure to check out the last stop on this tour on Monday, July 12 over at Sophisticated Dorkiness.