She Said, Catch and Kill

Knowing what we know now, those award acceptance speeches thanking and worshipping Harvey Weinstein just make me want to shower.

These two must-read books were written by the three reporters who broke the Weinstein story in 2017, recounting their months-long investigations and the aftermath of the broken dam. Kantor and Twohey published their story five days before Farrow, reporting it for The New York Times; Farrow started his investigation when he was at NBC, and when it was quashed by his bosses, he brought the story and wrote it for The New Yorker.

While the focus of the two books are Weinstein's "alleged" crimes and how he uses his money and power to silence the women who accuse him of rape and abuse spanning over decades, they also cover sexual allegations against other powerful men, mostly in media and politics, including Roger Ailes, Les Moonves, Matt Lauer, Brett Kavanaugh and Donald Trump.

There are some overlaps between the two books, but the stories are essentially told in two different voices and often by different sources. So don't worry about reading twice of the same thing. You'll still end up angry, being reminded of how these predators have been having their way for years and protected – not only by the legal system, but also by the culture of prioritizing money, chastising women who come forward, and putting the burden on women to prevent the crime and make themselves heard.

They are both gripping reads, but reading Catch and Kill also feels like watching a thriller as you may have heard said by many already. There is a spy-theme music playing in the background while you're reading it, and you'll hold your breath watching Farrow walking down a street, being followed by former Mossad operatives. It keeps you on your toes. The pace feels like a fiction; the horrible thing is, it is not.

As pointed out by She Said, we are still having conversations surrounding this newfound voice to call out and punish sexual predators. I admit I go back and forth reading some of the survivors' accounts. Part of me asks why not swat those f-ing hands that grope you at work? Or why take the settlement? Why not stand up for yourself in a more forceful way? Then I read Ambra Gutierrez's account in Catch and Kill, and I understand why. I'm speechless by what Rose McGowan had to go through. Then I go back to not understanding some other decisions again. For example, why stay on the job? Why go back to your rapist and continue to have sex with him? Is this part of your resume really worth more than your freedom that you stay and take the beating? I don't know. This is all hard to untangle.

Image: Penguin Press; Little, Brown and Company