The most recommended books about sex crimes

I inhaled Break the Fall, set in the world of elite gymnastics. After an injury, Audrey is not only ready to return to gymnastics but does the impossible thing of qualifying for the Olympics. Finally, she’s on the cusp of achieving all that she’s dreamed of and trained for all these years. Everything unravels, however, when their coach is accused of sexual assault. Iacopelli does a gorgeous job capturing all of the highs and lows of this story, as well as the intensity of elite athletics. While we don’t typically think of gymnastics as a team sport, I was especially appreciative of the way Iacopelli showed the girls standing up for each other as a team, which is rare in YA girls’ sports books. 

This book focuses on the mental health aspect of trauma and the devastating impact violence and assault can have on a young life.

Della, our ten-year-old narrator, carries a dry wit and a whole bunch of charm. I was hooked from the opening paragraph of Della showing off her new ampersand tattoo.

I literally thought, “Who is this girl? I just have to know more about her.” And boy, did I!

Della’s story is raw and real and cut me to the core. I especially loved the author’s portrayal of Della and her sister, Suki’s, impenetrable sibling bond.

This book isn’t an easy read and it will make you uncomfortable. But it is a must and important read.

If you ever want to know what the medieval Church had to say about sex, love, marriage, and other related topics, you only need to draw from the relevant preachers’ manuals and Church lawbooks, which illuminate the entire spectrum of human failings which the Church condemned and punished in specific terms. It might be hilarious at times, but Brundage clearly unearths the concrete rules for the ordinary people when they were allowed to have sex during the year and under what conditions. Moreover, this is an eye-opening book about the official view of queerness in the Middle Ages.

Frederick Toates has been studying and writing about serial murder for many years. As a biological psychologist, he has authored many works about arousal and motivation. In this book, he and Olga Coschug-Toates, a fellow clinical scholar and noted author, present a biopsychosocial perspective of sexually motivated serial murders. They also highlight important concepts through case studies, making the presentation interesting and applicable. Although my recommended list revolves around elucidating the motives and means of FSKs, understanding how male serial killers commonly operate illustrates the stark differences between FSKs and MSKs.

This book is heartbreaking and enlightening.

Admittedly, I didn't know much about the Amish culture religion prior to reading this book, other than what I saw in Pennsylvania when I lived there, but I was always curious. After reading this book, I started to question the idea of ‘religious freedom’ in our country, that can so shield people who are abusing their freedom by exploiting women and children. 

Religion in its worst manifestation can be so damaging, which is so well explained in this book.

As an academic whose recent work has been LGBTQ+ history, it has been amazing and humbling to recognize that we haven’t a complete account of one of the most famous events of all—the trials of Oscar Wilde.

This absence hasn’t stopped us from speculating and theorizing about them and their significance, but that work will be easier in the future because of Bristow’s masterful book. Utilizing hard-to-find materials in archives and the digitization of newspapers, Bristow gives us the closest we’re likely to get to an accurate understanding of what happened in 1895.

It is a powerful case for how to understand the trials today, what we can conclude Wilde was guilty of, and how he was victimized by an unjust legal process.

Lawless Spaces uses the novel in verse form to capture multiple voices over several generations, voices of women who all carry the same trauma of being sexualized as women in a patriarchal world.

The verse allows readers to see the patterns between characters in a really compelling way, and think about what has and hasn’t changed in our world regarding how women are viewed.

I Have the Right to is the true story of Chessy Prout, who was sexually assaulted as a freshman as part of a ritualized “game” of conquest perpetrated by the boys at her high school. The book follows her quest for justice, as her case and trial gained international media attention. She has become a passionate advocate for consent education, and in 2017 (at the age of eighteen!) she started a non-profit dedicated to raising awareness of sexual assault in high schools. I’m in awe and admiration of the bravery and strength of this young woman, and believe everyone—teens and adults, boys and girls, everyone—needs to read her story. 

This isn't a novel but a true crime narrative, a depiction of a man named Ken McElroy gunned down on the main street of a small Missouri town in, well, broad daylight. No witnesses. No suspects. Well, the whole town, the whole county, are suspects. This guy raped very young girls then got them to marry him, shot people, stole cattle and equipment, burned down houses. This book was a jolt to me because my wife is from that area, an area I, a man who's spent most of my life in urban areas, had always thought bucolic, filled with amiable, honest, peaceful people. I started looking at the natives in a different light after this. And, not to freak anybody out here, chances are pretty good there’s been a terrible crime, if you’re lucky an unsolved one, committed not very far at all from where you are right now.

Boy Toy is a book that stands out for me because it tackles a rarely discussed subject in young adult literature—the sexual abuse of boys. In this case, the protagonist, Josh, was molested by a teacher when he was younger. Now that he is about to graduate from high school, the repercussions of that abuse, along with the everyday stress he deals with, is coming back to haunt him. Lyga handles this subject matter in an unflinching and realistic way, which can be uncomfortable at times. That said, Boy Toy is definitely a worthwhile, original read.