Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators #ronanfarrow #littlebrownandcompany #harveyweinstein #mattlauer #sexualpredators #conspiracy #nbc @absltmom

I do admit I have never seen Ronan Farrow on TV in his role as an investigative reporter, but I do know who he is and his family affiliations. Perhaps it is because of not following him on TV, that I had some trouble following him in this book, as I found it hard to discern at times with its bevy of characters and was at a loss as to who some of the people were. I do think this book would have benefited from a introductory page which explained who the people were and their affiliations.

That being said, I do feel the topic was ever so relevant and still remains so whenever a person is sought out to perform sexual favors to get or maintain a job. What Harvey Weinstein and Matt Lauer did was beyond heinous and they deserve every bit of punishments inflicted upon them. However, I am irked by the fact that Lauer is still walking around free while he should be a cellmate of Weinstein’s. The blazing fact that NBC attempted to cover this all up always opens a festering wound in the world of entertainment, one that has been present for years and acknowledged by all. It is unfathomable that some claim they never knew about Weinstein as it was common knowledge, joked about, and behavior that was accepted. Fear played a major role and it disturbed me greatly that some who were so abused went back for more abuse because they”loved” their job. Even Mr Farrow, after learning and researching with claims that his life was in danger, wanted to continue to work a NBC because he too, loved his job. At what point, I wonder, does your own self respect and esteem take over and that love become hate?

At times, I found the writing disjointed and jumpy, oftentimes repetitive. I also had issues with the time frames and perhaps a kind of time line of events would have benefited my understanding of the story.

I would have liked for Mr Farrow to have explored more the topic of Jeffrey Epstein since he also was a predator who preyed on women. Epstein got a casual reference as it pertained to the current president but there was nary a mention of his other associations with people like Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew, Alan Dershowitz to name a few.

It was a cumbersome story filled with facts as I would imagine a reporter needs a story to be. It just didn’t flow as I wanted it too and in the end I felt that while I knew the story, I just didn’t enjoy the journey to get to its end. Please do read other reviews of this book, as they seemed to have found more to enjoy about its telling. I wish I could have been counted among that group.

However, all my misgivings aside, it continues to be a relevant story and we would like to think that these times are all behind us, but are they?

and here’s the author

Ronan Farrow is a contributing writer to The New Yorker, where his investigative reporting has won the Pulitzer Prize for public service, the National Magazine Award, and the George Polk Award, among other honors. He previously worked as an anchor and investigative reporter at MSNBC and NBC News, with his print commentary and reporting appearing in publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post.

Before his career in journalism, he served as a State Department official in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller War on Peace: The End of Diplomacy and the Decline of American Influence. Farrow has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People and one of GQ’s Men of the Year. He is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the New York Bar. He recently completed a Ph.D. in political science at Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar. He lives in New York.