There's nothing worse than trying to taste non fiction about an interesting and tragic topic with underwhelming writing.

Let me express the bad first: this book is incredibly bloated and repetitive. Atrociously so, something that was especially apparent in the audiobook. A good illustration of this is that the epilogue was nearly an hour long and the end credits another twenty minutes.

A fifteen hour audiobook is very much in my comfort zone, but this one felt truly endless. The story was harrowing and gruesome, but eventually leaves us desensitized to women pulling pieces of jaw bone from their mouths and slowly dying of sarcoma because it's our tenth time hearing about it in extreme detail. I suppose that's the point - the author does indeed impress upon us how widespread the problems were and how similar the cases were.

We also have a wide, wide cast of characters that blend together. The extensive emphasis and descriptions even of minor characters (think siblings, nieces, and neighbors of the women we're following), while likely done in an attempt to humanize the women, instead detracted from them.

My point being: I wish the book has been edited down and had much tighter writing. The same book at about 60% it's length would have been a five star read for me, but the frustration of the reading experience really docked my rating and, again, detracted from the actual point.

But I finished it. I'm free.

Recommended if you're ready for a deep dive into a legal case affecting several dozen people, are interested in corporate greed, and don't mind extensive repetition.

More thoughts here: https://youtu.be/sS8eromz-Ko