Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell

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For twenty-five years, the trusted family doctor in a small Wyoming town had been raping and molesting the women and children who most relied on him.

Mostly Mormons, the naive victims sometimes realized on their wedding nights the truth about what had happened in Dr. Story's office.


In riveting detail, veteran crime writer Jack Olsen tells the searing story of a small group of courageous women who decided to bring a doctor to justice — and unearthed a legacy of pain and anger that would divide their families, their neighbors, and an entire town Publishers Weekly: This masterful book by the author of Son, as much a searching sociological study as a true-crime narrative, tells what happened in Lovell when these happenings came to light: the community lost its bearings and the doctor was convicted of rape.


Kirkus: From popular true-crime veteran Olsen (Son; Cold Kill; etc.), the widely publicized case that tore a small Wyoming town apart when the local doctor was accused, then convicted, of raping patients under the guise of giving them pelvic examinations. Lowell, Wyoming, was a town divided largely along religious lines: a Mormon majority and a Baptist minority. When Dr. John Story arrived to start up a practice, he found a warm welcome: a doctor was needed and, though he was a Baptist, his strict habits (which led him to start his own, more fundamentalist church) won the respect of Mormons who flocked to him as patients. But in 1983, after years of suspicions they had tried to dismiss, two sisters came forward with accusations of rape, inspiring dozens of other women (some elderly) to at last speak up. Some victims had been silent because of the Mormon code that seemed to hold women responsible for any extramarital sex; others had taken their case to the police (and not been believed), to Church leaders (who told them to switch doctors), and to the medical association (which did nothing). The 1983 accusers were vilified by the town (even by many Mormons, some grateful for Story's medical care, others sensitive to his claim that the case was a Mormon conspiracy); some lost their jobs and businesses, but Story was eventually convicted and is now doing 15-20 years. Engrossing true drama--and a more balanced than usual picture of Mormon life and values.


The award-winning author of thirty-three books, Jack Olsen’s books have published in fifteen countries and eleven languages. Olsen's journalism earned the National Headliners Award, Chicago Newspaper Guild's Page One Award, commendations from Columbia and Indiana Universities, the Washington State Governor's Award, the Scripps-Howard Award and other honors. He was listed in Who's Who in America since 1968 and in Who's Who in the World since 1987. The Philadelphia Inquirer described him as "an American treasure."


Olsen was described as "the dean of true crime authors" by the Washington Post and the New York Daily News and "the master of true crime" by the Detroit Free Press and Newsday. Publishers Weekly called him "the best true crime writer around." His studies of crime are required reading in university criminology courses and have been cited in the New York Times Notable Books of the Year. In a page-one review, the Times described his work as "a genuine contribution to criminology and journalism alike."