• Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell

  • By: Jack Olsen
  • Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
  • Length: 16 hrs and 11 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,808 ratings)

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Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell  By  cover art

Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell

By: Jack Olsen
Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
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Publisher's summary

Award winner! With a new introduction by best-selling true-crime author Ron Franscell.

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.

©2014 Jack Olsen (P)2015 Evan Olsen, Su Olsen

Critic reviews

"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." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell

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Terrible events, fascinating story.

I stumbled onto Doc accidentally, not knowing anything about the true crime genre or realizing that Jack Olsen is considered "the dean of true crime authors." I enjoyed it so much that I'm a little worried the whole genre will be ruined for me! I hope I'll be able find more true crime books as good as this one. Needless to say, I'll start with more Jack Olsen.

Kevin Pierce's narration was superb. Given the content of this book, I think it was risky to have a male narrator, but Pierce's delivery of the devastating stories and intensely personal testimonies of Lovell's women was consistently sensitive, nuanced, respectful. Pierce narrated several other Olsen books, so I'll listen to those next.

A couple tips for listening to this book:
- Listen on 1.25x speed if it feels slow.
- There are A LOT of people and families to keep straight. If you want to stay on top of the details, consider how you'll track them before you start listening. Every time a new person was introduced, I saved a bookmark with their name and a quick description. These notes were helpful when I needed to remind myself who someone was, who their relatives were, how they knew Dr. Story, etc.

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102 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Beyond Maddening

Would you consider the audio edition of Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell to be better than the print version?

I did not read the printed version

What was most disappointing about Jack Olsen’s story?

Disappointing is not the word. I wasn't disappointed. The writing is fine ... a tad slow at times but overall fine. The narrator is excellent. I've heard him on several audio books and he never disappoints. The story itself, (which just is what it is) is absolutely horrific and maddening. Just plain maddening.

Which scene was your favorite?

There's no favorite with a story like this one. But what stands out in particular is that every victim save one, went back over and over and over and over and oh my god why didn't they STOP when they knew something was amiss?????

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Religion makes some women mind numbingly submissive to the point that it's time to dismantle the entire male dominated structure. YES .... that's a long tagline but gosh. I mean, really!

Any additional comments?

Going into it, the reader knows that the subject matter isn't going to be easy to take. The brief description of the book tells you to be prepared to be disturbed. So I was. But I wasn't exactly prepared to end up so very angry angry angry at the doctor/pervert AND at the victims AND at Mormonism in general. With each chapter I felt more and more as if these poor victims would NOT have tolerated this pervert doctor AT ALL had they not been so entrenched in a male dominated / female subjugated group like the Mormons. They appeared to be clearly trained by their religion to lay down and take it (whatever the IT may be). These women never lost their voice because they never had it to begin with. They were never allowed their voice. And if that's how 'heavenly father' wants women to be, then count me out. It's an abusive, unfair, unkind, and UNWISE way to live life IMO. This is the only rationale I can come up with for why these women went back to this sicko over and over (X100) when they knew something was so terribly wrong. I understand the concept of being naive early in the ob/gyn game as a patient. Been there/done that. But this went on for YEARS as in DECADES for some women. And frankly, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that going to the doctor for an ear infection or for strep throat does NOT require a pelvic exam. Just maddening. Drop kick this guy into prison, wake these women up from their cult induced stupor and get as far from religion as you can.

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46 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Just Beginning To Read Jack Olsen...

and listened to Doc after listening to the twenty one hours of Son: A Psychopath And His Victims nearly nonstop. Olsen does in Doc exactly what he accomplishes in Son: in a terse, tight, Hemingway style, he paints a vivid, living background and then peoples it with living, breathing individuals, good, bad, ugly, letting the story come to life of its own, teasing out each fact, each personality, each vital detail. The stories are purely factual, but they are nothing like police reports; they are even less like tabloid stories. They are crime stories, Capote-style, just as they should be. Doc comes highly recommended from this reader.

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34 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Flat Out Disturbing.

I've read a fair few true crime books now. I've read about Charles Manson, Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jonestown, a whole bunch of the real 'big ones'. And I can honestly say I found none of them nearly as disturbing as this book.

The scope of John Story's crimes is just mind-boggling. As I listened to this audiobook I found myself shaking my head, gasping, saying 'Oh my God', reacting in very physical ways to what I was hearing, and this from a book that contains maybe half a dozen curse words. The narrator tells the story in his usual calm voice (this is the third book I've heard him narrate), and the story is still absolutely horrifying.

And the really weird thing is, despite the amount of damage this man did as well as the SUSPECTED damage he did, I found it almost impossible to find anything about him online! Women everywhere should know about men like John Story, and they should learn from the many, many mistakes made by the women in the town of Lovell. Naivety is a dangerous thing. So is silence.

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25 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

could not switch this off

This is one of the most gripping books I have read, as well as one of the most disturbing. A first response might be 'how could that happen?' but it soon becomes apparent that it could and did. But, more than the crimes, this book exposes the best and the worst of religious faith, and the devastation wreaked by bigotry, rumour, blinkered vision and, in some cases, hatred. The book is beautifully written, perfectly constructed, and competently read (as always) by Kevin Pierce. A book which is hard to switch off, and hard to stop pondering.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Cringe Worthy!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I found it a very interesting book but would hesitate to recommend it - not the sort of book I would want people to think I seek out. I just bought it because it was on a sale and it sounded so bizarre I wanted to find out how such a thing could happen - the crimes of that doctor are so vast and sordid.

What other book might you compare Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell to and why?

I've only read a few True Crime books but I would say this one compares rather well. The research seems meticulous and the people involved are well developed.

Which scene was your favorite?

When the women first realized what's been happening to them - it's hard to imagine they could be that naive over the years but there is enough background development that it becomes credible.

If you could give Doc: The Rape of the Town of Lovell a new subtitle, what would it be?

The one it has pretty much says it all.

Any additional comments?

Prepare to be appalled if you read this book. Once you start it's hard to put it down.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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A + for true crime fans

This is a disturbing look into a true psychopath. Dr. Story’s unbelievable arrogance and brazen rape of these poor women. I could feel the anger rise in me many time throughout the book, the women we treated terribly by all parties. When a book can spur emotions it's a plus.

Highly recommended

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    5 out of 5 stars
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This story is so, so disturbing; how can this be?

The doctor was a sociopath, rapist and sadist who couldn't have stumbled into a better position; replacing the only doctor in a small, rural, heavily Mormon town. The sexual innocence of the Mormon women and their total obeisance to men gave him 25 years to indulge his sick urges with Mormon women, girls, and babies.
Jack Olsen's account is detailed and spellbinding from beginning to end. When, finally, a legal investigation is begun, the problems seem insurmountable. Sex is a taboo subject for Mormon women. Doc the sociopath has charmed many in the town.
There is another disturbing dimension, that the doctor is not Mormon, and heads his own Christian church in town. An ugly anti-Mormon tone starts to dominate the case, and the victims are shunned and blamed as Doc faces the justice system.
The spectre of religious hatreds tearing a community apart, while abused women are blamed for causing all the trouble and the littlest victims of a truly evil child molester are ignored, is so confusing, so upsetting...and this happened in the 1980's! It sounds like another century, but it's not! It's just hard to believe, and the recording is hard to turn off. Excellent investigative reporting, and excellent, unemotional 'just-the-facts-ma'am' narration that suits this True Crime story.

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14 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Misuse of Christianity is not Christianity, or religion.

Having grown up with a religious child molester, I was finally able to separate the baby from the sewage, thank God. This book is a great help to anybody with any sense to see that evil people are adept at using religion to shield themselves. "Oh, but he would never do anything like that!" Yeah, well he might be more clever & has the advantage of knowing the truth & preemptively able to cover it. I know because I saw it, yet it is so damn difficult to overcome. Especially within a religious context of authority. Extremely well nuanced book.

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Betrayal of the town Dr. or should I say JOHN

True crime written/read at it best. Jack Olsen gives you the story in truth not fiction. I can imagine in all honesty how those women could have been violated and not even known it. Growing up in that era and never being told the facts of life, I myself had no clue that I could get pregnant standing up.. But to have it happen over and over and to get a pelvic exam for a sore throat and not question? Why were child molestation charges never brought up against him didn't he give a pelvic to minors? How could his office personell not know that something was going on?
I received this book free for an honest review.

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