Let's Talk About Rape

I buy about two e-books a day and try to finish at least three of those books a week. Lately, I've read a lot of books that have left me feeling unsettled--and that's what I want to blog about today.

RAPE.

It seems rape is trending in the book world right now, in multiple genres, and I'm a bit perplexed by its popularity as a theme. I understand rape is a gut-wrenching, tragic, and intense subject matter, so incorporating rape as a thematic story element sometimes makes sense.

But must it be so gratuitous? Why have I read so many books lately where rape was written in such a way as to grip readers--to entertain them--rather than inform them?