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melissalabelle's review against another edition
5.0
This was a great true crime story. I appreciate that the author dedicated much of the book to telling each victim’s story so thoroughly. The police force’s incompetency in this case is astounding.
theboldbookworm's review against another edition
4.0
This book is very well researched. I like that it gave a lot of information about the victims. I really felt for their families as the police didn't even care that these women were missing. They were just treated like they didn't matter at all. The Canadian police really dropped the ball on this case and that part is so effing sad. Robert "Willie" Pickton could have been caught so much sooner than he was. I went into this book with basically no knowledge about this case and I was so surprised by everything that took place. I thought it was interesting that Willie befriended certain women and made no attempt to harm them. My one complaint about this book is that I felt it could have been shorter if some things weren't repeated a few times. Luckily, justice was finally (sort of) served in this case. If you have a weak stomach, tread lightly with this one.
alexandrabree's review against another edition
4.0
30 hours of audiobook later. Every minute was worth it, if you're only looking for the gorey details this is not the book for you.
In-depth looks into the lives of the women who were victims and suspected victims (which reminded me a lot of The Five : the untold lives of Jack the Rippers Victims)
I absolutely hated the audiobook narrator who put on voices for different "characters" the most irritating. It really took away from the book, and I eventually switched back over to a print copy because I couldn't stand it.
My other complaint would be how harsh her comments on the police were, some of it was spot on and totally justified and acceptable, other comments like all the VPD cops were sexist racist lazy men... I think are taking things a lot too far and a lot too generally. There was one other instance of this, but I didn't bookmark it for the exact words.
I really liked learning so much about Kim Rossmo and geographical profiling.
Overall, very good reporting and writing
In-depth looks into the lives of the women who were victims and suspected victims (which reminded me a lot of The Five : the untold lives of Jack the Rippers Victims)
I absolutely hated the audiobook narrator who put on voices for different "characters" the most irritating. It really took away from the book, and I eventually switched back over to a print copy because I couldn't stand it.
My other complaint would be how harsh her comments on the police were, some of it was spot on and totally justified and acceptable, other comments like all the VPD cops were sexist racist lazy men... I think are taking things a lot too far and a lot too generally. There was one other instance of this, but I didn't bookmark it for the exact words.
I really liked learning so much about Kim Rossmo and geographical profiling.
Overall, very good reporting and writing
aziraphales's review
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.5
nightmare nightmare nightmare. complete and utter failure of the justice system. evil from pickton himself to the vpd to the presiding judge. so much love and community and tireless work by the families and institutions like WISH, all dashed because the life of an addicted woman or a sex worker is something the courts can simply turn away from. it doesn't matter. these women loved and were loved and no one was allowed to truly speak for them when it came time for robert pickton to get some kind of retribution.
i've seen some other reviews complaining that stevie cameron spent too long going over the details of each missing woman. not to get too heated, but if you came into this book wanting the juicy details of their deaths and the butchery their bodies were subjected to, shame on you for not wanting to take the time to understand the people they were. this is a long, difficult book that had me in tears multiple times. there is a rage in me about these women -- and any other marginalized person from the DTES who disappears not because no one cares for them, but because our systems don't care for them -- that i never want to lose. the very least you can do, if you're hoping to get some sort of edgy shiver out of reading descriptions of the dismemberment of human bodies, is spend some time learning who these women were and the giant spaces they left in their communities when they disappeared.
i've seen some other reviews complaining that stevie cameron spent too long going over the details of each missing woman. not to get too heated, but if you came into this book wanting the juicy details of their deaths and the butchery their bodies were subjected to, shame on you for not wanting to take the time to understand the people they were. this is a long, difficult book that had me in tears multiple times. there is a rage in me about these women -- and any other marginalized person from the DTES who disappears not because no one cares for them, but because our systems don't care for them -- that i never want to lose. the very least you can do, if you're hoping to get some sort of edgy shiver out of reading descriptions of the dismemberment of human bodies, is spend some time learning who these women were and the giant spaces they left in their communities when they disappeared.
stephanieluxton's review
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
I don't know how to rate this book because I didn't really enjoy it, but it is incredibly well researched so I can't give it a bad review.
The writing was good but I found this book to be a little too thorough with the facts. I feel like a jerk for saying that learning the backstories of all these missing woman pulled me out of the greater story, but it did. I know these woman are gone now and their stories deserve to be heard but this book was LONG. And almsot all the missing women have very similar sad life stories that involve them running on hard times, facing addiction, and turning to prostitution - all while having family members who loved them but didn't know how to help them. I found myself getting confused and not being able to remember which girl was which when names were brought up later in the story.
I also know it's important to document in the book how the police force totally failed these women and their families and how much of a shit show the investigation was, but again, the book was so long.
Some of it was quite repetitive at times. Some stories were told more than once. I foudn myself skipping sections as I was reading.
The things I was most interested in was Willie's backstory, what happened to the women, and the stories from the women who were close to him and the ones who got away. I would have loved a more condensed version of this book.
However, I am sure many people love the author's meticulous attention to detail. I appreciate the effort that went into it. It just wasn't for me.
The writing was good but I found this book to be a little too thorough with the facts. I feel like a jerk for saying that learning the backstories of all these missing woman pulled me out of the greater story, but it did. I know these woman are gone now and their stories deserve to be heard but this book was LONG. And almsot all the missing women have very similar sad life stories that involve them running on hard times, facing addiction, and turning to prostitution - all while having family members who loved them but didn't know how to help them. I found myself getting confused and not being able to remember which girl was which when names were brought up later in the story.
I also know it's important to document in the book how the police force totally failed these women and their families and how much of a shit show the investigation was, but again, the book was so long.
Some of it was quite repetitive at times. Some stories were told more than once. I foudn myself skipping sections as I was reading.
The things I was most interested in was Willie's backstory, what happened to the women, and the stories from the women who were close to him and the ones who got away. I would have loved a more condensed version of this book.
However, I am sure many people love the author's meticulous attention to detail. I appreciate the effort that went into it. It just wasn't for me.
mrsgrievous's review against another edition
2.0
I was not able to get past 31% of this book in 7 months. The author goes over every miniscule detail about the victims' lives, and while a memorial is deserved, reading about where every woman went to high school and grew up became tedious and unecessary information. You can get the gist of the story by watching the special on TV.
hailstorm1025's review against another edition
3.0
I appreciate focusing on the missing and murdered women's lives, often I feel like those stories go unnoticed. I feel though, that this book could have benefited from being more streamlined. There was a lot of information that was not pertinent to the story and or was repetitive that could have been edited out.
drarieple's review against another edition
4.0
I had never heard this awful story. It was hard to read sometimes knowing it actually happened. Truly evil. The book was a bit too long so it got a little tedious in the end but was a fascinating story.