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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
informative
medium-paced
I think I've officially lost my tolerance for true crime. It's just too disturbing. I stayed up too late finishing this book and then couldn't sleep. The first half of Lost Girls is wonderful. It tells the back stories of five women who were later found dead (along with many others) on a Long Island beach, examining the socioeconomic factors that led the women to prostitution. The second half focuses more on the murders, the theories of what happened, and the reactions of the families. I loved how Kolker didn't shy away from pointing out the inconsistencies and complexities of some of the parents. It's a good book.. My little heart just couldn't handle it.
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Probably more my failing as a listener of the audiobook, but this never quite cohered for me. There wasn't quite enough of juicy true crime mystery details and while I appreciated the humanizing of all of the victims, their stories blurred together a bit. I appreciated Kolker's willingness to wade into the gray spaces of how to regulate sex work, but his inferences felt more like a "::shrug::, who knows" than a concerted grappling with the tradeoffs. Altogether solid and I remain interested in reading Hidden Valley Road.
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker is an investigative look into the lives of five murdered prostitutes. Kolker walks us through each girl’s upbringing and journey into the world of online escorts that ultimately got them killed.
Each victim grew up in poverty, their parents were stuck in the system and the children were never able to get out. To provide for their families, they chose to exploit themselves to make ends meet. Online escorting, drugs, and other addictions reigned them in for better money and an easier life. Unfortunately, it ended with bodies upon bodies buried on the beaches of New York.
Kolker does an excellent job in humanizing the victims. Each one had their own background and upbringing. All were fairly similar. They resorted to selling themselves on Craig’s list to make ends meet for their families. Yes, they were prostitutes, but they had to provide for their families somehow.
I picked up this book thinking it would be a gruesome true crime novel (like the podcasts I listen to), but it wasn’t. I ever heard of this case before and I was hoping for an exciting read. This book was a mini biography of each of the five victims. It was a slow walk through their lives, their entrance into online escorting, and what happened after their death.
Kolker doesn’t try to solve the case, he only brings facts from interviews, case reports, and knowledge from the victims’ families. It just straight up facts, with a few random possibilities of what might have happened.
I listened to this via audiobook as background noise while at work. I found my mind drifting away more than once. And the book has SO MANY characters, it was hard to keep up with them all.
It’s also hard to imagine that the case is unsolved. There were more victims than just these five girls and nothing has happened in the years it’s been open.
Lost Girls receives 2.5 stars.
Each victim grew up in poverty, their parents were stuck in the system and the children were never able to get out. To provide for their families, they chose to exploit themselves to make ends meet. Online escorting, drugs, and other addictions reigned them in for better money and an easier life. Unfortunately, it ended with bodies upon bodies buried on the beaches of New York.
Kolker does an excellent job in humanizing the victims. Each one had their own background and upbringing. All were fairly similar. They resorted to selling themselves on Craig’s list to make ends meet for their families. Yes, they were prostitutes, but they had to provide for their families somehow.
I picked up this book thinking it would be a gruesome true crime novel (like the podcasts I listen to), but it wasn’t. I ever heard of this case before and I was hoping for an exciting read. This book was a mini biography of each of the five victims. It was a slow walk through their lives, their entrance into online escorting, and what happened after their death.
Kolker doesn’t try to solve the case, he only brings facts from interviews, case reports, and knowledge from the victims’ families. It just straight up facts, with a few random possibilities of what might have happened.
I listened to this via audiobook as background noise while at work. I found my mind drifting away more than once. And the book has SO MANY characters, it was hard to keep up with them all.
It’s also hard to imagine that the case is unsolved. There were more victims than just these five girls and nothing has happened in the years it’s been open.
Lost Girls receives 2.5 stars.
This was a very sad and true tale about the disappearances of women in the North Eastern coast of America. If you know me, you will know I love true crime stories. I don't know why, I just find them so interesting and compelling. That being said, this one was incredibly sad. These women who were abducted, killed, and buried without any feeling for their lives or their families lives is heinous and callous. The fact that these women's killer still has yet to be found is just as horrifying. I am definitely planning on looking into these murders more, not really to see if I can help, because I don't think I can. But I would like to see if there is more information that can be gathered on it.
To the friends and families involved, I hope you are able to find peace in knowing your childrens' stories are getting out into the world. Thank you for sharing their stories.
To the friends and families involved, I hope you are able to find peace in knowing your childrens' stories are getting out into the world. Thank you for sharing their stories.
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This book was all over the place. There was no cohesion and it was messy. There was also a lot of unnecessary information that didn't add anything to the story. The story itself was promising but was told in a very boring way.
One night in 2010, Shannan Gilbert, a young woman working as an escort, ran screaming through a quiet Long Island beach community, fearful for her life. She pounded on the doors of several homes, called 911 on her cell phone and talked to a 911 operator for 20 minutes. Then she disappeared. No one ever saw her again.
During the search for Shannan, though, police discovered the bodies of four other young women, who also worked as escorts and used Craigslist to meet clients. This book is about the lives of all five of these young women, and the poverty and circumstances that led them to Craigslist. It's one of the only true crime books I've read that focuses so much on the victims, and it's really interesting. The author extensively interviewed their friends and family, not just about their disappearances and working lives as escorts, but about how they grew up, what kind of other jobs they had (almost all went through a series of dead-end minimum wage employers), and what they were like as people.
During the search for Shannan, though, police discovered the bodies of four other young women, who also worked as escorts and used Craigslist to meet clients. This book is about the lives of all five of these young women, and the poverty and circumstances that led them to Craigslist. It's one of the only true crime books I've read that focuses so much on the victims, and it's really interesting. The author extensively interviewed their friends and family, not just about their disappearances and working lives as escorts, but about how they grew up, what kind of other jobs they had (almost all went through a series of dead-end minimum wage employers), and what they were like as people.