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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
more like a 3 1/2 - the book was a bit choppy as it shifted back and forth between the missing girls and was sometimes hard to follow their individual storylines
This book is about five sex workers who go missing and are found murdered. It discusses their lives before and their families lives after.
This book was okay, but i didn’t like the way it was told, in an investigative way. I really don’t like stories/books that don’t have strong clear endings, so maybe that’s just why I didn’t prefer it.
Also, I didn’t quite know what it was about before you started it. Obviously it’s tragic and those girls stories should be told, but it’s not really my thing, and if I’d known what it was before starting, I wouldn’t have.
This book was okay, but i didn’t like the way it was told, in an investigative way. I really don’t like stories/books that don’t have strong clear endings, so maybe that’s just why I didn’t prefer it.
Also, I didn’t quite know what it was about before you started it. Obviously it’s tragic and those girls stories should be told, but it’s not really my thing, and if I’d known what it was before starting, I wouldn’t have.
Focuses on the women (barely more than girls, really) before and their families after--the police investigations are here a bit, but it's clear the author spent a lot of time investigating the "lost girls" and their world rather than getting the blow-by-blow of what the police and FBI were doing. Honestly, since the murders are still unsolved (seriously, what the ever-living f?) I'd rather hear more about the victims than the investigators until they, I don't know, actually investigate?
Definitely not your "usual" true crime book--not even a single photo! But that's why we have People Magazine Investigations, right? ;)
Rating: 4 stars / A-
Definitely not your "usual" true crime book--not even a single photo! But that's why we have People Magazine Investigations, right? ;)
Rating: 4 stars / A-
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 such a fascinating book. It was really frustrating that the case is never solved, but you know that from the outset. I loved how respectful the author was of the victims. It easily could have fallen to bashing escorts/sex workers, but the author never did that. You got the true story of the kind of life the girls lead, the various reasons they did so, and what ultimately brought them and their families all together. Not for the faint of heart.
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
emotional
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Robert Kolker dives deep into the lives of five women whose remains were found in Long Island. More than an investigation on how they died, he takes a look at how they lived, who they were in their every day loves and with their families. We may never know the true story of how these women died but this book makes sure we know who they were and helps to tell their stories so they are not forgotten. Written with an informative by thoughtful touch, I really enjoyed the author's writing on such a tough subject.
Intriguing! Couldn't put it down! However, the author gets in the way. He writes himself into the story and places plenty of judgment on the characters.
dark
informative
slow-paced
I appreciated that the author told the stories of the women who were so easily looked over by law enforcement officials and denigrated by the people of the community wherein the crime took place because they existed in the underground world of sex work. I also think the thesis of how the internet has made sex work a vastly different game and one that may be more dangerous than ever before. However, the book was too much of a miss mash that skipped around in a way that made it hard to follow at times. It felt like the author included so much superfluous info to fill the blanks of a story that doesn't have a complete outcome yet due to its unsolved nature.