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3.56 AVERAGE
3.56 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed Kolker’s Hidden Valley Road, and love true crime (shout out to the Murderinos!) so I thought this book would be perfect for me.
It was incredibly long (audiobook) and very detailed. I did struggle a bit to keep up with all of the women and family members involved in the story of the murders, because the victims used pseudonyms while working on Craigslist. And the timelines were sometimes difficult to follow due to the flashbacks. The book may have been more helpful in this case.
If you are interested in true crime, and learning more about this troubling case, I would recommend this very thorough examination of the mystery. It may enrage you and reaffirm any assumptions that you have regarding law enforcement’s prejudices towards sex workers, but it is a good read.
It was incredibly long (audiobook) and very detailed. I did struggle a bit to keep up with all of the women and family members involved in the story of the murders, because the victims used pseudonyms while working on Craigslist. And the timelines were sometimes difficult to follow due to the flashbacks. The book may have been more helpful in this case.
If you are interested in true crime, and learning more about this troubling case, I would recommend this very thorough examination of the mystery. It may enrage you and reaffirm any assumptions that you have regarding law enforcement’s prejudices towards sex workers, but it is a good read.
I really liked this book. The thing with true crime novels, is we often forget that the victims were people who had lives and families. We hear the words "low risk victim, prostitute, drug addict, teen mom etc...", and our perception immediately changes. In this book, Robert Kolker really got to the bottom of who these women were. If you're interested in crime investigation, this probably isn't the book for you. It is primarily about who the victims of the long island serial killer were, and why we should care that they were killed even if they were drug addicts or escorts.
Lost Girls should have been a great read -- all the elements are there -- but the choppy style made it hard to immerse myself in the book. I was also disconcerted by the way the author introduced each of the victims, detailing their troubled, disorganized childhoods, subtly presenting them as people not quite worthy of sympathy. Was this his intention? After 50 pages or so, I flipped through the rest, realized it wasn't going to get better, and decided I had better things to read. This book needs an editor to wrestle the narrative into something coherent.
First and foremost, none of these girls deserved to die. However, it was tough to work up too much sympathy for adults who willingly made poor decisions and choices that led them to this horrific end.
Kolker does an excellent job of turning the normally fact-based true crime genre into a personal story, focusing on humanizing the victims and chronicling the impact on the families. However, since it's an open and recent, there is very little information on the forensics involved and who LE is looking into. If you expect a clear analysis on the MO, evidence, and suspects, you're looking at the wrong book.
I listened to the audiobook of this book, so that might color some of how I felt. I was really glad that there is a book about the lives of the women who were murdered or otherwise lost their lives on this small strip of Long Island. And I approve of the message that sex workers need to be brought into the light and not pushed further into the shadows (especially in light of recent legislation that is taking more and more steps into burying them in darkness and taking what little protections they may have away). But listening to the audio book was confusing, as there's a huge cast of characters, several of whom have similar names. It might be easier to read, as I heard there is a list of who's related to who in the back of the book. I do believe that the fact that these girls were escorts not only was the cause of their deaths (not specifically because escorts, but because homicides happen more to sex workers) but also was the reason the police didn't take their disappearances seriously or investigate them like they would a "clean cut girl" who disappeared. I do pray that they find the individual(s) who murdered these women.
3.5 Stars
I remember hearing this story in the news a few years back . This was a very compelling story, moreso since this was a true story . It reads like a fiction novel so if reading non-fiction isn't normally your cup of tea I would suggest you try this.
Shannan Gilbert, an escort/prostitute is heard screaming for help and running for her life in a quiet gated community in Long Island. She knocks on people's doors begging for help. She calls 911 and is on the phone w police for 22 mins. Yet, She disappears and no one knows what happens to her . The police start to search for her and end up discovering 4 skeletons wrapped up in burlap sacks on a beach. It is discovered they are all also escorts/prostitutes.
In our society, prostitutes tend to be looked down upon . If something bad happens to them it's usually shrugged off- "oh well who cares? They're whores". This book tells Shannan's story as well as the 4 bodied. It gives them names- Amber, Maureen, Melissa and Megan. It humanized them . It asks the question- why does no one care when prostitutes are killed? They are still people. They are daughters, sisters, mothers, friends.
Overall this book was entertaining but also very thought-provoking.
I remember hearing this story in the news a few years back . This was a very compelling story, moreso since this was a true story . It reads like a fiction novel so if reading non-fiction isn't normally your cup of tea I would suggest you try this.
Shannan Gilbert, an escort/prostitute is heard screaming for help and running for her life in a quiet gated community in Long Island. She knocks on people's doors begging for help. She calls 911 and is on the phone w police for 22 mins. Yet, She disappears and no one knows what happens to her . The police start to search for her and end up discovering 4 skeletons wrapped up in burlap sacks on a beach. It is discovered they are all also escorts/prostitutes.
In our society, prostitutes tend to be looked down upon . If something bad happens to them it's usually shrugged off- "oh well who cares? They're whores". This book tells Shannan's story as well as the 4 bodied. It gives them names- Amber, Maureen, Melissa and Megan. It humanized them . It asks the question- why does no one care when prostitutes are killed? They are still people. They are daughters, sisters, mothers, friends.
Overall this book was entertaining but also very thought-provoking.
There were so many names to follow that it was really hard to keep track of on audio. May try again in paper form.
As I sm not familiar with this case I found the book - particularly the first half that presumably is to introduce the victims very difficult to follow. Add in their professional names and family members and I was lost. Once the book was awsy from that part it was much easier yo grasp the facts.
If it is a case that you have been following and are familiar with it then definitely worth the read.
If it is a case that you have been following and are familiar with it then definitely worth the read.
I liked this book as much as one can like a book about prostitution and girls being murdered and dumped on the side of a road in a real-life unsolved mystery (if that makes any sense). I don't often read non-fiction, and when I do, I often lose interest. That wasn't the case with this book. It provided a fascinating and disturbing look into "escorts": how some of them end up doing what they do, why they keep doing it, what their families think/do about it, and how little these particular women mattered to law enforcement when they disappeared.