You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
anneaustex 's review for:
Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery
by Robert Kolker
I had not heard of this book until the author began promoting his new title **Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family**. While waiting for my hold to come in on the new title I picked up this backlist book. Categorized as true crime, this is not really what I think of when thinking of that genre. First it is an unsolved case and second because Kolker writes with such heart about the young women victims: the lost girls.
There are five young women whose lives are chronicled in intimate detail. The reader learns about their early lives, their hopes and dreams, their downfall(s), and their perceived need to work as escorts in NYC. The author has done his homework well and we are shown the inside of the sex trade via personal ads on Craigslist. The author meets and talks with pimps, boyfriends, mothers, fathers, sisters, grandparents and many of the residents of a community called Oak Beach where the women's bodies were found. Among the denizens of this once prestigious island community are some weird and suspicious characters of interest. However, the case has never received its due: a concerted and successful police effort. Many speculate that it is because these women might have been considered society's throw-aways.
Kolker is an award winning journalist and he can definitely write! This is a sad but fascinating page-turner that had me completely engrossed in the families' lives and those lives lost. It is all about the victims rather than about the details of the crime, forensics, or suspects. My heart broke over and over for the young women who turned to the night life to try to improve their lot.
Fabulous!
Please know when reading this book that there are maps, a timeline, and a list of characters in the back of the book. There is also a 2020 Netflix movie based on this book.
There are five young women whose lives are chronicled in intimate detail. The reader learns about their early lives, their hopes and dreams, their downfall(s), and their perceived need to work as escorts in NYC. The author has done his homework well and we are shown the inside of the sex trade via personal ads on Craigslist. The author meets and talks with pimps, boyfriends, mothers, fathers, sisters, grandparents and many of the residents of a community called Oak Beach where the women's bodies were found. Among the denizens of this once prestigious island community are some weird and suspicious characters of interest. However, the case has never received its due: a concerted and successful police effort. Many speculate that it is because these women might have been considered society's throw-aways.
Kolker is an award winning journalist and he can definitely write! This is a sad but fascinating page-turner that had me completely engrossed in the families' lives and those lives lost. It is all about the victims rather than about the details of the crime, forensics, or suspects. My heart broke over and over for the young women who turned to the night life to try to improve their lot.
Fabulous!
Please know when reading this book that there are maps, a timeline, and a list of characters in the back of the book. There is also a 2020 Netflix movie based on this book.