Reviews with content warning for Murder - Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery

⚠️ CW: murder, domestic abuse, drug use, addiction, child abuse, sexual abuse, rape and mental illness ⚠️ This is one of the hardest hitting true crime books that I've read in a long time! One spring evening in 2010, Shannan Gilbert went missing in the Oak Beach, Long Island. No one who had heard of her disappearance thought much about what had happened to her as she was a Craigslist escort who had been fleeing from one of her customers, but no one could be sure why. The Suffolk County police seemed to have paid little attention to the case, until seven months later when an unexpected discovery near the remote Gilgo Beach turned up four bodies. But none of them were Shannan. They were Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello. Like Shannan, all four women were petite, in their twenties, and had come from out of town to work as escorts, and they had all advertised on Craigslist and its competitor, Backpage. But unbeknownst to everyone, this was just the tip of the iceberg. This case is equally heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time. The fact that these poor women and their families were unable to get any justice solely based on how their case was treated due to their work is mind boggling to me. They were all human beings and deserved to be treated as such. As for the writing though, I absolutely loved how Kolker humanised these women after how they were treated and portrayed their stories with empathy, care and compassion, as well as giving their stories so much attention in the impeccably detailed research he did. Overall, I highly recommend this book!

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ekuldog's review against another edition

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dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

3.5

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henrygravesprince's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

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avidreaderandgeekgirl's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative medium-paced

4.5

After hearing that LISK had been caught, I read this book about his victims. I enjoyed the victim-centric narrative. So many true crime books focus on the killer, not the victims, I know when this was written he hadn't (presumably, innocent until proven guilty) been caught. But I think that made it a better book, focusing on the victims. He didn't even really go into how they were killed. So it was more a biography of the victims and their families than a true crime book. Overall a great read.

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