Monday, June 8, 2015

Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker


A young woman working as a prostitute through Craigslist disappeared on a barrier island off Long Island in 2010.  After months of pleading by family a search is made of the nearby area for her remains.  In total the bodies of five women, all operating through Craigslist, are found close by one another.  This is the story of these five women whose lives were more than what they did to make money; this book is their chance to be seen as people with loving families and friends, not just as sex workers.

The title doesn’t lie; this is still an unsolved mystery.  I was drawn to the story because my favorite fishing spot and boat are located quite close to where the bodies were discovered.  I probably drove by the stretch of highway where these women were found numerous times, maybe even a few times while the bodies were there waiting to be discovered.  Because of my ties to the location I was interested in the story, but it was the way the author told the stories, made them more than just victims and statistics that made it a great, yet heartbreaking, read.