Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery

Summary (from the publisher): Shannan wanted acceptance. Maureen wanted a solution. Megan wanted love. Melissa wanted adventure. Amber wanted to be saved. Over the course of three years, each of these women vanished without a trace: Maureen in 2007, Melissa and Megan in 2009, and Amber and Shannan in 2010. All but one of their bodies were discovered on Gilgo Beach, Long Island, an unsettled, overgrown seven-mile stretch of shoreline on the string of barrier islands along South Oyster Bay.

Sharing the same profile - all were in their twenties, all but one were under five feet tall, all were prostitutes who advertised on Craigslist - the women were thought by the police to be victims of one murderer, the Long Island serial killer, the most skillful and accomplished psychopath in New York since the "Son of Sam." But as the writer Robert Kolker discovered, the truth about these women goes far deeper than common assumptions. The victims weren't outcasts; they weren't kidnapped or enslaved. All entered prostitution willingly. And all came from a slice of America ignored by politicians and the media: parts of the country hit hard by a poor economy, where limited opportunities force people to make hard choices - choices that lead them to places like Gilgo Beach.

Working closely with the victim's families, Lost Girls brings into focus the stories of these young women, their deaths, and their lives, offering a searing portrait of crime and circumstance that goes to the heart of modern American itself. 

Review: I received an Advance Reader Copy from HarperCollins.

Lost Girls tells the story of five girls who were all found murdered on the beach in Long Island. All five girls were prostitutes who advertised on Craigslist and all were similar in appearance - all in their twenties and very petite. The opening sections of the book are chapters describing each of the girl's childhoods. All five come from troubled homes with broken families, living paycheck to paycheck, and troubled relationships with their parents. All willingly entered prostitution after scraping by on menial wage jobs. All were reported missing, and their cases were largely ignored by police until their bodies were found.

Because of the similarity between the girl's stories, I had a difficult time as a reader keeping the five girls separate in my mind. Also, they all went by aliases while working as prostitutes, so that further complicated matters. It was difficult to remember their family members' names that were constantly referenced. To simplify for the reader, it would have helped somewhat to tell each girl's story individually and fully, rather than moving chronologically and jumping around somewhat.

So much of this story is puzzling and alarming. Why did Shannan, the girl that tipped off the police and families that something on Long Island was wrong, run screaming that night? Why did Dr. Hackett, a long time resident of Oak Beach, call Shannan's mother claiming to have treated her daughter, and later deny it? Why was Shannan found in the marsh, and not in burlap bags like the other girls? Who are the unidentified, older remains including an Asian man and a toddler found nearby to the identified girls?

The most frustrating aspect of this book was that the killer remains unidentified. There can be no conclusion, no closure. There are no answers to the many questions surrounding this case. Because of this, the author spends a vast portion of the book relaying what family members speculate happen. "To one degree or another, all of the women had taken on the role of amateur homicide investigator. 'It's like a little detective crew,' Kim said. So little was known about the nights the other girls disappeared that the women tended to focus on the night Shannan went missing, replaying the details of what happened again and again, searching for clues to who the killer might be" (244). I don't find that productive or helpful to the investigation, and certainly not interesting or helpful to read. Especially considering that all the women were largely removed from their families when they disappeared, meaning their families really know very little.

Despite the lack of concrete details, this book does a decent job of covering the murders. This is an unsolved and open investigation, so there's no way many police details could be included. The fact that this murderer(s) is still loose is alarming to me. I was particularly weirded out by Amanda, sister to the murdered Melissa's story of seeing her sister's number pop up in her caller id days after she disappeared. Yet when she answered, "instead of her sister's voice she heard another: controlled, comfortable, soft-spoken. Male. 'Oh, this isn't Melissa.' (109). This is a troubling and alarming story, and a present day one, meaning the killer is likely still alive and well.

Stars: 3