Book Review ⎸Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker

I was interested in reading this book because I was living in Manorville (one of the sites where remains were discovered) during this time period,  so it’s a case that literally hits close to home. The author successfully humanizes the victims, and sheds light on the tragic mishandling of the case. The author’s main idea boils down to this: if these women had been from middle or upper class families and had held different occupations, the case would have been handled differently. It’s alarming that the attitude of, “Well, he’s only killing prostitutes,” was taken and there is still no justice for these women. 

While I do agree with the author’s point of view, I do not think that this book was well written. Obviously, this book was at a disadvantage from the start, since the case is unsolved. However, the actual forensic evidence and investigation is hardly touched upon. Instead, the author provided accounts from an excess number of secondary characters in the girls’ lives. Pretty much everyone and anyone who had ever spoken to one of the victims was included in this book, which made for a confusing and muddled description of events. For a true crime book, I was certainly disappointed. However, I do appreciate the intention and I think that having this book adapted to a film is a good move, as it stands the chance of drawing attention back to the case (and hopefully solving the case).