I found the book Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker when I frankly just couldn’t find anything else interesting to read. I love when I get a surprise like this book. I have long been a fan of true crime and didn’t even realize this was in the genre until I started it.

The book starts out a bit slow but if you stick with it, makes sense by the end. It is the true story of the victims of a Long Island, NY killer who is still at large after a murder spree that lasted over 20 years. Kolker catches the reader off guard with the book mainly because of his story-telling style. It is written like fiction but meticulously put together to connect the dots and ultimately humanize the victims. Those victims, a collection of a dozen or more call girls were individually forgotten by society but in this telling are shown to be real people with real issues and real families that mourn their loss.

If you like true crime, you will like this book. I am a fan of Kolker’s style in that it is a departure from the modern habit of glorifying the serial killer and instead gives life to his victims. Apparently, the book has been turned into a movie on Netflix and I will check it out but I am guessing it won’t do the book justice.

by Chris Doelle