⚠️ 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!