3.5 Stars. There are so. many. names. The central 'characters' of the book are the victims, and their stories were very well told, and riveting at times. But it can be hard to follow because last names aren't used much, the girls change names when they go to work, they have siblings and friends, and there's a bunch of women whose names start with the letter M. I went back several times to review who was who. I wish I'd known starting out that there is a list of people and how they are related to one another at the end of the book.
The second half of the book delves into the unsolved mystery, which seems to exist mainly bc the cops didn't feel like investigating a bunch of missing prostitutes at the time they disappeared (or following up on one crazy incident until the families went nuts). This is an oft-repeated tale in our society. But these women were humanized in this book, and it's a great story of the complexity of people - very rarely are people one thing; they are a collection of many motives, feelings, actions, that are good and bad. Ultimately, I was fascinated, and not at all surprised that the police probably keep what little they know close to the vest. Don't expect much in the way of comments or evidence from officials; all they seem to have is a collection of old bones. I wonder if these crimes will ever be solved; I have my doubts.