This is such a terrible, devastating story. Too common, I fear.

I saw one review on here, someone who didn’t finish the book because some of the words used to describe the victims were critical and “dehumanizing.” Shit like that pisses me off. This journalist broke the story of Lonnie Franklin wide open and built legitimate relationships with the families of his victims. But you’re mad because she uses the word “prostitute” instead of “sex worker”? Seriously? This isn’t a story of liberated women controlling their sexuality and finances by virtue of their sexuality; it’s a story of women so in the thrall of drug addiction that they were on the streets using sex to score a rock. Being honest about that isn’t dehumanizing them. It’s just the truth. And this book does a pretty good job of painting these women as the full, complex human beings they were, with hopes and dreams and families and struggles that predated their addictions and deaths. Would I like to know more about them? Absolutely. Are they dehumanized in this book? Not at all.

The Grim Sleeper crimes are horrifying on myriad levels. And we will never know why Lonnie Franklin hated women so much. But this book tells us about how he was brought to justice—and, more importantly, tells us a bit about some of the young women whose lives were cut tragically short at his hands. And I’m sure there are many others we will never hear of.

I would have liked to see a bit more analysis in this book of the way socioeconomic factors and race impacted how LAPD handled these crimes. It’s referenced numerous times but never really delved into. Otherwise, glad this book exists to tell us more about this horrific case and about these women and their families, who absolutely deserved more than what they got.