“Lost in the hands of death” and the perspective of a journalist

On a May night in 2010, a woman's screams rang out through the quiet of Long Island. It was Shannan Gilbert, in a panic, running from something unknown, then disappearing without a trace. Seven months later, a strange search yielded horrifying results: four female bodies were found buried in the weeds along Ocean Parkway, not far from where Shannan disappeared, but none of them were Shannan. The case attracted national attention when police officially launched an investigation into a serial killer operating in the Long Island area. A year later, Shannan's body was found in Oak Beach, near Ocean Parkway. More female bodies continued to be found. The media reported continuously, and countless conspiracy theories flourished online, but the case gradually fell into a deadlock. Meanwhile, relatives and friends of the deceased women continue to demand justice and seek to come to terms with the indescribable loss...

Faced with a mystery that even the police have not yet found an answer to, journalist Robert Kolker decided to get involved. He contacted and interviewed dozens of relatives and friends of the victims, accompanying them on their journey to seek justice and learn how to cope with loss. By thoroughly understanding their personal lives, Kolker reconstructed their entire lives through 5 written chapters. Each chapter is the fate of a person, including: Maureen, Melissa, Shannan, Megan, Amber. Through that, each person's story unfolds through each page of the book, making readers sympathize and share their unfortunate fate. Most of the girls come from complicated families, with the same desire for love and money, falling into the path of drug addiction and online prostitution, before falling into the hands of death. Each situation is both pitiful and blameworthy, and their lives and choices simultaneously expose the pitfalls and dark corners of society, serving as lessons for girls preparing to enter life.

In addition to the 5 chapters about the 5 girls, there are also 5 chapters about the characters who are friends, relatives, lovers and their relationships. Those 10 chapters are literary in nature, opening up a diverse world, both romantic and realistic. However, in the next part, the author switches to the genre of reflection, reporting, and recording of the press with a series of articles about the process of finding the bodies by the police, the scene and hypotheses about the case, the reactions and actions of the families, the suspects, the investigation progress and the announcements of the authorities many years later...

Because it is a work reflecting reality, the ending of "Lost in the hands of death" is close to reality, it makes the reader somewhat disappointed because the serial killer has not been brought to light. But what the veteran writer has done through more than 500 pages of the book is to speak up for the victims and their families; presenting a complex serial case into a work that is systematic, detailed and specific to every detail but no less attractive and humane. The work also contributes to sounding the alarm about social evils, the lifestyle of young people as well as the instability of security and order in a particular land, but is also a worrying reality in general today.

CAT DANG

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/-lac-vao-tay-tu-than-va-goc-nhin-cua-nguoi-lam-bao-a184695.html