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    The Forgotten Girls
    The Forgotten Girls
    The Forgotten Girls
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Forgotten Girls

    Written by Owen Laukkanen

    Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    They are the victims no one has ever cared about, until now. Agents Stevens and Windermere return in the blistering new crime novel from the fast-rising, multi-award-nominated suspense star. She was a forgotten girl, a runaway found murdered on the High Line train through the northern Rocky Mountains and, with little local interest, put into a dead file. Only, she was not alone. When Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere of the joint FBI-BCA violent crime force stumble upon the case, they discover a horror far greater than anyone expected-a string of murders on the High Line, all of them young women drifters whom no one would notice. But someone has noticed now. Through the bleak midwinter and a frontier land of forbidding geography, Stevens and Windermere follow a frustratingly light trail of clues-and where it ends, even they will be shocked.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMar 14, 2017
    ISBN9781501946677
    The Forgotten Girls

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    Reviews for The Forgotten Girls

    4/5

    40 ratings7 reviews

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    • 4/5
      A thrilling page turner set in the frozen north about a killer who rides the rails. Liked this one a lot. Wish there had been more Ronda and Mila on the trains!
    • 4/5
      The Forgotten Girls by Owen Laukkanen is a fast-paced and spellbinding police procedural about a hunt for a serial killer preying on woman on the fringe of society (runaways, prostitutes, etc). Although this is latest release is the sixth installment in the Stevens & Windermere series, it can easily be read as a standalone.

      FBI Agent Carla Windermere and BCA Agent Kirk Stevens are called in to investigate a man, Mark Higgins, who has a picture of a dead woman on his cell phone. He says he has no idea how the picture ended up on his phone and when Stevens and Windermere learn the dead woman was found by the railroad tracks in Idaho, they decide to investigate the odd series of events. They quickly discover there have been rumors of serial killer (known as the "Ghost Rider") who preys on women not far from the High Line-the trains that run between Chicago, IL and Seattle, WA. With the help of local Deputy Sheriff Kerry Finley, Kirk and Carla have identified twenty-five dead women who are most likely the victims of the ghost rider and they are hot on the trail of the killer and an at risk young woman they have identified as Mila, a friend of the last victim. With a massive winter storm bearing down on them, Kirk, Carla and Kerry are one step behind the elusive killer who is very much at home in the vast wilderness that serves as his home and his hunting grounds.

      Carla and Kirk's investigation picks up steam immediately as they figure out how the picture of the deceased girl ended up on the stranger's cell phone. Using the other photos that Mark insists he did not take, they are able to track her travels, as well as those of her friend, Mila. Realizing almost immediately that Mila is in grave danger, they quickly issue a bulletin for the railroad bulls and workers to be on the look-out for her. Carla's boyfriend, Agent Derek Mathers, puts his computer skills to work and uses the various photos' metadata to pinpoint Mila's whereabouts. Tracking her movements, Kirk and Carla soon realize that Mila has figured out the identity of the ghost rider, but will they find her and the killer before it is too late?

      A solid police procedural with an unusual storyline, The Forgotten Girls is a pulse-pounding mystery that is quite enthralling. Once Windermere and Stevens know the killer's identity, the manhunt is quickly thwarted by the weather and the vast territory they must cover during their search. Tracking a diabolical killer who is intimately familiar with the terrain is a herculean task but Kirk and Carla know they have to capture the ghost rider before he permanently disappears into the wilderness. Old and new fans of the clever investigative team in the Stevens & Windermere series are going to love this latest high-octane thriller by Owen Laukkanen.
    • 4/5
      A serial killer is stalking women in the remote corners of the northwest. He works the train tracks, which pass through punishing territory. It's territory where people sometimes succumb to the elements, and where the unattached can go missing. A young runaway is one of many victims, but there is a difference. First, someone cares enough to come looking. Second, a stolen cell phone remains connected to the original owner's cloud, and sees the killer's uploaded pictures of the latest victim. Enter the FBI. Agents Stevens and Windermere pursue the killer in the depth of Montana winter. The weather is punishing, but he's still killing. This is a book about catching a killer. It's not really about figuring out who the killer is- the agents figure that out reasonably quickly. Rather, this is about the physical act of tracking down a fugitive. The environment is fascinating, the killer is smart, and the hunt literally crosses the entirety of the United States. This was a suspenseful read that kept me turning the pages.
    • 5/5
      He is a serial killer that has been well trained in mountain survival techniques by the military. He has been unlucky in love and is now obsessed with the mindset that all women hate him. No one will give him his chance. He preys on young woman that he thinks will not be missed by society. He rides the High Line, the trains that route through the northwestern United States in the roughest weather; blizzards, mega-snow and unspeakably low temperatures. When FBI agents Stevens and Windemere get a whiff of the existence of this "shadow, " they are relentless in their pursuit. I loved it. If you are looking for a theme with strong women who show their stuff, this one is for you. My thanks to the author and the Penguin First to Read program for a complimentary copy.
    • 3/5
      I fell in love with this series from the beginning but this is the best one yet. Why? Gone is the forced romance between Windermere and Stevens. The focus was all on the hunt for The Rider, a dastardly serial killer of "forgotten" women along the Northwest Rail Line. This book will chill you to the bone, and not just because so much of it takes place in the freezing winter temperatures of northern Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Windermere and Stevens are hot on his trail though...right behind a teenage runaway out to avenge her friends senseless death.
    • 4/5
      I'd give 'The Forgotten Girls' a solid 3.5 stars.... What began as a 3 escalated a bit due to the excitement at the end- a satisfying conclusion. I like Owen Laukkanen's writing, in general, but I have a couple problems with it. The first is that he sometimes gets a little too simplistic in his technique and, unless the story line is really propulsive, the reading can become a little slow. The second is that there always seems to be a logical flaw somewhere that ends up bugging me throughout the book. I won't divulge where it is in this one and it really didn't have a big effect, but it bothered me anyway.That being said, The Forgotten Girls is a good serial-killer thriller that can open readers' eyes as to how these psychos can get away with multiple murders and why it takes so long to catch them. The victim population in this story is one I really had no idea existed: young females who catch free rides (it's called surfing) on freight trains as they traverse the northern tier of the country. In this novel, the killer had been active for years but due to the nature of the crimes, the 'invisibility' of the victims, and the brutal winter weather he'd been able to do his work without a problem. That is, until some smart law enforcers began connecting the dots. Windermere, Stevens, and Mathers are pulled into action and we hear both their narrative as well as that of the killer throughout the book. The writing is OK, the dialogue is pretty good, the pace drags a bit in the middle, but the ending makes up for any real or imagined deficiencies. Owen Laukkanen is rapidly becoming a solid 'go-to' guy for thrillers, and his characters are one of the major reasons. The lead, Windermere, is not only a female (a bit of an oddity in this genre) but also beautiful and black (even rarer). Stevens is the 'local' guy who's consistent, dependable, physical, and instinctive, while Mathers stays back at the ranch and does more of the analytical work (while pining for Windermere). They're a likable, effective ensemble.
    • 4/5
      Owen Laukkanen has developed a certain style with the Stevens and Windermere books. Sort of a cat and mouse game between an ordinary but intelligent criminal and one or more sets of police agencies or rival criminals. The Forgotten Girls is a bit of a departure from that formula, but Laukkanen proves he can write a straight up mystery thriller just as well as anyone.Kirk Stevens and Carla Windermere are a bit of an odd pairing, representing the Minnesota BCA and the FBI, but they complement each other well. They also make for an interesting pair to follow. The Forgotten Girls starts when a murdered girl falls in their laps courtesy of a picture uploaded from a stolen phone. Stevens and Windermere quickly discover that they are on the trail of a serial killer that no one knew existed because the murdered girls are people no one really missed and for whom no one tried very hard to find out what happened to them. Many of them were girls who stole rides on trains, making the murders even more difficult to connect.Along with Stevens and Windermere, the killer is being hunted by a young woman named Mila, whose friend Ash was one of the victims. The two agents are also trying to find her hoping she can bring them one step closer to catching their man. Stevens and Windermere are frustrated both because they are perpetually one step behind the killer and by weather which keeps them snowed in and out of communication with the outside world. Gradually the noose tightens around their quarry, but how many more victims will he claim before they get him and will Mila be one of them?Stevens and Windermere are an interesting pair. Stevens is more of a puzzle solver interested in criminal’s motivation and guessing what the next step will be. Windermere, while clever herself, is more comfortable with action. Gone is the awkward sexual tension between them from the first few books which was really more uncomfortable than interesting. In its place is a fierce loyalty to one another that both helps them function as a team and raises the stakes when one or both of them are in danger.The Forgotten Girls is another solid entry in the Stevens and Windermere series. The chase builds throughout the novel and the climactic standoff is tense and exciting. Laukkanen cleverly uses the winter elements to convey both danger and frustration. They hamper the police investigation as well as offer danger to the victims and opportunity for the killer. Recommended read.I was fortunate to receive an advance copy of this book.