The Lost Girls: The True Story of the Cleveland Abductions and the Incredible Rescue of Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus

by John Glatt

Overview

They were held in brutal captivity—and managed to make it out alive.
This is their story.

The Lost Girls are Michelle Knight, Amanda Berry, and Gina DeJesus—three innocent young women who were kidnapped, imprisoned, and repeatedly molested and beaten in a Cleveland home basement for over a decade by a depraved man named Ariel Castro. Their incredible escape, in May 2013, made headlines all over the world.

“Absorbing…a page-turning, detailed overview of this remarkable story.”
—Kirkus Reviews

In this up-close-and-personal account—including exclusive interviews with Castro’s family members, secret girlfriend, neighbors, and others—veteran investigative journalist John Glatt reveals what it was like as Michelle, Amanda, and Gina waited, bound and chained, to be found. Shocking and heartbreaking, The Lost Girls is a true-crime tale that no reader will soon forget.

“John Glatt is one of the finest true crime craftsmen writing today.”
—Howard Goldberg, VH1.com

With 8 pages of chilling photos

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250092113
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/03/2016
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	260,584
Product dimensions:	4.10(w) x 6.70(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

English-born John Glatt is the author of Lost and Found, Secrets in the Cellar, Playing with Fire, and many other bestselling books of true crime. He has more than 30 years of experience as an investigative journalist in England and America. Glatt left school at 16 and worked a variety of jobs—including tea boy and messenger—before joining a small weekly newspaper. He freelanced at several English newspapers, then in 1981 moved to New York, where he joined the staff for News Limited and freelanced for publications including Newsweek and the New York Post. His first book, a biography of Bill Graham, was published in 1981, and he published For I Have Sinned, his first book of true crime, in 1998. He has appeared television and radio programs all over the world, including Dateline NBC, Fox News, Current Affair, BBC World, and A&E Biography. He and his wife Gail divide their time between New York City, the Catskill Mountains and London.

Editorial Reviews

The murder case John Glatt recounts in lurid detail is too bizarre for a work of fiction. . . . a true crime story harking back to the fabled era when stars like Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra entertained the crowds at the front of the house while mobsters ran the show behind the scenes.” —New York Times Book Review on Prince of Paradise

“John Glatt is one of the finest true crime craftsmen writing today.” —Howard Goldberg, VH1.com

“Veteran crime scribe Glatt gives us all the atmosphere, characters and facts to make an engrossing thriller. ” —New York Post (required reading section) on Prince of Paradise

From the Publisher

04/01/2015
In 2013, the world was shocked to learn that three women from Cleveland—Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and Michelle Knight—had escaped from Ariel Casto's house after years of sexual slavery. True crime investigative writer Glatt (The Prince of Paradise) tells the gripping story of how these three teenagers were deceived by Castro and how they endured his physical and psychological torture. Castro fixed his house so no one could see his actions, while being friendly to his neighbors and not raising any suspicions. The physical beatings were brutal, especially to Knight who ended up miscarrying five times because Castro did not want her children but rather Berry's instead. When his common-law wife left him for another man, Castro convinced his daughters to make sexual allegations against her new partner, Fernando Colon. (Colon still sits in prison trying to get his conviction overturned.) After he was convicted and sentenced to prison, Castro committed suicide and his house was demolished to prevent it from becoming a shrine. Glatt writes a compelling story but doesn't cite sources for his material, which makes it hard to know if the conversations actually happened. VERDICT Libraries will see a demand for Glatt's book as a companion to Knight's Finding Me and Berry and DeJesus's Hope, as well as a planned Lifetime movie. [See Prepub Alert, 11/24/14.]—Michael Sawyer, Pine Bluff, AR

Library Journal

2015-02-18
Journalist and seasoned true-crime writer Glatt (The Prince of Paradise: The True Story of a Hotel Heir, His Seductive Wife, and a Ruthless Murder, 2013, etc.) recounts the highly publicized story of three women kidnapped and held in captivity for a decade. In May 2013, three women and one young child were rescued from captivity in a boarded and locked house in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, Ohio. Of the three women, none had been held for less than nine years, and one had been there for more than a decade. The child was born in captivity and was the only one of the four to have seen the world outside the house and yard during their years of imprisonment. The women were victims of serial kidnapper and sexual predator Ariel Castro. Glatt has solid storytelling chops, and the result is a gripping, read-it-all-in-one-sitting kind of book. With such a well-covered crime, that kind of narrative push is all the more impressive since the ending certainly doesn't come as a surprise. Savvy true-crime readers may wonder how Glatt came by his information, which seems to be mostly compiled from other public sources such as newspapers, TV specials and public statements by the freed women. That's not to say it isn't a worthy read. In fact, Glatt's book is a page-turning, detailed overview of this remarkable story, and the author provides background on Castro and chronicles a number of alleged calls to Cleveland police by Castro's neighbors, who noticed strange behavior. Still, all three women have written about their experiences, so those looking for more depth from the victims' perspectives should seek out their accounts. For a wide-angle view of the horrific string of crimes start to finish, Glatt constructs an absorbing winner.

Kirkus Reviews