TOW #24- Lost Girls by Robert Kolker part 2

Goals:

 -Properly analyze the effect of strategies

-       Don’t over-explain

-       One sentence conclusion

            In a case that is left unsolved, families search for answers, and the community comes up with their own conspiracies to provide answers for a mystery. The book Lost Girls by Robert Kolker, a man who frequently writes on criminal justice issues, shows an example of an American Murder Mystery in which all of the above are true. The story cannot truly have an ending, as the mystery behind the story has not been solved, or concluded. In order to illustrate the lack of a conclusion to the mystery as he concludes his book, Kolker utilizes a timeline and map and almost allows his audience to draw their own conclusions.

            Immediately after the story itself concludes, Kolker implements a map in order to draw a full picture of all major sites of evidence and suspects. In this way, Kolker allows his readers a full visual through which the audience can see the case.  In criminal cases, the location of crimes can be used as evidence in and of themselves. Therefore, by placing a map at the end of the book, Kolker allows readers to use the map to draw their own conclusions as to what makes sense, and to see the crime as a whole. By including this map, and drawing the audience in to observe it, Kolker successfully is able to create a feeling of uncertainty that is still present in the case.

            Following the map, Kolker choses to include a timeline of all major events and thus display all known evidence. This timeline all leads to the “ending” in which Peter Hackett, a suspect, is the recipient of a wrongful death lawsuit. However, this timeline does not show the results of this lawsuit, and thus illustrates the inconclusiveness of the case. It is clear that despite this lawsuit, this case remains unsolved. By showing all events to his readers in a single timeline, Kolker is able to provide a final conclusion to his book, which accurately displays the feeling of the case: inconclusive.

            Robert Kolker was, through his book, able to successfully implement a map and a timeline in order to conclude his book in such a way that suited an unsolved case, while also allowing his audience to draw their own conclusions.