Customer Reviews

The Lost Girl: How I Triumphed Over Life at the Mercy of Fred and Rose West

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Caroline Roberts is a survivor victim of Rose and Fred West. The Wests were arrested in February 1994 during an investigation into the disappearance of their daughter, Heather. They were accused of murdering 12 people (the tip of the ice-berg?) over a period of over 20 years. The verdicts from the jury followed some of the most shocking evidence ever heard in a British court. The pair had subjected their victims to horrific sexual violence before they were killed, dismembered and buried beneath the Wests' house at 25 Cromwell Street, Gloucester.

Caroline takes 10 years to write this book, her biography. Her experience with the Wests is quite shocking to say the least, her story is so perplexing that by the time she was reporting the events to the police, she forgets to tell that Fred raped her. In her shocked mind, Fred's rape was the least traumatic event of the whole thing. In fact, it seems that is Rose West who scarred her the most. Another thing that was very shocking and sad, was how she dropped the rape charges for the trial because she didn't had the strength to do it and the police detective was treating her pretty much like a whore. Imagine experiencing one of the most shocking events in your life and then being blamed for that experience, like a piece of crap who deserves the worst. At the end the Wests get away with their behavior and it will take years of years until they are found out for what they are, serial killers. At this point Caroline feels tremendous guilt for every murdered victim that is unburied, after all perhaps she could had stopped them a long time ago if Fred was convicted for her rape.

She was indeed a lost girl and a very wounded one, but her experiences are captivating as she struggles to make sense of her life (I read the book in one day!). We could all learn from her mistakes and story and in order to be better capable of protecting ourselves and the ones we love the most.

I was interested in this book when I found that Caroline Roberts was a survivor of serial killers Fred and Rose West. There isn't much about the Wests in this book. The book is mainly about Caroline's many sex partners, 4 kids from 3 men, and marriage to a man half her age. She wants the reader to feel sorry for her, but the only one I feel sorry for are her children.

The chapter on what the Wests did to her is horrible. Thank goodness both were punished for what they did. Fortunately Caroline was strong enough to testify against them.

Overall, not a great book, unless you are interested in Caroline's life story.