The Girls Are Gone: The True Story of Two Sisters Who Vanished, the Father Who Kept Searching, and the Adults Who Conspired to Keep the Truth Hidden Kindle Edition

Interesting book TO START WITH. I read all the 5 star reviews,( and to my amazement, not ONE 4 star review), and I thought, "this book MUST be very good." It kept my interest for a while, actually, and then I became weary of reading court transcripts verbatim, along with the author's very very biased viewpoints . Do NOT get me wrong here. The "mother" in this nonfiction book is a very terrible and perhaps mentally ill woman. I can in NO WAY excuse her actions, or the actions of her MINIONS. That being said, there is not one single word, not ONE paragraph, written as to WHY this beauty queen wife/ mother would go to such great lengths to not only divorce her husband of over 20 years, but to attempt to take away everything he had, including all five of their children. People USUALLY don't "snap" just like that. The husband himself said he "trusted her implicitly, and signed documents she shoved under his nose WITHOUT READING THEM." That was BEYOND foolish of him. What had happened in this marriage ? What went on between these two behind closed doors? The wife had a boyfriend, was a flight attendant, very attractive, etc. No, she wasn't a soccer mom, but how could she be? He worked from home, she didn't, so he was Mr. Hockey dad. OK, fine. Anything else? They were in massive debt. Resentment, maybe? But I don't want to get off track. What she did was outstandingly wrong wrong wrong. However, when she was living with the children in the primary residence, why did the house smell like urine? Did they own a dog? And graffiti? Described, but never explained. Her abduction of the two oldest girls, aided by her disgusting "supporters" was a criminal act. Her hiding of them was worse. However , if she was working as a flight attendant at the time, why was she so difficult to locate? Questions, questions questions. I detested her main attorney; what a strange, annoying woman! But as I wrote above, the ENDLESS word for word reprints of the Family Court hearings seemed endless. I KNOW the children are where they belong now. However, this story seemed to begin with "BAM!" Husband wronged , wife is a psychopathic maniac. I would have been interested to read about the last three or four years of the marriage. SOMETHING HAD TO PRECIPITATE this awful woman's heinous actions.

I rarely write reviews as so much of literature is subjective. What one person loves another will hate. However, I am driven to write a review of this book because it is just plain bad. It constantly switches perspectives, so it is very hard to follow. It is full of not only transcripts of the hearings and trials, but also copies of articles written by the author. It is blatantly biased although the authors are clear that they are on the side of the father. It is also very repetitive. The authors repeat the same ideas over and over, sometimes verbatim. I am a prolific reader for over 3 decades. I enjoy all different types of writing across all genres and time periods (both when the piece was written and when the piece is set). I have rarely come across such a poorly written and poorly edited book as this. Save your brain cells and read something else. Anything else.

If even half of what wife did is true, she is mentally ill and a terrible person,both. But the husband, the owner of a large failing,busines is not to be believed. He claimed that he signed divorce papers giving up custody of his children because his wife said it was going to be a paper divorce to protect assets...trusting her he didn't read the documents. He just signed them. Then he went to court and claimed she tricked him. Nobody is this stupid. And if the wife is as crazy and emotionally unstable as the author makes out then the husband trusting her makes no sense -- unless the Husband is as manipulative and narcissistic as his wife. And I think that last part is probably true. The author makes no attempt to figure out what actually triggered the divorce proceedings. What motivates the wife is completely unimportant. Therefore the author cannot be trusted.

Well, I have read about half of this book and I am just not going to torture myself anymore! I have far too many great books I want to read and to continue one more minute reading this one would be a huge waste of my time! I'm not sure what I originally thought this book was about but it certainly wasn't this!! When I read true crime books I usually like detail but not like this!!! This book literally reprinted the court transcripts...every single word. And when it went to the transcripts, the print in the book went to a very tiny print that was very difficult to read. I really don't care to waste anymore time on this book, including this review. Just be warned, it is a terrible, poorly written piece of nothing. Please be careful and don't waste your time or money on this book. There are hundreds of really good true crime books out there but this is NOT one of them! This is my opinion.

I was deeply involved in child support, visitation, divorce and family law for many years and have heard of many, many volatile couples... but never have I heard of something quite THIS BAD. When parents use their children as pawns to retaliate against their ex spouse, that's one thing, but the mother in this story just completely stopped being a mother. She completely stopped caring about her children - period! I don't understand that. I can't figure out if she did this out of revenge for her ex - who did nothing to her - or if she just didn't want to be a wife and mother anymore. It's almost as if that's what it was all about. She just wanted a whole new life, free from responsibilities. But still, how can you just stop loving your children???

A must read, hard to believe this is a true story. I was impressed by how well written and detailed the very complicated facts and events were presented, This mother set out to destroy her family. A very sick woman joined by equally sick people who supported her. Hard to believe the level of evil and craziness that happened. Thank goodness for the good people that helped the husband and children restore their lives.

The first 30% was so detailed with legal details I almost laid the story aside for something more captivating. However, as I moved into the story realized it was necessary to grasp what followed in understanding the implications of the details.

I stumbled onto this families story through a YouTube video and wanted to find out more about what had happened. I read several articles online and was so excited to find a book had been written and immediately purchased a copy.Whilst the subject matter is fascinating, and it did explain the whole situation in a lot more detail, the book overall was poorly written and disappointing. I only stuck with it to get a better understanding of what had happened. The book frustratingly jumps around and it's not always clear whose prospective a section is written from. The chapters are often ridiculously lengthy, giving detailed description of what had happened in court, followed by verbatim transcripts saying essentially the same thing. This made many areas excessively repetitive. The font regularly changes in style and size, and not just to highlight a direct quote etc but the font would often change in size and style mid paragraph!The final section where the authors talk to family members makes no mention of Gianna or Gino. I assume they chose not to participate, which I can totally understand, but then say that don't just leave this huge gap and ignore their absence.

I foster, and this book was so real to life, it was eerie.... Y'all, this happens over and over, using the children as pawns. Thank you to Mr rucki and his children for telling the truth and for being bigger than the parents who pawn their kids! ❤️

Drawn out, tedious, constantly repetitive book I have read! All lengthy court case hearings, trials etc with SO MUCH repeated over and over again. News stories included that were the same things said so many times it became aggravatingly annoying! Honestly, I could not finish the book.

This book began well and may have retained my interest had the pages and pages of laborious court transcripts been summarized

Testo molto comprensibile ma che si dilunga troppo sui discorsi diretti intercorsi in tribunale . Speravo più in un racconto documentario