O/T But interesting

[Black Oaks]

We went to the Book Fair at the UofA yesterday. While at the fair we attended a discussion by CJ Box who writes contemporary mysteries set in Wyoming. He wrote a book called The Highwayman, quite a good story. The basic story is a young lady is driving home from college, she ignores the red check engine light, car breaks down, and she is snatched by a serial killer that is also a long distance truck driver.

When asked how he came up with the story he said that the police estimate that approximately 3,000 women have disappeared while working as prostitutes at truck stops. The women are spread across the country, the common theme is they disappear while working the truck stops. He also said police estimate there may be as many as 30 drivers out there that are preying on the prostitutes. He said only 1 has been arrested to date, he was good for 24 deaths. They are difficult to catch because they are constantly moving across the country. I found this to be both disturbing and alarming. I had no idea of the extent to this situation.

Anyway, Box, the author, said his daughter was getting ready to go back to school, he went out to check the car out like a father would do, and found the check engine light was on. He asked her about it and she said "it's ok daddy, it is always on". So he checked the oil, it was way low,added oil, the car was ok, red light went off. It set him to thinking what if. What if his daughter drives off, breaks down at night and one of these really bad guys stops to help. Granted, most truck drivers a good people, but like everywhere else, there is a small extremely bad element out there. If one of those guys stops to help, you are going to get help you never ever wanted to get. You will be marginalized in a most unpleasant fashion.

Anyway, it is a good read "The Highwayman". And perhaps much closer to the truth than one might imagine.