There’s a stretch of highway in British Columbia that has seen more than its share of tragedy. The 1,287-kilometre span of Highway 16 from Prince George to Prince Rupert is known as the “Highway of Tears.” Since 1988, at least 32 teenage girls and women have disappeared or been found murdered along this route. The dark legacy of the highway gets much coverage in Lisa Wojna’s Missing: The Disappeared, Lost or Abducted in Canada.

Missing features a vast assortment of brief, concise accounts presented in minimalist prose. By laying out the facts and dialing down the sensationalism, a genuine sense of dread builds in chapter three of Missing, devoted solely to the highway.

As one absorbs tale after tale of young, vibrant, mostly aboriginal women who have departed from one Highway 16 location or another, never to be seen alive again, it’s easy to become shocked or angry. It’s hard to accept that so many violent acts could be perpetrated against women in a nation that is supposedly kinder and gentler than many other parts of the globe.

This sort of disbelief returns in “The Land of Hungry Ghosts.” The chapter deals with the large number of prostitutes that have been abducted and murdered in Western Canada. Special attention is paid to the stories of vanished sex trade workers in Vancouver, whose remains have been discovered on the Robert Pickton hog farm.

While these chapters of the book hit hardest emotionally, there are other, more intriguing and bizarre tales of disappearances. A rundown of the not-so-long-ago, was-she-abducted-or-not misadventures of former Lethbridge councillor Dar Heatherington is included, as is an account of Ontario’s Lost Boys. In 1995, six teenage boys, apparently fuelled by alcohol and their own desire to raise hell, stole a boat, headed out onto Lake Ontario for a joyride and vanished without a trace.

I was so inspired by this murky tale that I was soon online running searches in an attempt to learn more about what is known and, more importantly, not known about these particular Lost Boys. This demonstrates Missing’s greatest value, as a sampler. You can read this rapid-fire collection of missing person stories to discover which particular story or variety of tale most interests you. Then you can tear off in search of other books, magazine articles or online material.