It was cold outside when Timothy Jay Vafeades pulled his truck rig into the Red River weigh station off I-94 near Moorhead. It was supposed to be a normal truck compliance inspection for the officers on site. But something felt off about Vafeades. He talked too much, too fast and his canines were sharpened to look like fangs

The officers looked at Vafeades’ passenger. She was young, quiet and she was bruised. The ensuing investigation would lead to the arrest of the so-called “vampire trucker,” a real-life monster who enslaved and assaulted six victims.

Vafeades’ arrest was a small victory against a wave of murders that have been committed across U.S. roadways. In 2004, the FBI began investigating this pattern and have since linked over 850 deaths to long-haul truckers. But why is this type of crime and perpetrator so common?

FBI former assistant director, Frank Figliuzzi, set out to investigate these highway serial killers. But beyond that, Figliuzzi sought to understand long-haul truckers themselves.

I spend most weeks driving for hours on end over interstate roads and highways. Trucks are as common a sight as clouds. It's easy to forget that inside those vehicles are people who, most of the time, are alone behind the wheel. They do a job with long hours, tough labor and little thanks from the public. Before reading "Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers," I didn’t know much about the lives these essential workers lead.

Truckers are the backbone of our economy. Without them, the nation’s commerce freezes. It was important for Figliuzzi to ride along on one of these tough workers’ routes. On his journey, he learned that showers can be a rare treat for truckers trying to deliver their goods on time. He learned that properly tarping and loading a flatbed is a wide-ranging exercise. He also learned about the trafficked women who frequent truck stops for sexual labor. He learned about the women who escaped abusers and the ones who did not.

Figliuzzi’s book, just under 300 pages, is brief. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and by the end, I wanted to read a hundred more pages about the trucker Figliuzzi shadowed. This book is a look into the lives of people we all see every day along our roads but seldom acknowledge. It’s a look into the lives of the women we are blind to and choose to ignore. And it’s a look into the monsters who hide in plain view, and we pray to never meet.