Disclaimer: I am not paid by anyone connected with Ellen Hopkins, nor was this book review solicited. These are entirely my own thoughts and in no way influenced by Ellen Hopkins or anyone connected with the writing, editing, or publication of this book.

Spoilers only if you have not read TRICKS, the book TRAFFICK is the sequel for.

TRAFFICK was an amazing book. 5/5 stars, for sure. First off, it is raw and honest and does not flinch from the truths that encompass Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking in the US. It is clearly well-researched and, from an adolescent development and psychological well-being standpoint, it is on point and accurate in every feeling, every thought, every action the characters take. Like all of Ellen Hopkins‘ books, it is evident she understands her readers and talks with and to them, not down to them. This, and its predecessor, TRICKS, are absolutely must-reads for everyone, and especially for those – teens and adults – who live in major sex trafficking hubs, like Houston and Las Vegas.

TRAFFICK, much like the month of March, began with the roar of a lion and ended on the bleat of a lamb. The book started with a raw fury of emotion, abruptly returning me to the circumstances Cody Bennet had been relegated to at the end of TRICKS. Of five characters, all experiencing varying degrees of crisis and therapeutic rehabilitation from those crises, starting with Cody showed the skill Ellen Hopkins has for knowing where to begin a story. His deep-seated fears and resentments perfectly set up a story that could begin in the harrowing emotion of hardship and end on the soft note of hope.

All five kids got in well over their heads in the last book. Cody began selling his body to pay off gambling debt; Whitney fell in love with a man whose only intent was to addict her to Heroin and sell her body on a webcam; Ginger ran away to Las Vegas with a friend to strip dance because her mother had been pimping her out; Eden was sent away to an abusive and negligent “religious retreat” center to cleanse her of the sin of falling in love, and found her way into selling her body to get away from the center; and Seth was kicked out of his house when he came out as gay to his father, and he lived a lifestyle as a “kept man,” essentially selling his body for room, board, and a rich lifestyle. All five kids ended the last book in varying state of crisis: Cody, being beaten to a pulp by someone who found out his girlfriend was also selling her body; Whitney, who was almost dead from an overdose; Ginger, who had been caught by VICE with the friend she had run away with and sent to a group home for trafficked teens; Eden, who had found her way to another group home for trafficked teens thanks to a kindly priest; and Seth, who had been kicked out of the home of the man who was “keeping” him when he learned Seth had been with another man.
Each had a long way to go at the end of the first book, and TRAFFICK did not disappoint. There were steps forward, steps backward, and steps sideways for each of the characters, exploring heartache and resiliency in equal measure. Each young person in the book ended the book in a place different from where they started TRICKS, even if that place was physically the same. Each grew emotionally, each was more worldly and world-weary, but each ended the book on the tendrils of hope.

As Ellen Hopkins has done in other books, she included poems by other tangential characters in the book, such as parents, siblings, friends, and significant others. These showed glimpses of how others react to situations as weighty as Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, and they showed that not every person involved in the horror of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking escapes with the vestiges of hope she gifted with her own five characters. Through these extra poems and through the story she wove around her five characters, we see youth who escape sex trafficking, youth who don’t, youth who have experienced horrors beyond the understanding of many, and the loved ones who stand by them – or don’t – in their journey to finding themselves again, and healing their scarred psyches.

The author’s note included statistics, such as the fact that the average age into sex trafficking in the US is just twelve-years-old. Twelve. An age when the biggest concern for a young girl or boy ought to be the onset of puberty, not the abuse of her or his body. Even her author’s note, however, contained an air of hope, as she said that there is more awareness than there has ever been in the past. There, sadly, will be child sex trafficking as long as there is a demand, but with increased awareness and education, we can protect more girls and boys from this fate. If nothing else, TRICKS and TRAFFICK illustrated plainly that it is not just girls who are trafficked, and that children involved in trafficking are always coerced – either by people or by circumstance. Boys, straight, gay, and transgender, are all at risk of being trafficked, and adolescents who wander willingly into its fold always have a reason, and always deserve to be protected.

Awareness is the first key. This book, and its predecessor, give a lot of fantastic accounts, based around the stories of real survivors, as well as a lot of great statistical information, but it is only the beginning. It is hard, messy, heartbreaking research, but we need to be aware. We need to open our hearts to the trauma these children and young adults have experienced. We need to listen. And we need to act.
For more information, check out:
www.Traffickingsourcecenter.org
www.humantrafficking.org
www.polarisproject.org