Desperation in Death

Desperation in Death

Desperate to survive, not able to do as they please, young girls were taken off the streets and held captive to be prime candidates for the owners of Pleasure Academy to groom, teach and own them until they were sold. Mina and Dorian became friends and dealt with the horrors together. Rules were obeyed or the punishments were brutal, and the end could take lives. Their spirits broken, food, clothes, hair and makeup taught and a nightmare that they’d never awaken from.

Mina devised a plan to help them escape to freedom, but they did not get away fast enough. Tunnels, doors and no way-out left Dorian injured and all alone while Mina lies dead near the waterfront. Mina had elegant and expensive clothes; beauty products candy was elegantly groomed. She was being taught and trained for sex trafficking and whoever is investing in this operation expects a huge payout. Mina was found impaled on a real piece of wood, but her body was moved because she is not found in a construction site . Planting incriminating evidence linking Dorian to the murder, the blood stains in her shirt belonged to Dorian. Meeting with her mother not only angers Eve Dallas who now has the case, but learning the cruelties she inflicted on Dorian, the monthly payments for childcare that she used in herself and the physical abuse she inflicted on her got her arrested. The case worker did nothing to investigate, nor did she care. Dorian ran away to escape it all and found herself in another nightmare equal or worse than where she ran from. But, finding Dorian, understanding what happened to Mina and hearing her parents talk and knowing they cared for her so many rips at Eve even as hard as she is. Eve wants to get these people but first where is Dorian and how can she use Rourke’s contacts and networks to find her. Add in Mavis and Peabody plus Feeney and McNab and it’s just part of the team that will work to find her.

Eve takes it hard, memories flood back in and a visit to Tiko once a street their triggers something about a Halloween scarf and searches for others similar but where is Dorian? Evil people want to control her and learning where she is and who has her opens her up to understanding the fears this child encountered, how Mouser finds her and who is Sebastian and why does she trust him ?

A contact named Willowby fills her in on the type of trafficking operation they might be dealing with. Explaining how they drug them up , get them addicted and lock them in dark rooms for days or in a room where lights blast and never turn off. What they are forced to do is horrible and what they are expected to learn you won’t believe. Defining the ladder of important of these children from keepers, chicklet spot and who runs these organizations, the money involved and the staff to pull it off as she explains the rating system, Domestic Slaves, Pets, Whipping Boys and party favors. Mina was there for over 8 months, and she was thirteen and about ready for auction. Dorian Gregg was close to her, but will she help them catch the people who kidnapped her and bring justice for Mina? When they learn where Dorian is being held, Eve must promise not to send her back to her mother or deal with anything that might frighten her. Sebastian is part of the equation and so is Mavis who volunteers her house for the meeting plus several others. The conversation gets rough, Dorian does not respond at first to anyone and then Eve requests that she speak with her alone and what she reveals is terrifying and what this child endured at the hands of Auntie who ran the Pleasure Academy is terrifying.

Then we meet Auntie and the man who is funding the organization and what they reveal if they succeed will take the life of Dorian and their goal is to make sure that she does not divulge where they are, what they do and much more? Can Eve keep her safe? 

Placing her in the private school that Rourke created, own room, her friend Mouser coming with her and hopefully receiving an education that most would fight for and want, will Dorian embrace it? Learning more about the other girls, the death of another one at the same time as Mina claiming she hanged herself, will she realize how lucky her situation just became?

Her superior was not happy, wanted to place her in a safe house, but in the end Eve wins out or Dorian would never trust anyone ever again. Will they get Auntie, will she be able to describe her, what about the swipe she stole will that help them learn more about this Academy, where it is and get those in charge? What about Truman the social worker, will they get charges to stick against her? With Rourke at her side and doing the demanding work and protection, Eve has a chance to save more than just Dorian. 

Eve was relentless and with a team of cops, Rourke , Peabody, Feeney and more they broke the case when they learned about Red Swan and what was behind it and more. With the skills brought by their technology and Rourke’s contacts and abilities to deactivate alarms, find blueprints needed and one tough girl named Dorian who helped nail it down. With a team that saved so many, suspects each hoping for a deal, some flipping on others but the one called Auntie never saw it coming. A takedown that only JD Robb could create and a cast of tough characters that never stop until the final takedown and suspect is caught. Never doubt Eve Dallas . She’s tough, crass, bold, rough and at times crude but in the end she’s loyal, trustworthy and never stops until the case is solved and the suspects are in a box.

So many lives taken, childhoods gone and predators on the prowl as the author brings you light the issues of abuse, sexual abuse, sec trafficking and parental abuse and neglect. Mina Cabot died but saved her friend as she spoke out in her own way and a strong feeling of loss, hope and the fear as some understood the meaning of Desperation in Death. With the help of Sebastian and Mavis Freestone plus a loyal group of officers, detectives and more Eve uses all her resources to take down this horrific ring using children and young teens as sex slaves and more.

Fran Lewis just reviews