Boys For Sale (Book 1): A Novel about Human Trafficking

I am an educator and pastor who is taking a deeper dive into the world of human trafficking. Novels, like other art/media formats, use the power of “story” to awaken us and confront us with truth as they by-pass our defenses and arrest our hearts. The vast majority of literature—both fiction and non-fiction highlight the plight of young girls—which is appropriate given the numbers. I wanted to read the story of boys. The psychological damage and trauma for all children who are sexually exploited is beyond mind-boggling. Boys’, as victims exploited by the same-sex, are unique terms terms of being raped in their core gender identity as males. Their struggle and recovery looks different in places as they seek to be reconciled to parts of themselves that are they estranged from as result of the same-sex trauma and abuse. Mark does a phenomenal job of ushering the reader into the world of boys who have been ravaged by men and their storyDr. Scott Infante

Disclosure: Author Marc Finks and I agreed to purchase each other's novel and provide an honest review. Marc was kind enough to give my thriller "The Assassins Club" a very encouraging 5-star review.I wish I could return the favor, especially since I think Marc shows great promise as an author. His novel, "Boys For Sale: A Novel About Human Trafficking," explores an important social issue and I believe Marc displayed great courage in writing and self-publishing this book. However, there are three reasons I believe a 4-star rating is more appropriate.(1) SUBJECT MATTER. Another reviewer stated this book is "not for the squeamish" but I'm afraid that misrepresents the subject matter. Books about the Manson murders, a zombie apocalypse, or non-sparkly vampires tearing out their victims' throats are "not for the squeamish." I have friends who write romances, westerns, thrillers or literary fiction involving lesbian, homosexual or three-way sex; these are not my preferred genres, but there is definitely an audience for these works, especially if they are well-written, and I have given some a 5-star rating. These themes have achieved a certain level of acceptance within the publishing world. However in my opinion, graphic depictions of adults drugging and raping small children is not acceptable within the general marketplace, and the descriptions for the book "Boys For Sale" on Kindle did not prepare me for those depictions. My own novels contain occasional instances of raw language, sex scenes, violence and drug use, but I make sure that the Kindle description acknowledges those themes. I feel that, as authors, we have an obligation to point out potentially objectionable material, and I hope that Marc does a better job in future editions.(2) WRITING CRAFT. "Boys For Sale" was generally well-written, with vivid characters, good dialogue and exciting story developments. However I found myself wishing I could better visualize the settings. Jungles, remote villages, city ghettos, mansions and dive bars provide many possibilities for "Ah-ha" descriptions where the reader relates with the setting because he or she has seem a similar scene in a spy movie, or read about it in a thriller novel. Also, this book did not work as a stand-alone volume for me. Because of the "Ring Trilogy," modern readers have become used to trilogies where many of the story lines are not resolved until the very end. However, that was not a true trilogy, but instead one extremely long book, divided into three volumes. The "Foundation Trilogy" is a better example, since each book can be read independently of the others. In fact, I read volume two first, and it had a clear beginning and a satisfying ending. It stood on its own.(3) EDITING. There were a number of typos and misspellings that distracted from the generally very fine writing. In my first novel, all five members of my critique group went over every word, sentence and paragraph. Even so, a few mistakes still crept in. I've heard that the average book printed by New York publishers contains nine errors of one sort or another. Indies will probably never completely rid our works of typos, but finding a critique group, Beta readers, or an editor-for-hire would be fine first steps.

An honest and moving exposition of one of the worst perversions - organized human trafficking of children for sexual abuse. I cannot disagree strongly enough with those readers who found this book sensational, offensive, or pornographic. On the contrary, the author takes great care to present this disgusting and most troubling subject, from the subjective viewpoint of a smart, courageous, self-determined, naive, and innocent young boy. Whereas there are myriad appalling scenes of sexual abuse and violence, the author does not go into the prurient details of sexual abuse for sensational or pornographic effects. On the contrary, for the most part, Marc Finks leave the details of physical, sexual and psychological abuse to the imagination of the reader by avoiding unnecessary prurient or sensationalist details. The novel is well written in simple, unassuming everyday lay language appropriate for the age and psychosocial backgrounds of the main characters. The plot develops fast and coherently, resulting in the immediate sympathetic protective identification of the reader with the abused boys, which makes it impossible to put the book down or buy the conclusion of the struggles a most courageous and decent main character in Book 2 - The Redemption. I recommend this book to every parent with young children and to anyone interest in taking an active participation against human trafficking.

Ich halte die Story für realistisch. Mitgefühl für andere Menschen gibt es nicht mehr. Kinder sind auch nur noch eine Ware mit der Geld verdient werden kann.Und dass ist nicht nur auf "Entwicklungsländer" und Prostitution beschränkt.Der Autor wollte das wohl auch klamachen, indem er den Jungen spanische, asiatische und europäische Namen gab, was der Glaubwürdigkeit der Geschichte aber eher schadet, diese Benennung hat etwas Künstliches.Trotz dieses Formfehlers eine packende und bedrückende Geschichte.

Es un libro difícil de leer por su contenido, pero vale la pena por la historia que cuenta y para "abrirle los ojos" al lector sobre la trata de personas.

Not for the faint of heart!

had the feeling, I was there too, cood feel the sadness, angry. etc.it happen still today, that is so sad, when it will be stop. in india, bangladesh girls and boys are still sold to brothels. they know that, but nobody do something against.

Just finished this book; took me three hours to read it.I was a little apprehensive about reading it at first as I thought it might be "too much" considering it is about the sexual abuse of young teenage boys. However, one cannot be blinkered in this life I suppose, and the more people who understand that this sort of thing really does go on, the better chance these kids have of being freed and living a normal life.A quick plot summary; there are two main characters in this novel, which though a work of fiction, is based on real life events, namely, Javier who appears to be a living husband and father but has a secret life from his family in that he is the boss of a child sex ring that specialises, for want of a better word, in providing his clients with young teenage boys for their own sick pleasures. Tavi is a 14-year-old boy taken from his family by members of this sex ring, posing as an organisation that helps gifted children from poor families to go to specialist schools to give them better teaching and qualifications. They target poor families by paying the parents to allow them to take their children to these schools. Tavi is chosen for his good looks and innocence and soon he is on his journey to what he thinks is a better life and education. Things vary quickly take a turn for the worse when he arrives at this "school" to find it is nothing more than a "prison" in which hundreds of young teenage and pre-teen boys are locked up and made to serve the wicked lusts of paedophiles. Though the author is careful enough to not go too deep with the sordid details it is still a brutal story in which boys are forced to take drugs, forced to perform sexual acts on each other and on these customers, and any boy foolish enough to try and run away and is caught is savagely beaten in front of all the other boys as a reminder. Do it twice and you're dead.Without giving too much away things take a vary different route when Javier's own 14-year-old son becomes a victim of sexual abuse and we learn of his struggles as he comes to terms with what has happened to his own son and the morality of what he does when "at work".Tavi's life is also turned upside down (as if it has been done enough already) when one of the boys he works with, his best friend there, dies. Does he run away and risk getting caught and savagely beaten or even killed? Does he stay in the hope that one day he'll be considered too old to be of any use and then released? But will they allow him to go or will they consider him too much of a risk in that he might talk and just kill him once he is no longer useful? Does he take his chances on the streets where people who work for Javier are on the look out for runaway boys. Even some of the police are in Javier's pocket.The books ends of a bit of a cliff hangar and I find myself really hoping that things work out for Tavi as I can't help but feel for him and care for him - something which the author has done well to be able to get his readers to do.There is a sequel to this book ( Boys for Sale (Book 2) - Redemption: A Novel about Human Trafficking ) and I have already brought it as I can't just walk out of Tavi's life without seeing how things work out for him.This really is a great book that will pull on your emotions and get you hoping and pleading that things work out for Tavi and that he will get himself out of that lifestyle. It is also well written in that the plot is not too complicated and therefore is an easy read.A note on the Kindle version: No proplems whatsoever. Boys for Sale (Book 2) - Redemption: A Novel about Human Trafficking