Kate's Reviews > The Slave Across the Street: The True Story of How an American Teen Survived the World of Human Trafficking

This was an incredibly disturbing read - it is the true story of how a 15 year old girl fell prey to human trafficking in the sex trade. Theresa Flores did not meet the preconceived idea of a victim of human trafficking - she was not poor, she was not a runaway, her parents were not drug addicts nor did they abuse her and she did not live in a third world country. So how did a 15 year old all American girl who ran track, who came from a good home, had good parents and lived in the suburbs of a wealthy Michigan city become a sex slave? Sadly and scarily it happened very easily though manipulation, coercion and grooming.

Human trafficking is something we hear about more often today but in the early 80s it was thought only to occur in third world countries. This was very difficult to read not just due to the subject matter but also because having grown up in the Metro-Detroit area I was familiar with the places where Flores's ordeal took place. Soon after Flores moved with her family to Birmingham, Michigan is when the abuse began.

For those not from Michigan or familiar with the Detroit metropolitan area, Birmingham is a very affluent suburban city to the Northwest of Detroit. When you think of sex trafficking, Birmingham, Michigan would be one of the last places that you would think it could occur in. This is the whole point though, human trafficking can and does occur everywhere and it can happen to anyone. This book was an eye opener to read.

As to how Flores managed to survive, a devout Catholic she strongly believes that God's angels protected her from enduring worse. This was really the only part of her account that I took issue with - far be it from me to tell anyone that what they believe in is wrong so this is what I will say: what Flores was forced to endure goes beyond comprehension especially when you consider the fact that she was a child when this happened and that there were so many times others could have intervened to stop the abuse. It is no doubt a miracle that she not only survived but also became an upstanding member of society (she graduated college, worked as a social worker, got married, had children etc.) However, I believe that to put this all on a Devine entity is selling herself incredibly short. Somehow, after all she went through Flores's spirit was not broken and she went on to dedicate her life to helping others, that is truly remarkable and I think she deserves to give herself more credit for triumphing over seemingly insurmountable odds.