Published: August 01, 2011
Sex-Trafficking Industry Generates Approximately $19 Billion Annually
Authors often get their inspiration from current events, and one thriller writer once again tackles another of the world's problems: sex slavery. Statistics show that sex trafficking is the third most profitable criminal business after drugs and arms.
According to INTERPOL, sex-trafficking businesses generate approximately $19 billion annually.
"It's shocking to know in this day and age people are still being bought, sold, abused, smuggled, and kept in slavery," says Patti Ann Bengen, whose fourth romantic thriller, "SEX," focuses directly on this issue. "Millions of women and children around the world, including the United States, are abused and forced into providing sex services."
Ms. Bengen chose to highlight this problem by dramatizing it in a fiction book-a high-octane, suspenseful, romantic thriller.
The book revolves around a beautiful American entrepreneur, Halston Calderone. On a business trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, a sudden illness thrusts her into the care-and arms-of the dashing and rich Dr. Alejandro Malvo. At his luxurious and secluded seaside compound, Halston is lavished with attention. But the idyllic retreat is actually a prison and processing station for women who will vanish into a world of forced prostitution. Halston is just one more victim of the gang. It will be up to her and two New York investigative journalists to thwart the modern-day slave drivers.
"I believe the US government and media don't spend enough time on this devastating issue," says Ms. Bengen. "And as a result many people are not only unaware of the problem, but few resources are expended to end this horror."
Ms. Bengen tackles many ancillary global issues in "SEX," such as:
Human sex slavery and abuse
Illegal immigration
Kidnapping
Government and police corruption
Money laundering
Drugs
"Ineffective laws and little police enforcement make human trafficking an extremely fast-growing, low-risk business," says Ms. Bengen. "I feel like our government is failing to protect millions of women and children here and across the world from exploitation and abuse. It must be changed. We have to recognize the problem and take it more seriously. Who knows? Maybe we'll be able to save the lives of many potential victims."
Patti Ann Bengen is a member of Romance Writers of America, the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild, and The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence and is listed in the Cambridge Who's Who. In addition to being an author, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Ms. Bengen has worked in the music, medical, fitness, and beverage industries. She actively sponsors women in war-torn countries around the globe through Women for Women International and The Shade Tree Women's Shelter.
A frequent guest on radio and TV and host of her own cable-TV Nia fitness show, Ms. Bengen is the author of three popular and critically acclaimed romantic thrillers: "The Devil's Dance," "Danger in the Tulip Fields," and "New Beginnings."
"SEX" is available on Amazon.com.
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