The Slave Across the Street

By: Theresa Flores

Narrated by: Renee Raudman

While more and more people each day become aware of the dangerous world of human trafficking, most people in the U.S. still believe this is something that happens to foreign women, men, and children - not something that happens to their own. In this powerful true story, Theresa Flores shares how her life as an All-American, blue-eyed, blond-haired, 15-year-old teenager, who could have been your neighbor, was enslaved into the dangerous world of sex trafficking while living in an upper-middle class suburb of Detroit.

Her story peels the cover off of this horrific criminal activity and gives dedicated activists as well as casual bystanders a glimpse into the underbelly of trafficking. And it all happened while living at home without her parents ever knowing about it.

Involuntarily involved in a large underground criminal ring, Ms. Flores endured more as a child than most adults will ever face their entire lives. In this book, Ms. Flores discusses how she healed the wounds of sexual servitude and offers advice to parents and professionals on preventing this from occurring again, educating and presenting significant facts on human trafficking in modern day America.

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Excellent read

Her story was well written, insightful and well told. She did not make it raunchy. It is terrible that this happens

Eye opening

I really liked this book and I think it opened my eyes the way a kid could be blackmailed into prostitution. I would recommend the book.

Hard to fully take in!

I feel that this is not a random situation. Such things go on & it just is not noticed. I am a grown woman now but when I was just 14 something similar happened to me. I didn't think of it as slavery but in a way it was. I was a young middle class girl in Iowa whose parents worked and was home alone the whole day. I was lonely and was befriend by an older boy at the neighborhood pool. He told me he loved me & I let him take my virginity awhile in the cool basement of my home. Over that summer he came to me many times. Then one day he asked if his friend could come visit too. I did not want to loose his 'love' so I said ok. Well, he & his friend came over many times until it was time to go back to school. I never saw them again. This has effected me so much. To this day I hate sex and have used it to get what I wanted from different men. I have been married twice and divorced once. My current marriage has last a long time but we just don't have sex. I know my husband would like to but I just can't. This book opened my eyes to this problem but I don't see it going away since there are so many men who would take their pleasure over what a girl/woman wants or needs. Unless men change, I don't think enslaving females will change.

A good message does not make a good book

My heart goes out to Theresa, and I think her story could have a very important message. Unfortunately, this message did not come across in the audio book. All I really perceived was a montage of horrific acts of violence against a young girl, ending with a list of people that could be blamed for what happened. I did not feel like there was a genuine explanation of how she survives today, or what the readers can actually DO. I'm all for being uncomfortable when reading about such a serious topic, but I would like for there to be a purpose in mind.

To be fair to Theresa, this was truly some of the worst narrating I have ever heard, and that may have contributed to how responded to the story. EVER SINGLE WORD that aggressors said was grotesquely emphasized , presumably to make sure we understood they were evil (They tricked a girl into white slavery. I think we could have figured that out on our own). In addition, the narrator tried to make her voice deep and gruff for every male character and breathless and delicate for every female. The result was actually pretty funny, but this is not a funny story. Raudman, or whoever instructed her, did this story a great disservice.

To summarize: I wish I never would have listened to this audiobook. I am deeply interested in the subject, but this book is NOT the place to turn if you want to learn about the issue of modern slavery. However, I cannot be sure if this is due to Theresa's storytelling or the narrator's ridiculous choices. Either way, "Slave" by Mende Nazer (hard copy; I haven't listened to the audiobook) would be an infinitely better choice.

Disturbing!

this was tough to listen to. I almost stopped a few times. brave woman. I really hopes this helps others not have to suffer this fate.