Thank you for the opportunities to read this book. I have attempted it on a number of occasions but unfortunately I haven’t been able to get into it.

While the book did a good job detailing the different sorta of trafficking that can occur, it read like an expanded upon thesis paper. I do appreciate the author's devotion to ending the exploitation of the many unseen victims.

Many thanks go to Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco, Praeger Publishing, and Netgalley for the free copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review. I dont know how I feel about this. According to the author everything we touch, eat, wear, and see is affected by labor trafficking. I’m sick. Can't go shopping, can't eat fast food, can't play sports, can't buy chocolate-nothing is sacred. This was a very depressing book. It covers both labor and sex trafficking. And this author, who has done graduate-level course work in this field goes way overboard studying this issue and sees it everywhere she looks. She's practically paranoid. At least that's how it comes across. I'm not denying this happens, and I believe her when she says,"the factionalized narrative of an innocent victim who is kidnapped and forcefully held against her will is not the reality...". But I also don't think that every lawn service I see is hiding all of its employees in a rusty trailer or that every man serving in high level military positions in foreign countries take whores to hotel rooms. There is too much generalization. First sign one may be going to far in a study: when you are being accused too. Maybe take a hint to back off a bit. The best feature of the book is the glossary in the back. So many terms and abbreviations are used , it was refreshing to look for a meaning otherwise I would have no clue what the author was talking about. I'm glad I read this book because now I'm more aware of this problem, but I'm just freaked out by the authors approach.

This is an eye opening book about trafficking daily in many places and forms you would never think about. What about the nail salons, the door to door sales girl. So many people are inslaved and we don’t realize it. This book made me think about the many people we walk past each day and to take a second look.

I enjoyed reading this book. Mehlman-Orozco does a great job describing all aspects of human trafficking, and organizes it fantastically.

While I think the premise of this book could have been an interesting one, I don't believe the execution was done correctly. I wanted to read about this topic in a way that still felt like a book or a story. But it felt like reading an essay that someone wrote for school. In addition, I didn't like that random definitions were thrown into the writing. This highly contributed to it feeling even more like an essay.

It's an okay read. I'd learn the same things reading a good investigative piece, probably a bit more.

"Unfortunately, every single American has used, consumed, worn, and purchased products of slavery at multiple points throughout their life."

That's not something one wants to think about but we, as society, also do not want to think about mail order brides, child sex tourism, adult sex tourism, indentured servants, human trafficking, forced labor and sex slaves. Not fun subjects, but the reality is, these subject affects all of us.

Here is a fact:
"When people eat chocolate, they are eating my flesh" -Drissa, Freed Cocoa slave.

**When you purchase chocolate it, it may not have come from a reputable well-known chocolate manufacturer.... but have you ever thought about where they get the chocolate? I never did!

This book is a sobering and sad look at all kinds of slaves - both sexual and non-sexual. How people are tricked, sold, conned and manipulated into lives they never would have chosen for themselves. How traffickers are getting away with horrific acts and accountability is low, with less than .01 percent of human traffickers ever being held accountable.

"A cunning individual is very capable of making another person believe that he or she is in control, concealing their intentions until they lead the person to the edge of the cliff." -Serge Petrov, convicted human trafficker

Most of us would like to think we are untouched but these things are happening in our communities. Indentured slaves may be working in the nail salon you frequent, that young person coming to your door, may be working off a debt for coming to this country. Your neighbor may frequent a happy endings massage parlor. I could go on and on. Depravity is alive and well out there. It is one thing when consenting adults are involved. I'm all for letting your freak fly, but what happens when one party is a slave? When one is forced, when one is injured, when one has no way out, when one is drugged, when one is a minor, what about then?

This book is extremely well researched and written. The writing may be disturbing to some but keep in mind this is no fairy tale. Most people know and do not care that they are having sex with a person who has been forced into the sex trade. United States Secret Service agents got in trouble a couple of years ago in another country for soliciting sex. Military personnel have been caught engaging in sexual activities with sex slaves in brothels overseas. People travel to countries such as Indonesia to have sex with minors. It's not just American's doing this. The book focuses on what happens in American and what Americans are doing, but it is obvious that these brothels in other countries are being frequented by those from around the world.

"Anyone know which country I can buy a sex slave from, or go to fuck one who will do absolutely anything I command her to do?" -Anonymous Commercial Sex Consumer, Philadelphia

Human trafficking is alive and well. It does in fact happen in plain sight and sadly, the punishments are not severe enough to deter many. This book will be in your face about some of the harsh realities of life. We would all like to live in a bubble where bad things do not happen, but sadly bad things do happen. Very terrible things. I learned a lot and was surprised at some things especially about the chocolate. Some things did not surprise me. Education is the start to changing things, maybe if we all educate ourselves and demand change things will change.

Thank you to ABC-Cilo Praeger and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Hidden in Plain Sight is a book to be read by everyone. It highlights areas of human trafficking occurring in nail salons to sex tourism overseas. The title of this book says it all. Right before our eyes at the places we visit often, maybe every day. Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco does a thorough job of taking the reader to the many areas where trafficking is taking place with examples and actual candid conversations. At the beginning when she describes a young girl selling cleaning products door to door made me think twice about the young man who approached me in the grocery store parking lot selling magazines. I have gained a broader understanding of what human trafficking looks like. Also, who and how people are seduced into trafficking. It’s an exhausting and frustrating effort for law enforcement to enforce and prosecute.

I recently moved from Washington state to Nevada. When I was in WA, I heard a lecture on human trafficking, my interest was piqued. How could that be an issue in my small town? Wow, my eyes were blown wide open. There are a lot of migrant workers in the orchards. Human trafficking? Absolutely.

When I went to change my drivers license, while I was waiting I noticed an add on the TV for Truckers Against Trafficking. The word is getting out there and everyday people are being made aware to report suspected activity and save lives. Hidden in Plain Sight is an important book to bring awareness to readers.

I thank Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco for the meticulous research to bring the issue of human trafficking to light. I also thank the publisher Praeger and NetGalley.

This was a strong read. I remember a few years ago modern slavery was in the "wind". Making the public more aware of how workers were exploited and not payed their shares of the sold goods. I was helping giving out samples of fairtrade coffee during my confirmation year, but years later it seems we have gotten tired of hearing about this. This book is a reminder that slavery still exist, even though we do not hear about it in the media that much any more.
I liked reading this book as it gave a view into a world I never considered as real to be honest. I love that we have researchers exploiting these problems and then publishing accessible books. I know there probably exist a lot of research on this tema, but mostly research is written for other researchers, in the language they understand and talk in. This book is written so that it is accessible for the everyday person.
The thing I found bad about this book was that it made it seem that only women are exploited for sex and men for work. It shone a light on the fact that children of both sexes are exploited. I miss the information about women who exploit men for sex, and women for work. I felt the book fell a little short on this. Both sexes can be victims, and both sexes can be exploiters..

This was a well researched discussion on human trafficking. The author was knowledgeable and provided substantial back up documentation and reference to all the different aspects of human trafficking. The information presented was quite disturbing and I was left with a feeling of helplessness about what can be done about this issue. There seems to be no effective way to disrupt the vast system of human trafficking in the world today. Lots of information presented but no solutions.

I have some really good books waiting to be read this weekend! Let’s get started…

Hidden In Plain Sight by Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco centers on a heavy topic that I didn’t know much about. Human trafficking is not just something that goes on in other countries like Haiti as I mistakenly thought. It’s happening right here across America. It’s scary and shocking.

In this book, the author delves into this topic and sheds a lot of light on this criminal enterprise.



What types of human trafficking crimes are being committed here in the United States? Who are the victims of traffickers? How do we all unknowingly consume the services and products of slavery? And why are human traffickers able to maintain their illicit operations with relative impunity–indeed, with less than .01 percent of human traffickers ever being held accountable for their crimes?

Hidden in Plain Sight: America’s Slaves of the New Millennium documents how human trafficking and its byproducts touch every community in America, from impoverished inner-city neighborhoods to middle-class suburbs and alcoves of wealthy estates. It presents information derived from narrative accounts of real-life trafficking cases, interviews with convicted human traffickers, empirical research, and criminal case files to expose the grim realities of human trafficking in America, perpetrated by Americans.

Pimp-controlled sex workers, exploited migrants, domestic servants, and sex trafficking of runaway and homeless youth are just a few of the many forms of sex trafficking and labor trafficking going on all around the world―including in the United States. This book exposes both well-known and more obscure forms of human trafficking, documenting how these heinous crimes are encountered in our daily lives.

I want to learn more and am looking forward to diving into the book but I’m a little nervous because I am a worrier by nature. Still, its good to be aware and be educated so I have a feeling this is going to be an important book for people to read.

Criminologist Dr. Kimberly Mehlman-Orozco, who teaches at George Mason University, wants to shed some light on the often overlooked problem of modern-day slavery. In Hidden in Plain Sight: America's Slaves of the New Milennium Dr. Mehlman-Orozco reveals the sometimes surprising extent to which slavery, in one form or another, exists in the United States. She writes that "slavery is not a thing of the past and . . . there are more slaves today than at any other time in human history."



The first thing that comes to many people's mind when the subject of slavery or human trafficking comes up is sex slavery. In fact, about half of Hidden in Plain Sight deals with various forms of sex trafficking. One of the problems with examining sex trafficking is the fact that in many places prostitution is legal, and even in places where it's illegal, some sex workers choose the trade voluntarily. Not only consumers but also law enforcement sometimes have distinguishing between trafficked and voluntary sex workers.



But in many cases, it's very clear. Women from impoverished circumstances, addicts, and, obviously, children, are in no position to consent to sex, yet they are subject to the sex industry in the U.S. and around the world. Dr. Mehlman-Orozco evaluates the testimony of sex workers, accounts by consumers, and other sources such as law enforcement and traffickers to give an in-depth sense of the extent of the industry and the prevalence of trafficking. Her accounts are heart-breaking. The frank testimonials of the consumers are shocking. The problem is widespread. While I appreciated the details she goes into, at times I felt like she could have been more discreet. Someone who is looking for illicit sex has, in a sense, a how-to guide here, including web sites to go to for seeking out sexual encounters.


Besides sex slavery, a wide variety of more conventional industries sometimes use trafficked labor. Domestic servants, door-to-door sales teams, nail salon employees, cocoa harvesters and other agricultural workers, and others are sometimes held under the thumb of their employers. The workers may have come from other countries or from a rough home life, having heard promises of education, money, citizenship, and other enticements. Once the employers have control of the trafficked individuals, they restrict their movement, confiscate passports, control their access to money, and charge them for living expenses and transportation, using these means to keep them enslaved.


Hidden in Plain Sight is sobering, even shocking at times. Most of all, though, Dr. Mehlman-Orozco demonstrates the pervasiveness of human trafficking. In the sex trade, even the legal trade bolsters illegal sex trafficking. And in other parts of the economy, "the use of slave labor has grown to such magnitude that consuming products of human trafficking is almost unavoidable." Every time we eat chocolate, get dressed, or get our nails done, we may be supporting human trafficking. Hidden in Plain Sight is an important source for awareness, as well as a resource for professionals and activists who want to help.


Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!

Intriguing look at modern human trafficking victims, their abusers and customers.

Hidden in Plain Sight addresses the many ways to exploit humans to make money. It includes those forced into prostitution, paid little for domestic work or to work on produce and cocoa farms, and coerced into solicitation crews.

Sexual victims are typically not kidnapped but instead coerced by the trafficker (aka pimp) to join his stable. The pimp provides for basic human needs for the victim. If the victim is poor, the pimp provides food, shelter and safety. If the victim is middle class, he provides love and emotional support. Both stop if the victim balks at the idea of prostituting herself. Then the violence and possibly threats to family members begin. There is little risk to the pimp as the book cites statistics of less than 0.01% of traffickers are caught. Even those caught usually plead their crimes down to misdemeanors with little jail time. The victims are typically criminalized and jailed because it is difficult for police to differentiate between voluntary and forced prostitution especially if the victim doesn’t go to the police as soon as possible.

Domestic and agricultural workers are typically brought into the United States under a work visa but sometimes smuggled into the country from third-world countries. They are assessed both transportation and paperwork fees in the thousands of dollars. Their passports, visas and other paperwork are held by the trafficker. The workers are paid less than agreed upon before deciding to leave their home country partly to pay off the cost of their arrival but also because they have little recourse to argue the point. Many domestic workers are paid nothing to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. All have little to no chance to escape their indentured servitude.

Solicitation crews victimize young people typically 18-24 years of age. The crews sell the trafficker’s products door-to-door, often for more than 12 hours a day. Not meeting their daily quota results in beatings. The crews are charged for their appalling room and board. The trafficker moves the crew every two weeks from state-to-state to remove the victims’ social network that may allow them to escape.

The author, a PHD in criminology with an emphasis in human trafficking, researched websites where human traffickers meet and describe their exploits. There are many fascinating quotes from pimps, other traffickers, victims, and customers. There is even an appendix that defines the terms they use. It is amazing how much hurt can be done in the name of money or sexual pleasure.

Hidden in Plain Sight is an enlightening read that will open most reader’s eyes to what is just under the surface of their middle class life. As the writer describes, most people have either seen human trafficking victims without even realizing it or used the product of their labor. 4 stars!

Thanks to the publisher, Praeger, and netgalley for an advanced review copy. This book will be published on October 31, 2017.

Very well written and researched. I'd have never thought that kids that go door-to-door selling might be subjects of human trafficking. This book opened my eyes to different forms of human trafficking (some I knew). The saddest part is that the perpetrators rarely get convicted or get convicted for a very short time.

The book is easy to read.I wonder if this was the author's dissertation turned into a book? Very well done.