This book has been a great reading experience. Thanks to the author and the publisher for bringing this book to life.

Excellent story well told. The subject of human trafficking is an ugly one. What humans do to each other is sad. Greed is a driving force. As the story unfolds we see the underbelly of the business. I like Deke. He doesn't give up as he hunts for his goddaughter that was abducted and assumed to be sold into the slave trade. I stayed up way too late reading this one. Excellent!!

Inhuman Trafficking is a pretty fast-paced novel and you'll be turning the pages much quicker than you expect.

The topic, as you can probably glean from the title, deals with human trafficking – it's tragic, gritty, and absolutely heartbreaking. I don't really have much to say other than if you like legal thrillers, this is a good book to read in a single sitting.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the copy.

Fabulous story that I could not put down. Would highly recommend to fans of this genre. Great writing, and I will look for more from this author.

WOW! amazing book! so painful to read at time as its so real and true but a great page turner with a very happy ending!

Inhuman Trafficking
by Mike Papantonio, Alan Russell
Pub Date: October 5, 2021
Skyhorse

A fast-paced thriller in the tradition of John Grisham, Joseph Finder, and John Lescroart.

Thanks to Skyhorse and NetGalley for the ARC. The title "Inhuman Trafficking, a legal thriller" appealed to me because it is my favorite genre and these authors are new to me. Sometimes reading ARC's is like getting a surprise in a box of cereal. You never quite know if you'll like it till you finish the book.( or box) . I liked this book very much. It would make a great movie or a series... HInt, hint.
I will recommend this to our patrons.
Great book!
5stars

Inhuman Trafficking – John Grisham watch out! Mike Papantonio and Alan Russell have written a legal thriller that gets to you in Chapter One and does not stop until the ending. Deke Deketomis is a well-developed protagonist, and the supporting characters are totally believable. I read this book in one sitting – the subject matter is so timely and heartbreaking. Definitely plan to read more from Mike Papantonio. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Inhuman Trafficking, by Mike Papantonio and Alan Russell, is a thriller about a timely and important issue that's all too real: the insidious business of human trafficking. The first 10% of the book seemed really slow and full of seemingly unnecessary details. But then the story really took off, after that, and I started getting to know the victims and their points of view, as well as learning more about the bad guys.
Nick “Deke” Deketomis is an attorney who's firm specializes in the types of cases that most attorneys wouldn't dare to take on, like human trafficking. They're going after a company that's known for their truck stops and motels throughout the U.S., as well as human trafficking. Due to the almighty dollar, they've chosen to ignore the trafficking that's being done on their properties.
The case becomes even more urgent when Deke's fifteen-year-old goddaughter, Lily Reyes, goes missing. When he finds out that Lily has become prey to a well known trafficker, his personal and professional lives collide.

WOW......This would make a great film, it is a fast, action paced legal thriller. The focus is on the grim topic of sex trafficking. which the world has turned a blind eye to for WAY too long.!! This book caught my attention from page one, and held it all the way to the end.
I highly recommend this book!!!

This was a good book. However, I got very confused more than a few times with how private lawyers were calling the shots in a criminal investigation. Due to that confusion, I just could not get into it. The chapters with a POV from the people being trafficked were what held my attention.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
Deke is a prominent lawyer who fights against large corporations and his latest fight hits close to home. He is fighting a large hotel chain who is involved in human trafficking and discovers that his goddaughter has been forced into prostitution by her boyfriend. With the help of his colleagues he tracks down various people involved in the trafficking but Lily always seems just out of his reach. One of the sex slaves tries to contact Deke’s form for help but disappears before they can help her. One of the firms lawyers Michael takes on the case to find and represent her. The cases all seem to be intertwined and in order to get to Lily, Michael has to use his past skills in the military to help rescue her. I was drawn into this story from the start. Although it was a disturbing subject matter it didn’t go into too much detail of what the people went through., which I appreciated. The characters were interesting and you wanted to see the good guys prevail and the bad guys get their comeuppance. This was a legal thriller with some action thrown in, a thoroughly enjoyable read

I received this ARC through "NetGalley's" Read Now program.

This is the 1st book that I have read by this author and did not know what to expect. I selected it based on the description that was provided and I was not disappointed. The story begins with Lily, Deke's Godchild, being taken advantage of and sold to sex traffickers. Deke had not paid any attention to Lily since being named and felt he didn't provide the security needed, but told Lily's mother that he would search for her daughter. At the same time this was going on, Deke was pursuing a case against a chain suspected of sex trafficking, but he put out feelers trying to locate the individual that stole Lily. As things went on, Deke had a couple of chances of getting Lily's abductor, but they all fell threw.

Latter Diane, one of Deke's team, received a call from someone who had become a sex slave and wanted help. With little information, they searched for Katalyn with little luck. Michael an attorney in Deke's firm became her attorney and began searching finding various leads that eventually paid off. Unknown to Michael, he indirectly was involved in Deke's search for Lily.

To discover how Deke's lawsuit worked out, what the search for Katalyn revealed and whether Lily was discovered, then you need to read this book. You won't be disappointed.

**My review is posted on the main goodreads page for this book. There is no specific website address for me to show ONLY my review, but I've provided the link that I do have access to below. Also, I cannot post my review to Amazon until the book is released on Oct. 5th so for now, this will have to do. I will try to remember to also post my review to Amazon once they open up review capability.**

This story grabbed me right away and didn’t let go until the end. At several moments, I thought I knew what was going to happen but then I turned out to be wrong. The authors did a great job of letting the characters ebb and flow, while flipping back and forth from each setting that each character was in until all their worlds coalesced and overlapped.

Nick “Deke” Deketomis was probably my favorite character, if only because of his no B.S. attitude and actions in court as well as out of it. A close second favorite was Michael. Even though it’s a total cliche, I’m glad that all of the many bad guys in this book didn’t win. MM was super creepy and totally off his rocker. What Lily did to survive a full moon in his prison was risky, rather brilliant and also very bizarre… but it worked. I guess when you’re as nuts as MM was, it’s no surprise that it did. The ending was perfect and very sweet.

I do wonder how the majority of these events transpired without law enforcement being involved. It was rather unsettling. Many times I kept waiting for them to contact the FBI but they didn’t. I’m not too sure Deke’s explanation for why not to include at least local law enforcement was believable. Dirty cops are out there… but not ALL of them are dirty. I also had hoped to see Judge Irwin punished in some way for his ridiculous rulings. I think this book could’ve benefited from another 50-75 pages to fully flesh out the plot and characters.

All that said, I also feel like some needed background was either missing or details not explained enough. Like how Deke mentioned that he had been a murder suspect a few years prior… what?! I wanted to read more about that! Also, more details surrounding Michael’s past and how he came to meeting Mona as well as how Jake managed to get disbarred and then turn to investigations would’ve been good to read. Some of it was revealed but it was a very short summary and left me hoping for more. It made me wonder if these characters had been in other books previously where perhaps each of their backgrounds were explained better.

All in all, 4/5 stars. I appreciated the authors’ writing styles and wished the story was longer. I would be interested in reading more books by this author in the future. Thanks to #NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for allowing me the opportunity to read and review this ARC for free!

This would make a great film, it is a fast paced legal thriller. The focus is on the grim topic of sex trafficking. “The world has turned a blind eye to these actions for too long.” Attorney Nick “Deke” Deketomis is a senior partner in one of the nation’s largest plaintiff law firms, specializing in the tough cases few other lawyers would dare to take on. One such case is against Welcome Mat Hospitality, a firm with truck stops and motels across the country, which has been turning a blind eye to the blatant sex trafficking going on at their properties for the sake of profits. The Interstate 20 is described as a sex trafficking super highway. The issue becomes personal for Deke, when he discovers his green-eyed 15 year old goddaughter, Lily has got caught up in the tangled web of sex trafficking, tricked by her “boyfriend” into paying off his debt by selling her body. Many of the girls being trafficked are minors and most are foreign nationals in the US on an H2B temporary work visa or illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Most of the action happens in Florida, but the pacing builds to a thrilling Mission Impossible style climax in Las Vegas. This is a real page turner of a book, mixing courtroom drama and undercover sleuthing. The boat on the cover of the book is a reference to a strip cruise, where 5 Ukrainian strippers/hookers go out on a cruise but only four return. The missing girl, Karina, had earlier managed to contact Deke’s firm to enlist their services.

The characters are well drawn, Deke is a passionate lawyer trying to draw attention to the plight of the victims of “inhuman trafficking”. He explains to a junior associate and legal rookie, Michael Carey, retired from the US air force after breaking his back (whose unique skill set proves very useful to the plot).

We need rage. Every good trial lawyer has to channel the controlled rage. If you are not angry, no jury is going to get angry.

It is an entertaining read about a subject that should be addressed “Human trafficking is worse than a sewage spill.” If you enjoy writers like John Grisham, I would imagine you’d like this.

With thanks to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing for this advance digital copy. This review is mine given voluntarily.

Timely, if distasteful, topic is presented very well in this legal thriller told from several points of view. Well-developed characters and an excellent plot.

This book caught my attention from page one, and held it all the way to the end. I'm pretty particular about thriller novels, but the "legal" aspect of this one drew me in. Generally, I like thrillers that feel more like an episode of Law and Order than a horror movie, and Papantonio delivered that with every word.

The story takes place in several perspectives at once, alternating POV between chapters. As a reader, I was able to follow along, and almost participate in the investigation by trying to guess how close the different plotlines were to coinciding (I was wrong at least twice before I got to the end, but the journey was so very worth it). It's not news that human trafficking is a terrible, cruel industry, but it makes for a captivating narrative as we watch lawyers try to pick apart its nuances and find their way to the top of the food chain.

There's only so much to be said without giving away the entire plot, but the ending ties everything together in a heartfelt, uplifting way. All the world's problems aren't solved with this one mission, but things are looking up for the right characters. And really, what more could we ask for?

The title "Inhuman Trafficking, a legal thriller" appealed to me because it is my favorite genre and these authors are new to me.
An unsavory subject, human trafficking. My knowledge of human trafficking is based on what's available in the news, not much. I was hesitant to read, because sometimes fiction can be too close to reality and I wasn't sure I could take the cold, hard facts. The story was very tastefully writen. Yes, there are scenes describing young girls taken and put into what amounts to slave labor, sex trafficking, drugs, abuse, strip clubs, etc. I don't think you can sugar coat the practice of human trafficking, but the authors scenes were more illustrative and didn't present for shock value. In fact, I suspect the reality of a trafficked person is far more horrific.
There is a good balance of the legal aspects, court scenes, nonstop action, twists and a relatible cast of characters set mostly in Florida, land, air & sea.
Attorney Nick “Deke” Deketomis is a senior partner in one of the nation’s largest plaintiff law firms. Michael Carey is an associate and an X- airforce parachute jumper. Jake works investigations. Carol Morris is head of Safety and Security and Investigative Services. She has her hands full trying to reign in lots of testosterone.
The firm is currently suing Welcome Mat Hospitality, a truck stop chain, for allowing human trafficking. The plight of foreign H2B workers is central to the criminal activity.
In the meantime, Lily, Deke's goddaughter, has been abducted and is herself trafficked. Lily's eventual captor Mad Max was the mystical, reclusive, cruel, demented Moon Man. The connections of these separate events collide in unforeseeable ways. The suspense carries throughout the search for Lily and other missing girls. There are murders, explosions, fires, and the harrowing pursuit for justice.
I highly recommend this book and will definitely look for other books by these authors. This would make a great start for a new series (hint)!
Reading an Advance Reader Copy is a lot like eating from a box of mixed chocolates without the diagram, you never know what you're going to get. This book was my favorite in the box. Many thanks to Mike Papantonio and Alan Russell, Netgalley and Skyhorse Publishing for this advance digital copy. This review is mine given voluntarily.