For years, Rabbi Yehuda Fine worked with youth on the streets of New York, a calling recounted in his memoir Times Square Rabbi. Here, he taps into that experience for a brutal novel about sex trafficking.
Taking a cue from noir influences, such as crime novelist Andrew Vachss, Fine constructs a believable and technically precise cat-and-mouse game between a rabbi and a serial killer. His hero is Eitan Leib bin Leah, a street-smart justice warrior more likely to wear a Yankees cap than yarmulke. His partner is David Wong, a shaolin warrior who serves as friend, protector, and brother-in-arms.
Their prey is Solomon Hayman, a vicious child trafficker who sells young girls to Arab tycoons. He’s developed a taste for children’s pain, dismembering them often, and in ugly ways. The situation is painful for Eitan: “All alone with his thoughts and everything coming at him was now under the label of ugly horror, loss, death, torture, slavery, and now this dark wraith arrived, and he was cutting his way through girl bodies like butter.”
Their conflict builds into a holy war between good and evil. Eitan and David connect with the Israeli secret service for help, while Solomon makes a devil’s bargain with the Russian federal security service to kidnap blonde virginal twins in Orlando.
It’s a stout entry in an underserved subgenre, barring a few missteps: Fine’s prose is vivid, but his highly trained heroes can seem superhuman at times. The book is less effective when it turns political with mentions of “crazed, angry zombie Arabs” and “the PC leftist crowd.” And even longtime crime readers should be aware that the content is extremely graphic, from blunt discussions of child abuse to a scene of outright torture.
Still, memorable set pieces like an airport shootout and the final fight between Eitan and Solomon stand out. Moreover, Fine’s spiritual patina and good intentions lend this dark story a silver lining readers will appreciate.
This is Reb Yehuda author of the Shadow Walker. I wrote this novel because of my growing concern in the world of Sex Trafficking. In the US alone according to the FBI
ReplyDelete27,000 kids are Sex Trafficked every year out of and around North America. Note please another serious concern. Several years ago the CDC or Centers for Disease Control out of Atlanta, Georgia surveyed 10,000 high school senior girls anonymously . They were seeking stats on incest and just how prevalent it is across the education landscape in the US. This included Private Schools, Public High School both inner city and suburban, alternative schools, community schools, parochial schools as well as Jewish Day Schools, et. al.
The information gathered was shocking. The CDC found that 20% of the little girls entering school in the US are already victims of incest or rape by familiars.
I spent most of my life working hard core nights on the streets of NYC , LA and Ottawa. I know we are alarmed by so many things today. Rest assured if you
learn TANACH or find soon my blog on Hilchos Moshiach Ben Zamenu you will be able to understand the rapid dark social change and danger we face today.
It is not in your imagination. My novel is filled with issues simply not addressed . Good vs Evil. Light vs. Darkness, The Redemption or Geulah and while it is a novel and fiction inside you I hope will find deep guideposts for your lives. No one should be abandoned to this secret horror. I realize of course few are interested in the topic.
FYI-note there is no nival peh meaning swear words and not one sex scene. But it is a brutal reality i have fought mostly alone all my life. And yes I did have a
Israeli retired Sayeret Team with me for the most dangerous pick ups of lost and missing kids.
Nothing in my novel is irrelevant. And if you wondered how sex trafficking has become a 150 Billion dollar criminal enterprise reading my novel will bring you up to speed.
I spent my entire life out in the Shadows saving kids lives. Many lived in my home until they could find their feet and heart again. Too many vanished. And i did not charge of course for my work. There is no price to be placed on a neshama or soul. I made my living as a educator and guidance counselor at a NYC University.
All I asked each kid who got their lives back healed that the price for my lending a hand is that someday they lend a hand to another in desperate trouble. Best I could say is 'Pay it Forward.'
Thanks if you read this ...Yehuda