Corban AddisonCritiques

Thriller

Although I knew about sex trafficking in general, this book made it more real and as detailed as can be without crossing the line. The author also gave us a descriptive travelogue through India, Paris and the Eastern United States listing almost every street Thomas Clarke traveled.
It was also interesting to see a love story from a guy's point of view written by a man in Thomas' love for Priya.
Besides the organizations the author mentioned in his Afterword, another organization that is fighting trafficking is Christine Caine's A21.

I found this a very good book, delving into a topic that I really wasn't that familiar with.
The story starts in India, where two girls, Ahalya, 17 yr and her sister Sita, 15yr, go from a happy, somewhat privileged life, to one of compete uncertainty in an instant. They are walking on the beach with their parents, when a Tsunami, sweeps across their village. Miraculously, they survive, but their family and most of their village does not. They try to get to their school, which is some distance away, when almost immediately, they are abducted and taken to a brothel in Mumbai. Both being virgins, they fetch a high price when sold to the brothel. Across the world in DC, Thomas Clark, once a rising legal star, is watching his world crumble. When the big case he's been working on comes down opposite than they were working on, he gets thrown under the bus and is told to take a temporary leave, and his wife has left him. After witnessing an abduction of a little girl, and finding out how prevalent sex trafficking is, Thomas joins a group fighting human trafficking and heads to India. It doesn't take long for Thomas to get thoroughly involved. Meanwhile Ahalya has been sold to the highest bidder, and tries to withdraw the best she can in order to survive, hopes this will spare her sister. It doesn't and she is taken away. The story is told from the three points of view, it's fast paced and eye opening.

The story of modern day slavery and human trafficking is one that deserves to be told and in A Walk Across The Sun author Corban Addison sets out to write a fictionalized account of two sisters kidnapped and forced into the sordid world of underage prostitution. As a work of fiction, it's understandable that the author wants to make it an entertaining read. But in my opinion this book often read more like a spy thriller than a serious piece of fiction. To give Addison credit, it's a real page turner, no doubt about that. But far too much of the plot was just plain implausible, and it left me feeling a disappointed. I felt this book could have been a lot more if it had been a bit more real.

Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial by Corban Addison is a 2022 Knopf publication.

This is, as John Grisham states in his foreword, one of those David VS Goliath type stories. Smithfield Foods made a formidable opponent for a group of North Carolina residents that have seen the enjoyment of their property come to a stop because of the hog farms that moved into their area, which forced them to deal with hog waste and an unbearable stench. Finally, they came together and filed a lawsuit.

With a group of dedicated lawyers, including Mona Lisa Wallace, the long, hard battle begins against a big company with deep pockets and very powerful political alliances…

This is an epic tale – a years' long battle that involved all manner of political and legal wrangling- ups and downs, and a few huge surprises. It’s riveting, but it also very enlightening and educational.

The author did a great job of keeping the plaintiffs and their struggles in the forefront, reminding us of the purpose of all the courtroom litigation. We learned their names, we learned about their lives, and why it was important to them to preserve their heritage. We also learn about the lawyers, their strategies, and dedication to their clients. We learn about the laws, got to sit in on some courtroom drama, and got a bigger picture of how these litigations work, the process behind it, the legal wrangling, and how utterly exhausting it can be for the families who go through years of courtroom battles, public scorn, and even intimidation tactics by the corporations they are fighting against.

Overall, Addison has a real knack for taking a work of nonfiction- especially one that features an abundance of courtroom litigation and political theatre, and turning it into a thrilling saga that will definitely hold one’s rapt attention. It is an eye-opener for sure!

If you like ‘Erin Brockovich’ type sagas- you’ll understand, and appreciate, the journey this book will take you on.

4+ stars½

Cuando un tsunami arrasa el pueblo de la costa india donde viven, Alhaya Ghai, de diecisiete años, y su hermana Sita, de quince, se quedan huérfanas y sin hogar. Desamparadas, su única esperanza es refugiarse en su colegio, a kilómetros de allí. Pero nada más emprender el viaje, las jóvenes son raptadas, vendidas al propietario de un burdel de la capital, Mumbai, y separadas. Así empieza el descenso hacia los abismos del tráfico internacional del sexo y de seres humanos, un escalofriante submundo donde la inocencia de una niña es el bien más preciado.

Protagonist Zoe Fleming is an American lawyer working in Lusaka, Zambia in 2011. She is part of a legal team prosecuting sex crimes against children. When Kuyeya, a girl with Down Syndrome, is raped, Zoe and veteran police officer Joseph Zabuta, search for evidence in the case. Their investigation implicates powerful people, and these people will go to great lengths to avoid scandal and blame. Zoe is the daughter of a US senator who has become a presidential candidate. Her deceased mother instilled in her a passion for African issues.

This book contains elements of thriller, detective novel, legal drama, and social commentary on important issues in Zambia – specifically the AIDS epidemic, violence against women and children, and adherence to old superstitions. Zoe is a great character. She is at odds with the political views of her father and has a past that correlates with the main themes. She is idealistic and altruistic, though not without faults. Through Zoe’s participation in the investigation, she sees many parts of the countryside. She develops a touching relationship with Kuyeya.

I appreciated learning more about the workings of the Zambian legal system. There are a number of interrelated parts, and the author provides the appropriate background through flashbacks. I very much enjoyed the characters and descriptive writing. The author is obviously an advocate for human rights issues and humanitarian assistance.

"There are more slaves in the world today than at any time in history."--Benjamin Skinner

According to the author, the trade in human beings is a criminal Enterprise that affects almost every country in the world, generating over thirty billion a year in profits and involving millions of men, women and children in forced prostitution and slave labor.
The global human rights organization, international Justice mission, or IJM, is the author's research partner in India.
Two underage sisters, Ahalya Ghai and Sita Ghai, become orphaned when a tsunami sweeps through their Indian coastal village. Catching a ride with a friend of their father's, they are making their way to safety in their Catholic School, but when he gets out at his stop and tells them that the driver has been paid to take them to their destination, little does he know that the driver will sell them into sexual slavery.
Ahalya's virginity is taken from her soon after they are locked into an attic room in a brothel in Bombay, but Sita Is sold to become a drug mule. She must swallow 30 packets of heroin tied into condoms, and stay as still as she can, without eating or drinking, for a flight to Paris, where she is delayed through customs when her"husband" is questioned. He tells her to get into a warm bath when he brings her to a flat, and gives her a laxative.
P.141:
"the pellets began to emerge quickly. She didn't charge them along for fear that they would burst. When they appeared in the water, she cleanse them of waste matter and place them gingerly in the sink. The process was disgusting and extremely uncomfortable, but she persisted, her skin shriveling like a prune, until she had accounted for the 30th pellet. The latex and Navin's knots had held. SHe breathed a huge sigh of relief and felt the spring of tension in her body begin to uncoil."
After that, she is sold again and brought to the east coast of the U.S. A man who is guarding her before she is delivered into a child sex ring is a drunken rapist.
P.248:
"her teeth began to chatter. She felt him take her head in his hands and draw her toward him. He reeked of sweat and cheap alcohol.
" 'open mouth,' he hissed. 'please,' she whimpered, feeling a sudden urge to vomit. 'don't do this.'
" 'open mouth,' he commanded again, increasing the pressure on her head.
"Suddenly the door burst open. Sita looked up as Alexi stormed into the room, his face dark with rage. Igor swiveled around and rushed to cover himself. Before Igor could get his hands free, Alexi drove his fist into Igor's jaw. Sita Heard a sound like the snapping of a branch, and then Igor howled in pain. She watched in astonishment as Alexi hoisted Igor by the shoulders and hurled him against the wall. Stunned and bleeding from the lip, Igor crumpled to the floor and clutched at his face."
P.296:
"they drove for another hour before the truck stopped. Sita Heard the muffled sounds of conversation and then the chainsmoker open the door. He stood on a driveway lined with tall pine trees. Beside him was a strange man dressed in black. The man had Asian features and dark eyes. He nodded perfunctorily at Sita. 'Get on out,' The Chainsmokers said. 'Li's got you now.'
"He helped her out of the truck and handed her over to the Asian. The man named li led her up the driveway toward an elegant plantation house. Around the house were wide lawns and flower gardens. Sita heard the sound of traffic in the distance, but the property was rimmed by pines, and she could see nothing beyond the perimeter."
P.312:
" 'okay. So tell me about this guy. How does a person get into the slave trade?'
" 'he doesn't see it that way. To him it's all a matter of economics.'
" 'fair enough. But my point is this: if I wanted to buy and sell human beings I wouldn't know where to start.'
" 'The easy answer is that it was handed to him. You have to understand geopolitics after the Cold war. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it wasn't just the government that crumbled. The entire communist system fell apart. People were out of work, bored, and desperate. Everybody became an entrepreneur. The people who had control of Russia's natural resources leveraged their connections and became oligarchs of the New world Order. The people who once ran the KGB in the Eastern Bloc intelligence services turned their tradecraft And contacts into a new mafia, bigger, more lethal, and more efficient than anything Sicily ever produced. If we're right, Klein was high up in East German intelligence. He defected toward the end and came to the United States. His wits and his contacts stayed with him.'

Miraculously, Sita is rescued from the child sex ring. She is flown back to Bombay and reunited with her sister, who has been rescued in a raid, but her rape in the bordello has resulted in pregnancy.
This book made me cry and though it is fiction, it is based on a cruel reality.

I really don't know how to describe this book. The book felt so real to me. I am an Indian and felt so much for the girls in this book. I was practically crying at the end.

It just makes me cherish my childhood memories more and count my blessings.

This book is about human trafficking in India, Europe, and the US, not exactly an uplifting topic. The cover made me pick it up, but what drew me to the book was that the heroines are from a place in India that I've been: Madras/Chennai. The author's descriptions brought back the culture, colors, sounds, and smells of India. The book starts with the 2004 tsunami and everyone in the family is killed except the two sisters. The girls try to make their way to their school in Madras, but the help they find along the way is not so helpful. The girls end up being sold to a brothel in Bombay. Enter the American lawyer who takes a sabbatical with a nonprofit group in Bombay that fights human trafficking.

The plight of the girls, and the other girls they meet along their journey, is so sad, especially the ease with which it happened to them. That it could happen to anyone. The crazy amounts of money involved and the fact that people are willing to pay that much for one night with an under-aged girl is unthinkable. Because of all that money women and girls are moved around the world, probably right in front of our eyes and we don't even know it. I don't think many people realize how big this problem is, and for those that do, it seems overwhelming. For every girl rescued, many more take her place.

The book is not graphic and has a satisfying ending. The author's writing style is easy to read and even his lawyer-ese was understandable. I devoured it about 50 pages at a time.

This book was so much more than I anticipated! It was such a roller coaster of emotions! I had a hard time getting into it at first, even though it was interesting but then I really got caught up in it. There is so much more to the events in the story than what it looks like on the outside. It's very interesting to see how far people will go to save their family members. Such a good read and really gets you thinking about things and how we judge other people.

Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time
Brilliant characters and a believable plot

Cliche ridden and incredibly condescending. Addison should be ashamed for writing this book to appease the sensibilities of marginally religious upper class American women in their own sense of safety and superiority. It's vile.

“Traffickers will stop when men stop buying women.”

Seriously? This is just insulting. You have the nerve to think that your simplistic quip is the answer to something that people have revered and reviled since antiquity?

Enjoy your windmills, Don.

I could not put this one down! Suspense built around a true madness that exists in this world. No horrific details are shared about the abuse, so I could read it.
Something we should all become aware of...great fiction with a mission to bring light to the horrors of child sex trafficking.

A Harvest of ThornsI was given this book by NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Many young women die in a garment factory fire in Bangladesh. In the aftermath a picture of a teenager is taken. This young girl has a fabric with Presto Omnishops Corporation on it. This is one of the largest retailers in America.

In its headquarters a man, Cameron Alexander, watches the news coverage of the incident. He watches at the picture of the girl is everywhere making people wonder about the ethics of the company. Alexander starts an investigation which will lead him down paths that could devastate his world.

A reporter, a year later, receives information about the company and the fire. This is all Joshua Griswold needs to cover a story that could save his career from former disgrace.

The story was developed well as the author begins with a central story and then builds each character from there. It is a sobering story that gives insight in the garment industry. The real world settings helped me to see the world in a different light.

A very good book.

The author is incredibly adept at developing a core story and then feeding in the personal stories of his characters to enhance the narrative. Cameron has a tragic backstory that makes his determination to right the wrongs all that more understandable. The writing feels very real and it is often very sobering in its content. He is informative too, who know that “...the production of textiles was one of the most prolific sources of water pollution the world”?

I think of the author in terms of John Grisham “light”. I find Grisham’s stories at times hard to penetrate, and so Addison’s storylines feel that much more accessible. They are set in a real world where there is dreadful exploitation and injustice. He is an author who will take up a cause and bring it to a wider audience with great panache. An author with a social conscience. Having read this novel we will all surely think more carefully about the origin of our clothing? If this book is anything to go by, it behoves us to do so!

The locations in the novel feel credible too, whether dining in Old Ebbit Grill near The White House in Washington or Izumi in Dhaka, he manages to create a colourful and absorbing backdrop.

Sensitively thought out and well written.

Another really good Corban Addison novel. This time the adventure happens on the high seas when American Daniel Parker and his son Quentin are kidnapped while they sail the world in their own quest to bond. We follow a tense negotiation between negotiator Paul Derrik, the US gov't and the kidnappers led by Ibrahim ( Ismail). Things go terribly wrong. The next part of the novel takes us "behind the scenes" to Ismail's past and his family and life for a muslim in Samalia who is trying to lead a righteous life. This is done through Ismail's lawyer Megan who searches for answers to why Ismail did what he did.
A interesting novel full of adventure but with information and a message to share.

This was a fantastic book! While the storyline s a bit disturbing and very realistic the author did a good job of not making the scenes too graphic. While I appreciated that, I did feel like the end was a bit too predictable. For that reason alone, I gave this one 4 stars instead of 5.

Sometimes I need to read a book that tells the story of a group of people who give their all to do good despite everything the powerful and corrupt do to stop them. The Garden of Burning Sand was perfect for the job.

Corban Addison has the welcome knack of honestly portraying brutality without being graphic. In doing so, he tells us some home truths: the prevalence of child rape in sub-Saharan Africa, and the uphill battle to eradicate AIDs. When all the evidence Zoe and the others gathered in Kuyeya's case went to trial, I didn't really expect the outcome-- partially because everyone concerned put their lives in very real danger by fighting for this child.

The story in The Garden of Burning Sand is compelling, the setting puts the reader right in the middle of the action, and the characters make you want to take the next flight to join in their fight. I will certainly be looking for more books by Corban Addison.½

Novel sheds a light on where our clothes come from. Inspired by the fire in Bangladesh in 1997,

In Dhaka, Bangladesh, a garment factory burns to the ground, claiming the lives of hundreds of workers, mostly young women. Amid the rubble, a bystander captures a heart-stopping photograph—a teenage girl lying in the dirt, her body broken by a multi-story fall, and over her mouth a mask of fabric bearing the label of one of America’s largest retailers, Presto Omnishops Corporation.

Eight thousand miles away, at Presto’s headquarters in Virginia, Cameron Alexander, the company’s long-time general counsel, watches the media coverage of the fire in horror, wondering if the damage can be contained. When the photo goes viral, fanning the flames of a decades old controversy about sweatshops, labor rights, and the ethics of globalization, he launches an investigation into the disaster that will reach farther than he could ever imagine - and threaten everything he has left in the world.

A year later, in Washington, D.C., Joshua Griswold, a disgraced former journalist from the Washington Post, receives an anonymous summons from a corporate whistleblower who offers him confidential information about Presto and the fire. For Griswold, the challenge of exposing Presto’s culpability is irresistible, as is the chance, however slight, at redemption. Deploying his old journalistic skills, he builds a historic case against Presto, setting the stage for a war in the courtroom and in the media that Griswold is determined to win—both to salvage his reputation and to provoke a revolution of conscience in Presto’s boardroom that could transform the fashion industry across the globe. (less)½

Do we really know where and under which conditions our clothes are made? Do we even question ourselves….I admit to simply look at labels to see where it is made and that is the limit of my curiosity till now. After reading Mr. Addison latest novel where he takes us on a journey tracking a brand of clothing across the world I may think twice before purchasing my clothes in the future but again rarely do I see clothes made in my country reasonably priced so what choice do I have?….. Based on real-life events, this fiction begins with a fire in a clothing factory in Bangladesh and follows a large American company's reaction. It also addresses the reality of sweat shops, slave labor and the rights of workers in developing countries.

The chapters alternate from the perspective of Cameron Alexander, general counsel for the company (Presto) and those of Josh Griswold, a disgrace journalist as they dig deep into the many issues in front of them. As the story moves on, we have some very emotional chapters told through the eyes of people working in factories. The narrative voices are thorough and intellectual, complete with refine vocabulary. With firsthand knowledge of law and journalistic inside we find a plot that flows smoothly and is well- informed. At its heart “A Harvest of Thorns” is a story of two men fighting for what they believe is right and decent while fighting an inner turmoil that is shaking their lives…

After long hours of research, Mr. Addison has created a thought-provoking story where he goes into fine details about the fire and how the people made their fateful decision to break through windows. ”A Harvest of Thorns” was inspired by the 2012 Tazreen fashions factory fire in Bangladesh where more than a 100 workers died and more than 200 were injured.

Mr. Corban, an attorney and human right activist uses fiction to explore social justice themes. In the past he has touched the international sex trade in “A Walk Across the Sun”, the lawless coast of Somalia in “The Tears of Dark Water” and in “The Garden of Burning Sands” the epidemic of child sexual assault in Zambia.

All his stories are eye opening and very captivating.

Really liked it.

A LOOK AT THE WORKING CONDITIONS IN SOME OF THE COUNTRIES THAT MANUFACTURE CLOTHING FOR THE US. SOME VERY DEPLORABLE SITUATIONS EXIST AND THIS BOOK SHEDS LIGHT ON SOME OF THE PEOPLE AND FAMILIES WHO ARE CAUGHT IN THE NEED TO MAKE A LIVING FOR THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES. MANY PEOPLE ARE HURT AND KILLED DUE TO WORKING CONDITIONS.

With a powerful beginning I knew this book was going to be an emotionally charged story. It is gritty and messy with details that can shock people at times. We know things go on in factories all over the world that are unfair , yet we turn the other way and refuse to address it. That is until the world is stunned by a picture that captures the utter inhumane treatment of workers in a factory far from the United Stated. I loved this book because the author is not afraid to tackle a subject that is deplorable and sickening to see. Is it worth buying clothes from a company at the cost of a human life?

With every big company comes power and sometimes greed. Some of the bigwigs ignore the rules in order to make more money. When Cameron was first introduced I wasn't sure if I liked him or not. Would he do the right thing and make workers feel safe? The horrors that take place in one of the company's factories made me cry. To think that a young woman must do the unthinkable to keep her job is so disheartening. From the back streets there is human trafficking, rape and so much underhanded money deals that makes the story jump off the pages. Perhaps some of the language was a bit unsettling but I think for this type of story it was a realistic view of what really goes on.

I appreciate that the author doesn't sugarcoat anything, but goes full force into the world of big corporation vs the deplorable treatment of humans. Josh is a journalist who has a story that can take down many people , but can he do it without putting himself in danger? In the courtroom the story will put that fear on some and others will scream for justice. Who will win? Will the real traitor stand up and take punishment? Can the judicial system give the plaintiffs cause to celebrate? The writing is aggressive and takes us all over the world to expose the men and women who are greedy enough to sacrifice lives to get ahead. What will be the final verdict? Grab a copy and find out who will be the victor in this action packed thriller.

I received a copy of this book from The Fiction Guild. The review is my honest opinion.

On November 24, 2012, a fire broke out on the ground floor of the Tazreen Fashions factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The eight-story building had no fire escapes, no emergency exits. According to official reports, at least 117 workers perished that night, and over 200 were injured. The way large western brands like Walmart, Zara, Gap, C&A, etc. have their clothes produced and the aftermath of this 2012 fire inspired Corban Addison to develop the novel A Harvest of Thorns.

Presto is the Walmart like multi-billion brand at stake. In a complex supply chain, the internal Code of Conduct is worthless. Presto's Cameron Alexander travels to Bangladesh to discover the dilemmas local factory managers are facing. HIs choice to cover up this practice for the C-suite at Presto, yet providing a lead to journalist Josh, is a costly one.

Joshua Griswold, together with fast fashion specialist Rana Jahil, succeed in finding the girls that are victims of the Dhaka fire and reveal frequent rapes, trafficking, and other symptoms of modern slavery. They submit their file to court to sue Presto. The novel follows the legal hearings, the difficulties of applying U.S. law to cross-border supply chains. Both Josh and Cameron have bruised private relationships, and while Presto's stock price is plummeting, outside the box thinking is needed to survive as a business, avoid being exposed as a traitor in court, and do more to the plaintiffs.

Addison's is on spot with this contemporary theme mixed with love, attempts to escape from danger, and social responsibility of a for-profit firm.