The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores

The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores is the first account of a girl who is living in suburban America and how she is drawn into human trafficing.


Theresa is a girl from a well to do family that has to move frequently because of her father's job. She moves into a suburb of Detroit when she is fifteen. This school and suburb was different as alot of the people was from middle east countries. She found herself drawn to one of the Caldean boys although her mother forbids her to see him (this usually just makes a teen want something more)and she has a long distance boyfriend. She makes a decision one day to go with this boy to his house which leads to a rape and eventually leads to blackmail and the victimization of this girl for over two years. She only escaped when her family moved.

I found it very dishearting that people that were suppose to be there to protect the children knew something was going on and chose to turn their heads and ignore the situation.

I found the the last couple of chapters very informative as I have a daughter who is 14 now and I am very much aware of the worries of a parent at this time of life.

I found the reader very good although I did find it hard to hear her sometimes when she would lower her voice in a whisper for dramatic reasons. At these times I found myself straining to hear her but this was only when I was listening in my car.