Susie Finkbeiner

Dear Readers,

Paint Chips by Susie Finkbeiner was written for those that say “that doesn’t happen in my home town.”  Susie takes on the issue of human sex trafficking.   She sets it in the town I work in and I have heard more than one person say they are glad that doesn’t happen here.   On a side note, the week after I read this book a local newspaper ran a series of articles on prostitution that is still going on in the area despite comments and thoughts that it had gone away.

This is a story of a mother and a daughter caught in very different (yet the same) ways in the sex trafficking world.  Cora is brought into the cycle by her own father and Dot is brought in by choices made by herself and circumstances in her life. 

Cora came from an abusive home.  Her father gets a job helping the local ‘godfather’ and he gets involved with the strip club/bar/casino that the man runs.  He sells one of his daughters to the owner of the strip club to pay off his debt and then continues working for the man.  In the meantime Cora dreams of the day she will be able to leave. 

Dot was born into a loving family.  Both her parents loved her and wanted the best for her.  Her mother hid a horrible secret from everyone, but it really didn’t seem to affect the family much.  Her mother loved to bake and take care of Dot and her brother, that is until something awful happened and destroyed their family for good. 

What follows is the story of why most of the girls and women get into that lifestyle.  It is also a story of a woman called Lola who is working hard to share God’s love with these women and to get them out of the vicious cycle that is their life.  Some she can help and some she can’t. 

This is not an easy topic, but Susie handles it well.  I think one of the things that struck me the most was the way the men in charge or pimping these woman out do not think of them as human.  They are just objects to be used and then when they are done with them the women are throwaways.   Susie makes sure we know these girls and women are not throwaways, but hurt people that need our help, prayers and protection.  This is a serious problem worldwide, one that does not have an easy answer, but one that we are all called to fight against.  Whether it is the trafficking of women from other counties lured here with the promise of a better life or a teenage runaway that does whatever she can to survive. 

Happy Reading

P.S  We are hosting a release party here at the store on April 22 at 7:00 p.m. Please come join us in celebrating with Susie with the launch of her book.