Fragments of Humanity — Scott Reed

Gail was a restless young woman looking to make her childhood dream of modeling a reality. Unsupported by her father, she begins her adventure with plans for a trip to Las Vegas with a close friend. Jesse had been her confidante and personal body guard. As they head out, Gail begins to accumulate more friends to join her on this voyage into adulthood. Shortly after arriving, however, everything goes sideways for the group. Almost immediately Gail ditches everyone in favor of a new love interest. As her love grows, the separation of all their lives continues to grow. When Gail gets the message that her adventure and career are about to take off, she beams with excitement. The happiness soon becomes terror as she finds herself kidnapped and sold into an international sex trafficking ring. “Seeking no one and finding nothing, I bumped into myself, absent of all recognition. A figment of my own imagination I wasn't so much wandering through space and time as I was floating.” Fragments of Humanity follows the plight of all four teens as they wade through the morass and pitfalls of exchanging one hell for another. Filled with Gail's disappearance, lust, greed, anger, revenge and the painful realizations of what led them all to the brink of disaster, Fragments of Humanity is ultimately a story about betrayal and survival. Heroes evolve and enemies are revealed. Through an act of courage and perseverance, the truth is revealed to the surprise of everyone. The second novel by Scott Reed carries a consistent theme of the struggles of the modern American obsessed with those things believed normal -- money, power and sex �" along the path learning more about survival and power than they ever could have imagined. Multiple lives are destroyed amid the angst and turmoil. Gail, the catalyst for everyone else's actions leaves a comfortable life in Laguna Niguel to chase down a modeling job she saw as an ad in a magazine. Jesse, her protector is the son of a crack whore. He devolves into madness and commits some heinous acts for which there will be costs. But he is also smarter than anyone gives him credit for. Aaron has his own problems, abusive father, alcoholic mother, depression and self-loathing. Darrell is running away from the Marine Corps and settles into a non-existent life. Each of the characters represents a unique level of hell on earth and a cardinal vice in their own unique way. The story once again is told in a unique style combining sweeping time frames with heavy and intense moments of dialogue interspersed with a unique narrative voice. This book is separated into four separate parts, told in first person from each of the four main characters as well as a final epilogue that brings everything together and a surprising, but fitting conclusion. A powerful, gritty and raw portrayal of four young lives destroyed. A story that grabs you by the throat and won't let go until the very end. Like a horror movie, you want to turn away, but you unable. The characters are compelling and nuanced.