Enslaved

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Thomas ( Enola Gay ) promises more here than he delivers. Opening with the shocking disclosure that worldwide there are probably more than 200 million men, women and children living in some sort of slavery, peonage or other economic bondage, he concentrates on the U.S. and especially on kiddie porn. He looks at several cases, one involving the arrest of a major German porn producer in this country, another the satanic ritual murder of an adult and a third the ordeal of a child who witnessed a cult murder and was ``cured'' by exorcism. Thomas suggests that certain children are reared to supply body parts for the well-to-do in need of transplants, although this is hardly a news breakthrough. He mentions an area in the California desert, allegedly a center for gathering and holding child slaves, but only touches on it. (Oct.)

Library Journal

Reportedly about ``abduction and abuse in the global trafficking of men, women, and children,'' this book falls far short of the mark. After a promising start, prolific British author Thomas ( Ruin from the Air , LJ 8/90) switches focus to uninspired recountings of the satanic murder of a drifter in San Francisco, the pursuit of a German pornographer, and some experiences of a California child abuse organization. These cases are, at best, only tangentially related to modern-day enslavement which involves, by one estimate, 220 million people. Despite some apparent research and a brief bibliography, Thomas overwhelms the reader with irrelevancies and cliches. Disappointing.-- Gregor A. Preston, Univ. of California Lib., Davis