Peck Finch and the HANGED MAN (eBook)

A young man stumbles upon a sex-trafficking ring in New Orleans and attempts to save one of its victims.Boudreaux Clemont Finch-everyone calls him Peck- is a man of beguiling contradictions: Once "e;an illiterate Cajun French lawn-mowing hunk,"e; he is now in night school in Tulane, while he works at a law office run by his boss and sometime lover, Lily Cup. Despite his unprepossessing manner, he has a remarkably lively, observant mind. One night, he witnesses a young girl-he estimates she's 13-abducted at gunpoint, pulled into a black Mercedes, and beaten. He suspects and later confirms with his own investigation that the girl has been forced into sex slavery. He learns her name-at least the one she is forced to adopt-is Tiffany. With the help of his friends, including Lily Cup, he decides to liberate Tiffany and "e;bust up"e; the trafficking ring, a terrifyingly dangerous mission. Meanwhile, Peck wrestles with his own traumatic childhood, one marked by unspeakable abuse at the hands of a man, Guillaume Devine, who raped his mother. Antil paints a sparkling tableau of life in New Orleans, one also sullied by a nefarious underbelly. He movingly creates a melancholic atmosphere where he can explore the "e;sadness in the world,"e; as Peck's friend Gabe puts it. Better than most, Peck comprehends the way evil wreaks havoc in New Orleans, and he succinctly summarizes it to Lily Cup: "e;Bein' rich ain't a bad thing cher, but it's the bad rich people looking for poor people that's bad. It's street-smart people looking for street stupid people."e; A darkly thrilling literary exploration of the scourge of sex trafficking.