Jana Bommersbach's Timely, Riveting Fictional Story Based on the Reality of Sex Trafficking

PHOENIX, AZ - 05/16/2018 (PRESS RELEASE JET)

Available on Amazon,

Re:Jana Bommersbach’s new sex trafficking

Novel:thedeadgirlinavacantlot

Release Date: May 16, 2018

Available on Amazon and in bookstores

Like most Americans, Phoenix investigative reporter Joya Bonner knows nothing about the world of sex trafficking; thinks it's a problem reserved for somewhere far off. Thailand. Russia.

To find it's alive and thriving in her own backyard of Phoenix, Arizona—a city that holds a special place in this world, and not in a good way—slaps Joya in the face: her 15-year-old honorary niece disappears in Phoenix; a 13-year-old from her hometown in North Dakota goes missing, and there's that pitiful dead girl in the vacant lot.Have they all been sucked into the sex-slave underworld? And can Joya save them?

This is the foundation of Jana Bommersbach's explosive new novel, thedeadgirlinthevacantlot.

This book combines a riveting fictional story with the reality that is ripped from today's headlines. The story revolves around the real-life world of Backpage.com, the internet website that Congress calls an “online brothel”--a website created in 2004 by Phoenix NewTimes and its founders, Mike Lacey and Jim Larkin.The men are currently awaiting trial after an Arizona federal grand jury this April issued a 93-count indictment against them.

This book includes an extensive “endnotes” section that details the facts and personalities of this world—both from those exploiting youngsters for prostitution and those who have long fought to stop it. We learn of efforts by Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Cindy McCain, wife of Arizona Senator John McCain. We hear from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the attorneys general from nearly all 50 states, as well as victims who have fought back against Backpage.

Jana Bommersbach is one of Arizona's most acclaimed journalists and authors.She has already been honored with two-lifetime achievement awards as “an inspiration to the state's media community.” Her six previous books have all been acclaimed—her debut, The Trunk Murderess: Winnie Ruth Judd, published by Simon & Schuster in 1992, was an Edgar Allan Poe finalist. Her first historical novel, Cattle Kate, was named one of the best books of 2014 by Publisher's Weekly. She won a regional Emmy for her television work, been named the nation's best city magazine columnist for her work at Phoenix magazine, won two national broadcast awards for her commentaries on KAET-TV, and won a Silver Gavel Award from the American Bar Association for “Outstanding Public Service.” Jana is included in the Arizona Statehood Centennial book, “Skirting Traditions,” that profiles 28 female journalists from the state's territorial days to present, and has been inducted into the Arizona Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame.

A dozen years before Backpage was created, Jana was Editor of Phoenix New Times and a business partner with Lacey and Larkin, but left to pursue other journalistic interests. As she says in the Epilogue: “I write this book with a broken heart.”