cover image Dirty Work

Dirty Work

Julia Bell, . . Bloomsbury, $16.95 (192pp) ISBN 978-0-8027-9741-4

Two teenage girls from vastly different backgrounds alternately narrate this complex, gritty story about an international kidnapping and prostitution ring. Oksana, poor, cold and hungry, is easy prey at 13 when a man comes to her Russian village, promising a good job in London; raped and shamed, she tells her story from a vantage point of two years, in pained flashbacks. A chance meeting on the ferry from France to England acquaints her with Hope, a wealthy 15-year-old, who is returning from a vacation. As Hope and her dad disembark, she discovers Oksana hiding in their van, pleading for help; Hope knows her materialistic parents well enough not to alert them to Oksana's presence. But Hope will soon regret her decision: Natasha's pimp captures both girls, and Hope's nightmare begins. Suggestive rather than graphic, this story is heavy with grim details. The satisfying conclusion, with the protagonists reaching safety, doesn't dispel the realistically depressing atmosphere the British author has labored to build. Ages 12-up. (Jan.)