Twisted Traffick

by Geza Tatrallyay

TWISTED TRAFFICK, the second book in the 'Twisted' trilogy of international crime thrillers, examines the difficult topic of human trafficking from a rogue Russian state. Greg Martens and his wife, former Interpol agent Anne Rossiter, are called back to Vienna by Anne's former boss at Interpol, since their beautiful Russian friend, Julia Saparova, who is now responsible for monitoring nuclear material at various sites in Russia, has disappeared. Afraid that the "merchants of evil" from the former Soviet Union, who are deeply involved in human trafficking, are behind her disappearance, Greg and Anne embark on an international search for Julia, getting drawn into a messy and disturbing web of human and arms trafficking that takes them first to Hungary and then to Montenegro in a desperate bid to rescue, not only Julia, but a group of girls trafficked from Chelyabinsk oblast as well--girls held hostage to facilitate a nuclear heist...

Genres: Thriller

322 pages, Paperback

Published October 7, 2017

About the author

Born in Budapest, Hungary, Geza escaped with his family in 1956 during the Hungarian Revolution, emigrating to Canada the same year. He grew up in Toronto, attending the University of Toronto Schools, where he was School Captain. He graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Human Ecology in 1972 (after taking a break in his studies to work as a host in the Ontario Pavilion at Expo’70 in Osaka, Japan). Geza was selected as a Rhodes Scholar from Ontario, attending Oxford University and graduating with a BA/MA in Human Sciences in 1974; he completed his studies with a MSc in Economics from London School of Economics and Politics in 1975. Geza represented Canada as an epée fencer in the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Geza’s professional experience has included stints in government (Department of Finance, Canada), international organizations (Inter-American Development Bank), commercial / investment banking (Royal Bank of Canada), private equity (MAVA Capital in Hungary) and environmental entrepreneurship (Vertis Environmental Finance). Since 2004, he has been semi-retired, advising a few firms mainly in the clean energy sector and devoting himself to his family, travel and writing. Geza is a citizen of Canada and Hungary, with an American wife, a daughter living in San Francisco and a son in Nairobi, and currently divides his time between San Francisco and Barnard, Vermont, with frequent visits to Montreal, Toronto, New York, Vienna and London.

Reviews

[Geza Tatrallyay · Rating 5 out of 5]

TWISTED TRAFFICK is the exciting second book in the 'TWISTED' trilogy that takes Greg Martens, an American author, and his former Interpol agent wife, Anne Rossiter, in search of their disappeared Russian nuclear physicist friend, Julia Saparova from Vienna to Hungary and Montenegro. Along the way, they discover that she has been kidnapped by the same 'merchants of evil' who had been responsible for the heist of nuclear material from Mayak in Siberia in the first book in the series, TWISTED REASONS. They rescue Julia as well as other girls these human traffickers had brought from Russia to the west to sell to perverse oligarchs or turn into prostitutes.

I wrote the book partly because in my research for the first thriller in the trilogy, I found that often the same entities that were involved in arms trading also trafficked humans and drugs etc., often with the tacit, "look the other way" support of the 'rogue' Russian state. I wanted to publicize these nefarious activities and thought that one could create a good story for a thriller at the same time.

Hope you enjoy the book, and will go on to read TWISTED FATES which will be released by Black Opal Books in 2018.

[Briar's Reviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisted Traffick is an incredible sequel in the Twisted Trilogy, and oh my gosh does Geza step it up!

Most of the time, the second book in a series is quite dull - it's prepping the reader for the third, exciting, final act. Yet, Geza makes the second book top the first one and ups the antics!

I honestly liked this book WAY more than the first novel (and the first book was phenomenal). It delves further into Greg, Anne and Julia's story and gets them heavily into the action.

This story is not for the light-hearted - it's about the sex trade and human trafficking side of our dark world. There's some really brutal sex scenes in this book, so I wouldn't recommend it for readers who like the lighter side of thriller novels. But, if you're okay with a little brutality in your story, this book is perfect! It's thrilling, it's fast paced and it delves into serious issues. And, oh boy, it's descriptive. You feel like you're there (which at some points, I don't think the reader really wanted too)!

I liked how the story progressed overall. It starts out how you'd expect, with Anne and Greg enjoying their lives, and suddenly they are thrust back into the action. The plot seems realistic within the story it's set, and it even goes back into the past to give us insight into the drama. The book also ends in a way that can make the book stand on it's own, which is a big plus for me as a reviewer. I believe that most readers would be able to jump into this book and not be totally confused, but I would recommend reading the first one.

My main con was that Julia definitely gets the short end of the stick again, so I hope in the next book she isn't needing a knight in shining armor. Other than that, the book is a real hit!

Five out of five stars!

I received a free copy of this book from the author Geza Tatrallyay in exchange for an honest review.

[Darryl Greer · Rating 5 out of 5]

According to the website, "Equality Now", trafficking women and children for sexual exploitation is a lucrative industry making an estimated $99 billion a year. It is the fastest growing criminal enterprise in the world today. Of the millions of women and girls exploited every year in the global commercial sex trade, some two million of them are children. These facts ought to disgust every right thinking person on the planet, more so when you consider the kind of life that a child sold into sex slavery must endure. In the second of his “Twisted” trilogy, "Twisted Traffick", Geza Tatrallyay takes this background and focuses on the plight of one particular child, Nadia, a fourteen-year-old Russian schoolgirl whose father is tricked into believing she is being accepted by a European placement agency for a better life in the West. Apart from defrauding her father into paying much of his life savings for the privilege of including Nadia in the current intake, a gang of thugs whisks Nadia and others like her to a life that would normally only feature in their worst nightmares. And not all of the bad guys in this novel are common thugs or gangsters — the group’s tentacles reach to the upper echelons of society, politics, the military and the police. In this novel we find many of the characters who featured in Tatrallyay’s first book in the series, "Twisted Reasons" including Greg Martens and Anne Rossiter who, along with a few others are hell bent on destroying the gang and rescuing Nadia and the others. Will they succeed? And if they do, will any of the gang members get away? The answers may surprise you.

A facet of Geza Tatrallyay’s writing is how well he researches his subject. That was evident from the first few pages in the first book in this series and remains so throughout "Twisted Traffick". Intelligent writing takes the reader, not only to the unusual geographical areas where the action takes place but also into the minds of the victims, innocent schoolgirls and the horrors that they must endure as well as into the warped minds of their captors. Superb characterisation ensures that each persona comes to life — there are individuals to love and those to hate. As difficult as the subject matter is, "Twisted Traffick" is a well crafted feast of a novel, a must for those looking for a gripping crime thriller that doesn’t fit the usual mould.

[Norman Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the second volume of the "Twisted" trilogy Geza Tatrallyay takes us deep into the world of Russian human trafficking. Focusing on the sex trade in teenage girls "Twisted Traffick" is a no-holds-barred depiction of the horrors incumbent in that world. However, there is a deeper twist embedded in the story. Sixteen-year-old Nadia was chosen because her father is a guard at a Russian nuclear plant and in a position to allow a supply of weapons-grade uranium through his guard post. After all, what father wouldn't do anything to save his daughter from becoming a sex slave.
Journalist and professor Greg Martens and former Interpol agent Anne Rossiter, who met and married in book one and now live in Vermont, are called upon by Interpol to travel to Vienna. A close friend of the Martens, Julia Saparova, who works for the International Atomic Energy Agency has disappeared raising fears of a possible smuggling operation of weapons-grade uranium out of Russia to be sold to the highest bidder. Or possibly the completion of the order thwarted in book one. In which case, it's final destination is a fanatical right-wing group in the United States.
In Vienna, Budapest and Montenegro, Greg, Anne and an Interpol agent become enmeshed in the human trafficking world as they search for Julia. They also learn that their former nemesis, Sergei Polyakov, is a ringlearder. Polyakov has suborned powerful police officials and politicians to protect himself and his gang of thugs. As Greg and Anne try to track the girls and stop the uranium smuggling the uranium's destination becomes obvious when they see Brother Peter, the leader of the American terrorist group the Sons of Jesus. "Twisted Traffick", just like its predeceser, "Twisted Reasons" is a can't put it down read, keeping the reader on the edge of their seat.

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this, the second volume of the Twisted trilogy, author Tatrallyay immerses us again into the murky criminal underworld of post-Soviet Russia, this time the business of sex trafficking. . . . Without being gratuitously graphic, Tatrallyay does not hold back in his descriptions of the depravity of the men who enslave these young women for sale to the highest bidder.
. . .
Tatrallyay was born in Hungary and knows this part of the world well. He creates a vivid atmosphere through which he propels his characters at top speed, never letting the pace slacken or the suspense wane. Though there is less of a history lesson in this book than in the first, Tatrallyay does dip into the real past to give his plot depth. This is welcome and reflects the sensation one often feels in Europe, that the past still has its hand, whether nurturing or threatening, on the shoulder of the present.

See my full review in the November 2017 issue of the Ottawa Review of Books

[Mark Reutlinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisted Traffick is the second installment of Geza Tatrallyay’s Twisted trilogy. The first book, Twisted Reasons, concerns the attempt by international terrorists, led by corrupt officials of the Russian government, to steal weapons-grade uranium. Twisted Traffick continues that story line, while adding the chilling dimension of human trafficking—young women kidnapped and forced into sex slavery. Tatrallyay manages to tie these horrific international crimes neatly together, one crime being committed in aid of the other. And as with the first book, it is obvious he has done his homework and painted a believable picture of the underbelly of life in the countries of the former Soviet Union. Twisted Traffick also continues the love story begun in the first book, which plays an important role in the overall story line. Although both books are sufficiently self-contained to allow for reading them independently, it might be best to read them in order, as there are many references in the second book to the story line in the first.

Twisted Traffick is an exciting thriller that will be appeal especially to readers who enjoy fast-paced international intrigue in authentic settings, and who are not squeamish about being exposed to some of the most unspeakable crimes against humanity that twisted minds have perpetrated.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Twisted Traffick by Geza Tatrallyay is a must read book for all. Although it is fiction, it tells about human trafficking that is going on in the world. In this book, it mainly takes place is Russia, Hungary and Montenegro. It also involves nuclear arms smuggling. This story will take you behind the scenes of the human trafficking and the agents who are trying to stop these crimes.

The book will keep you turning pages and hoping that the young Russian girls are saved from a fate worse than death.

I highly recommend this book. I won this in a Goodreads Giveaway, and I always review every book that I read.

[Lynn B · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would first like to thank, the author, Geza for sending me a copy to read .
For this I am providing an honest review.

Like book #1 of the trilogy "Twisted Fates" this was a page turner.

This is not my usual type of book, but having read the first one, and having enjoyed it so much, I knew I had to get book #2 in order to see what happened to the two main characters, Greg and Anne.

The cover . I would give it a 4.
Why: Nice cover, good colour and contrast. I particularly liked the shady character on bottom left hand side of the page. He was also on book one, so I love that he continued ton be part of the covers of the trilogy.

The format , type set, amount of chapters and breaking points in the book were great. All helped to keep me reading.

The characters are well described and introduced at a good pace.

I was worried when I started reading book #2 "Twisted Traffic" that I would have problems following as I had read the first book well over a year ago. I need not have been concerned at all as the author, Geza, obviously thought about his readers in this respect and ensured that all important details were included. What I particularly liked was that these details were not only put in the story as text but also incorporated into the dialect of the characters as well.

This is a dark story but a good one. It takes you into the world of human and arms trafficking. Geza does describe something disturbing incidences. But this gives you an idea of the ordeal that young victims of this ugly world must endure as well as their fear, pain and shame.

As you can tell, I am not a writer, so I hope this brief review helps you in some small way.

Would I recommend this book. Yes
For who: for adults how like to read thrillers.
Why: It is a page turner, it is well put together and it is a fast read.

I give it a 4 star rating.

A good read.

[Bobbie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is the second one in this series. I did enjoy it, but it was rather difficult to read because of Geza's vividly graphic description of these horrible men and the things that they do. Still, it's an exciting book with lots of action and intrigue about an important topic. I look forward to reading more books from this author Geza Tatrallyay. Greg Martens and his wife a former Interpol agent are summoned back to Vienna to investigate this Russian crime issue. to Check it out for a good read.

[Jo Osborne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book and although it is a second in the trilogy you can read it as a stand alone but obviously I think you should read the first Twisted book because that is also very good.

The characters are very well written and engaging and the story is excellent and believable as unfortunately this kind of trafficking does happen in real life.

There is enough detail describing the acts but not so explicit that it is disturbing for people who don’t like to read those kind of details especially where teenagers are concerned.

I thoroughly recommend Geza’s books he is a great writer and I’m looking forward to reading the next in the trilogy and others that he has written.