Bad Boys in Boston by Del Chatterson
It’s no irony that the user of a pornographic website — the exact type of person whose habits fuel the multimillion-dollar sex trade around the world — is the one who discovers a girl he knows on the site and has to deal with the ugly matter of informing his friend, the father.
That gets the ball rolling in Delvin Chatterson’s Bad Boys in Boston, not just an exciting novel in which two veteran crime fighters are lured out of retirement to solve a case — but also a cry for help on a disturbing topic not for the weak of heart.
“Human trafficking,” says Chatterson, “is a horrifying global tragedy. It is driven by consumer demand without concern for the abuse of human rights and without consideration of the profits being made by criminal organizations.”
That, no doubt, was the case of the man in Denver who sneaked down to a room in his basement, locked the door, and prepared to view pornography on his computer.
A Daring Rescue In Cities’ Seedy Underbellies
The father of the girl, Carmela, is related to one of our protagonists, Frank the Fixer, a former PI with connections to the mob, who is called in with his partner Dale Hunter to rescue the girl. Their search takes them through Montreal, Boston and other gritty venues to meet with police officials, gangsters, street bikers, past relationships, friends of Carmela, and family members to crack the case.
Ultimately, Frank and Dale will need to make deals directly with organized crime for any chance of saving the girl. “Like all good entrepreneurs, they never miss an opportunity,” says Hunter. “Too bad the rest of us can’t rely on violence and murder to expand our family businesses.”
Chatterson’s tagline for the book is ”It’s just business, never personal.”
In a daring move, Frank, through his connections, offers a deal between different mob factions — all interested and invested in grabbing their piece of this lucrative and exploitive business — in exchange for locating and returning Carmela safely to her family. But can these unsavory characters be trusted?
An Engaging Thriller That Raises Awareness
It’s fascinating how the author can take readers to some of the seedier venues and write so fluidly about the activity of those running the show and the emotions of those victimized by it. He is able to keep readers engaged with a swift-paced narrative, capturing the heartbreak of a family faced with their child being exploited, and all the while calling attention to this horrific practice in the hope of combating it.
In 2022, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children received more than 19,000 reports of child sex trafficking from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico which included every type of community: cities, small towns and tribal land. If Chatterson’s work in some small way can make a dent in those numbers, so much the better.
So is Chatterson a mystery writer, a crusader, or a little bit of both? Perhaps best to characterize the author as a storyteller first, committed to engaging readers hungry for a good yarn but also raising awareness when his storylines merit it. Just business? Never personal? Sometimes getting personal comes with the territory.
Del Chatterson is an experienced writer, entrepreneur, business advisor and cheerleader for entrepreneurs. He has over 30 years of successful business and consulting experience. He is now focused on his writing projects, including the Dale Hunter Series and other works of fiction, while continuing his regular business articles and blog posts for entrepreneurs.
Del has also written four editions of two business books and is currently working on his collections of short stories. His first novel in the Dale Hunter Series, No Easy Money, was published in August 2018 and the next two novels, Simply the Best and Merger Maniac, were released in the spring and fall of 2019. Crash Landing is to be released before the end of this year, and Whatever It Takes is planned for early 2025.
