Beyond the glitzy theme parks of Florida’s other Magic City are “working” women along the seedy section of Orange Blossom Trail. What you won’t see there are pricey call girls. This is the tale of one who escaped the downward spiral of “the life,” as sex-trade workers call it.

Sandy Corrigan works at her brother’s private investigation agency in Orlando, mostly as a process server but occasionally as a setup to film cheating spouses. She’s a natural for the latter. Six years ago, she was known as Diamond, living in an apartment with other gals. Their pimp was domineering Omar. A “trick” turned bad caused Sandy to turn her life around several months before her son, Tyler, was born, the only “good thing to have come from a very bad life.”

"Although DIAMOND CUT is a work of fiction, Thomas B. Cavanagh’s brilliant prose focuses on real-life tragedies: human trafficking and contemporary slavery."

Someone from the past calls Sandy wanting to hire her to locate Naomi, a missing person trafficked from Vietnam. Sandy’s determination to locate her leads to a horrid metaphoric theme-park ride. The pre-novice investigator learns at which hotel Naomi last stayed. Unable to get information she needs from the night manager, she drops a name she had heard at the apartment: Yvonne. Gates open, and she finds out who the probable john was from the night Naomi disappeared.

That john has a name, but it’s not John, and he lives in suburban Chicago. Sandy takes her first flight, ruing that she’ll be away from her son for the night. The next morning, she visits her target’s workplace --- a cubicle with no occupant --- and sits at the desk. Sandy wings it when he enters the space scarcely large enough for two and gives the impression that she knows everything. Flabbergasted, he fills in Grand Canyon-sized gaps.

Back in Orlando, that metaphoric theme park takes Sandy on a wild ride: “international human trafficking, prostitution, racketeering, assault, police corruption.” The ride ends at a house occupied by the masterminds behind a nefarious organization. Escape seems impossible, but Sandy relies on cunning and forethought. “You, young lady, are a certified badass.”

Although DIAMOND CUT is a work of fiction, Thomas B. Cavanagh’s brilliant prose focuses on real-life tragedies: human trafficking and contemporary slavery.

Author’s note: The scourge of human trafficking infects all corners of the globe and every state in the U.S. According to the International Labour Organization, as of 2016, an estimated 40.3 million people were in modern slavery worldwide, including 4.8 million who were being sexually exploited. Women and girls represent 99 percent of victims in the commercial sex industry.