Petrocelli - Softcover

A "riveting" crime thriller about human trafficking and sex slavery set in America and southeast Asia, Petrocelli is not for the timid or faint-hearted. Lenny Petrocelli had always been a slacker, a mediocre low-life, getting by on his good looks and street smarts. One day he woke up. Entangled by his gangland bosses in the web of child prostitution and human trafficking, he was being set up as the fall guy to take the rap, if the horrifying but lucrative enterprise went down. Seeing the violence and abuse young girls from Asia were subjected to in the gruesome world of sex slavery, Lenny did the most difficult but the most important thing in his entire life: He became a better person. Now he would risk everything, even his life, to put an end to this savage exploitation. Peer into this awful world. See it through Lenny’s eyes. Discover what’s possible even in the face of the worst, most pernicious evil and cruelty. Embrace the promise of redemption and the power of love. If this gritty novel rings true, it’s for good reason. “Petrocelli” is based on actual stories from a violent and gruesome under-world, where millions of children and adolescents across the globe are held in bondage as slaves.

John Rachel has a B.A. in Philosophy, has traveled extensively, been a songwriter and music producer, and is an evolutionary humanist. In the past ten years, he has lived in or visited over thirty five countries, which profoundly informs and inspires his writing. Since 2008, he has had eight fiction and three non-fiction books published. These range from three satires and a coming-of-age trilogy, to a political drama and now a crime thriller. The three non-fiction books were political works, promoting representative democracy and peace. He has also completed a fantasy/travel/cookbook called "What Do Mermaids Eat?", which is now being reviewed by publishers in the U.S. and England. Never knowing when enough is enough, the hyperthyroid Rachel continues to be very busy. He has three more novels in the pipeline for publication 2018 through 2019: Sex, Lies and Coffee Beans, a spoof on the self-help crazes of the 80s and 90s; Love Connection, a drug-trafficking thriller set in Japan; and finally The Last Giraffe, an anthropological drama involving both the worship and devouring of giraffes, which unfolds in 19th Century sub-Saharan Africa. John Rachel’s last permanent residence in America was Portland, Oregon where he had a state-of-the-art ProTools recording studio, music production house, a radio promotion and music publishing company. He still writes music and, much to the annoyance of his neighbors in the traditional rural Japanese town where he now lives, attempts to sing his original songs.