Dark Before Dawn

by Monica McGurk

  Q: The device of the trial was very surprising. Just why did you have Hope pursue this route in dealing with the angels?

  A: I wanted to position Hope as the leader of this expedition— less reliant on Michael or the other angels than she was in Dark Rising. This was one way to accomplish it. It also was a throwback to the character of Henri—readers might remember how litigious he was, threatening to bring Michael to angelic court for violating his rights as a Guardian Angel—and some of the references Enoch made as far back as in Dark Hope.

  Q: Lucas seems to be dismayed when he learns of Mona’s death, just as he seemed to have mixed feelings about Triad’s murder of Don. Why is that?

  A: Even Lucas has his good points. Remember, he is an angel, with a complex character! In reality, he respects Mona and Don—two of the only humans whom he does respect—and treats them as fallen adversaries, worthy of honor. And at various other points in the story, readers can catch glimpses into his feelings and motivations—his underlying sympathy for animals, for example, when he challenges the gamblers who are abusing the dogs at the dog fights, and his pangs of sympathy when he realizes that Macey is still holding out hope that Luke will come to her. It is God’s punishing pain that has twisted his psyche to be so hateful—something Hope realizes and uses to her advantage at the book’s climax.

  Q: Beyond Aurora, whose birth is previewed at the back of Dark Rising, you introduce us to two new significant characters in this novel—Macey and Wanda. Tell us a little bit about them.

  A: Well, Macey is clearly here to illuminate the risks of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) and to portray how easy it is for a young girl to fall prey to the “recruitment” tactics typically used by traffickers and pimps. Her psychological fragility, her possible history of being abused (shown when she flinches at Mona’s dinner table, thinking she is going to be hit for spilling her milk), her history of being food insecure and hungry, her low self-esteem—all of these are common risk factors for being lured into DMST. So, too, is her status as a foster child—there is a very high coincidence of foster care with DMST victimization. Importantly, this is not causal—it simply reflects the fact that many children winding up in foster care have already experienced great instability and vulnerability in their lives. The tactics Luke/Lucas uses to trick her—using food to manipulate her, promising her stardom, drugging her into dependence, and telling her that if “she really loves him, she will do it for him”—all of these are very common tactics used by traffickers and pimps. The situations she finds herself in—particularly the scene set at the truck stop—are also very common for victims of DMST. (There is a wonderful organization, Truckers Against Trafficking, which has done much to tackle this problem and play a proactive role fighting DMST at truck stops—interested readers should check them out on social media to learn more.)

  Wanda plays a similar but complementary role. She is a little wiser as to what is going on, but still falls prey to trafficking when she chooses to run away and finds herself stranded and hungry at a bus stop. I wanted to include Wanda’s character, in particular, due to the vulnerability of the Native American community to sex trafficking, especially around the fracking centers. I first became aware of the particular problem DMST poses to Native American populations when meeting with activists and social service groups in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

  Q: Some of the scenes depicting what happen to Rorie and Macey are very difficult to read. Why did you include them, and how did you approach writing them?

  A: They were tough, weren’t they? As I drafted the storyline for this novel, I went back and forth on just how much to share and from what point of view to write those scenes. Ultimately, for the story to be real and for it to be of use in raising awareness, I felt I needed to share what I had learned from listening to survivors’ stories and include the pieces that ultimately made it into the book. The fact that some readers of Dark Hope and Dark Rising had actually questioned me as to why I glossed over some of it gave me the confidence to put a little bit more out there. Sadly, everything that happens to Macey and Rorie in this book has been documented in real instances of DMST—even the entrapment of girls in dog cages. Importantly, there are a few scenes referring to or interacting with “johns”—the men who abuse the young girls featured in this book. As a culture, we so often blame the victims, or focus on the pimps, and overlook the fact that there would be no DMST if there were not customers for it. We write it off as a rite of passage or boys being boys. I thought it was important to point out some of these cultural conflicts in portraying the issue.

  All in all, I tried to portray DMST realistically without overwhelming the reader. The device of differing points of view gave me a way to deal with it that felt a little more comfortable and non-salacious.

  That said, I would strongly encourage parents to read this with their teen children, and discuss it with them, so that it can be a useful teaching tool and conversation prompt.

  Q: If readers are motivated to take action against human trafficking or DMST after reading this book, what can they do?

  A: I would be thrilled if any reader decided to get involved after reading Dark Hope, Dark Rising, or Dark Before Dawn. For ideas on how to get involved, or to link up with my charitable partners at Street Grace and ECPAT-USA, readers can check out my website, monicamcgurk.com.

  Q: Can you tell us about the key themes in this novel? Or throughout The Archangel Prophecies in total?

  A: Readers will see that the entire story arc draws together the themes that have been threaded throughout the trilogy—hope and forgiveness, of course, being at the forefront, but also the question of identity. Hope’s struggle to make her choice—to join Michael in Heaven, or to have him join her on Earth—is just as much about her understanding of her own identity as it is her concern for her family’s safety. The idea that you are not what happens to you— best expressed by Rorie as she defies Luke—the idea of resilience, was very important to me. From the very beginning of the series, I wanted to visit and revisit this theme, especially for adolescent readers who are figuring out their own identities, testing them and trying them on for “fit,” as they grow and mature.

  Q: You killed off a lot of great characters throughout this series— why is that?

  A: I wanted the characters of my story to experience realistic consequences for their actions, and for Hope, in particular, to experience real loss. Sometimes that is missing from YA. The greatest YA books, in my opinion, deliver on that.

  Q: Your last novel, Dark Rising, took readers to some very far-flung locations: Turkey, Ireland, and France. This time you stayed closer to home—why?

  A: I considered going to more remote locations for this final installment of The Archangel Prophecies. I even give those alternative locations a shout out in the form of Chen’s dialogue—Brazil, China, and India. But I wanted the story to highlight the problem of domestic minor sex trafficking in the United States, and having Rorie and Macey trafficked out of the country was not as realistic as moving them around inside the United States. It was just what the story and the characters called for.

  Q: Can you tell readers a little more about those rejected locations?

  A: Sure! India is reported to have the greatest number of people living in servitude in the entire world—not surprising, given its total population. Kolkata, specifically, has a long history of selling its children. There is a whole city of brothels, a vast industry if you will, which women typically escape only through death, leaving their children, who are born into slavery, to repeat the cycle. It is ironic, I have always found, that in August in Kolkata you can find whole families in the streets, celebrating the festival of Raksha Bandhan—brothers and sisters tying Rakhi red threads onto the wrists of their siblings, symbolizing the ties that bind, the women implicitly asking their brothers’ protection. Brazil’s entire northeast coastal area is notorious for child sex tourism. There is a trabalho escravo, a blacklist, if you will, of traffickers and pimps, but th
e police frequently turn a blind eye to the problem, which becomes particularly acute around periods of great tourism such as carnival or sporting events. China has a large problem, as well, perhaps best exemplified by the city of Dongguan—a “sin city” of nearly 300,000 sex workers that draws tourists from all over Asia. Under pressure, the government conducted raids a few years ago, but many observers report the traffic just temporarily shifted.

  Q: What about the locations you do highlight in Dark Before Dawn—are they real?

  A: Yes. Williston, North Dakota, is a real place, with a real problem that has been very well documented. It is starting to improve with the growth in available housing, but the social services and policing infrastructure has not yet caught up with the problem of sex trafficking. The Bluff, in Atlanta, Georgia, is also real. Its huge drug problem, and the remarkable efforts of local residents, social service groups, and churches to combat it, turning it into a livable neighborhood, have also been well covered in news coverage and documentaries. And the ADX in Florence really does function as a repository for some of the most dangerous criminals convicted in the United States. Interested readers can learn more about these locations by checking out my Pinterest boards on each.

  Q: You typically do extensive research for each of your books. For Dark Rising, for example, you actually traveled to two of the settings featured in the story. What kind of research did you perform for Dark Before Dawn?

  A: I researched each of the settings featured in Dark Before Dawn quite extensively, but one of the more interesting—and disturbing—pieces of research I conducted was my participation in a call center-based effort intercepting “johns” that were attempting to buy young girls advertised on backpage.com. I have to say, it was a real eye-opener, and I found myself very shaken by what I observed. The details surrounding the selling of Rorie and Macey, including the use of ads on backpage.com, emerged directly from that experience.

  Q: Will there be more books in The Archangel Prophecies series?

  A: No. For now, anyway, Hope and Michael’s story is done. I prefer to let readers imagine their own “happily ever after”! But readers may be excited to know I am working on my next book—something a little more lighthearted but just as action packed, with the same promise of strong female characters.

  Q: Does the end of The Archangel Prophecies mean the end of your involvement in anti-DMST efforts?

  A: No. I don’t think I will ever end my involvement in the fight to end the sexual exploitation of children, and human trafficking in general. It has become too much a part of my life, and there is still so much to do. So as long as there are great organizations that could use and want my help, I’ll stay involved.