“The Mister” fails to address human trafficking

By Cindy Pantoja, Opinion Editor

E.L. James new book, “The Mister” said goodbye to her previous story line of sadomasochism and welcomes the trivial love story between Lord Trevethick, a wealthy bachelor who falls in love with his undocumented virginal maid Alessia Demachi.

James is the author behind the popular “50 Shades Gray” series of books.

“The Mister” is a story based in modern London and traces the actions of Maxim Trevethick, a 28-year-old aristocrat, who’s older brother died at the beginning of the story.

As a result of his sibling’s death, he inherited his brother’s title and the obligation of maintaining his brother’s property and responsibilities.

As Trevethick undertakes his role as the heir to the Trevethick estate, his housemaid was required to leave the country on an impromptu trip overseas. In her stead, she left 23-year-old Albanian Alessia Demachi to cover domestic duties.

Demachi was trafficked into England while trying to escape an arranged marriage to an abusive fiancé.

While Demachi is persecuted by her traffickers, Trevethick lives a life of entitlement and sexual deviance until his eyes met hers and he falls for her instantly.

Pages of the book describe the seductive way Trevethick interprets Demachi’s domestic duties. “She works her way around the piano, buffing and polishing, her breathing becoming faster and harder with the exertion. It’s agonizing. I close my eyes and imagine how I could elicit the same response from her,” it reads.

Although Trevelyan is a British copy of Christian Grey, the character at least is consistent.

He is an affluent playboy from beginning to end.

On the other hand, Alessia Demachi lacks congruence.

She is a poor Albanian but knows how to play the piano and had trouble accepting clothes from her boss.

However, she has no trouble moving in with him right away.

Jame’s new novel does dare to mention the delicate subject of human trafficking and sex exploitation, but she only used the matter as a page filler.

James had the medium to bring awareness to widespread crimes against humanity, instead, she used it to promote the sexual advances by an employer to an employee.

After Trevethick learned Demachi was a victim of human trafficking, he could only think how the tragic event could make it difficult for him to seduce her.

“Even after all she’s told me I couldn’t keep my thoughts above my waist. I’m like a fucking schoolboy. But the truth is, I still want her don’t my blue balls know it,” the pages read of his inner dialogue.

“The Mister” is not just awful, it is roughly 300 pages of both protagonists’ flat inner monologue. This story inherits some minor but repetitive details from 50 Shades of Gray such as, the wealthy male lead, the constant mention of the female lead biting her lower lip, the reference of a mystery room and the last name Trevelyan.

The plot has a couple of action scenes but mostly covers Trevethick’s battles with the idea of being too attached to the “help”.

Even though Trevethick had a few sexual encounters in the first two chapters, the story line slows down a bit after the duo met.

Readers must slog through four full chapters until Alessa and Trevethick become romantically involved.

Despite the fact “The Mister” is advertised as a steamy love story, most of the sexual scenes are a repetition from the sexual encounters between Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele, minus the spontaneity.

It shouldn’t be surprising that L. E. James sold us a mediocre story disguised as best-seller.

We accepted the first dreadful book, “50 Shades of Gray”, we wrote a few encouraging reviews and made it a franchise.

We bought tickets to the franchise films, finished the complete series of books and never demanded a better quality reading material.

Are James fans really going to settle for a poor excuse of mommy porn?