One of the leading female protagonists is raped repeatedly by her manager while she is working in a fast-food restaurant. This manager has a reputation for taking up 'relationships' with women who work for him, which he continues until he eventually becomes bored and they 'disappear.' The woman is unable to reject his advances as he is a known violent criminal with a history of abusing women and she feels he poses a real danger to her if she resists in any way. Eventually, she is assisted in escaping, but she continues to live in fear of him finding her throughout this novel and the next in the series. Another main female character works in a strip club. It is mentioned that, occasionally, ex-convicts visit her place of work and behave destructively and threateningly, forcing the staff to take precautions to prevent injury or death to the women working there. It is discussed that another female character was involved in sex work as a child; the implication was that she was made to 'act' in child pornography. The character in question, as an adult, seems ambivalent to these facts but the severe nature of these events is not overlooked by the man who she speaks with about them. Her childhood experiences are brought up (in passing or alluded to) periodically throughout this novel and the next in the series.