Behind the Books:
Last To Die

Are you a chocolate lover? Me too. So imagine my dismay upon learning that literally tons and tons of the chocolate products we eat every day in this country are made from cocoa beans that were harvested by child slaves.


At the time I began my research for Last to Die, studies by the United Nations and State Department confirmed that approximately fifteen thousand children, aged nine to twelve, had been sold into forced labor on cotton, coffee, and cocoa plantations in Côte d'Ivoire. The situation was only predicted to get worse, as prices for cocoa continued to fall, and almost half of the world's cocoa came from the very region that had stooped to child labor to boost profitability.

Côte d'Ivoire was once regarded as one of Africa's most economically stable countries. Even before the rebel activities of late 2002 turned the country upside down, the local governments denied that child slavery existed. Through the hard work of some very devoted people, however, a face was eventually put on the problem - the faces of children who struggled to find their way home to the most impoverished of countries that neighbored Côte d'Ivoire. Children who told of men luring them away from their families in bus stops and busy shopping markets in countries like Mali, Benin, or Burkima Faso. Many traveled by sea, packed in crowded old ships at ports like Cotonou, ironically a thriving center of slave trade in earlier centuries. Others came by land, trucking through the brush and canoeing across rivers until they reached plantations far from civilization, farther still from home. They stopped only when it was time for the men to get out and negotiate with cocoa farmers near Lake Kossou, when two or three or twelve children at a time would march off to meet other children of the same fate. They lived in overcrowded huts without cots, without plumbing or electricity, but with strict rules against talking, because talking led to complaining, and complaining led to revolt. They told of twelve hour workdays in the fields, sun-up to sun down, and the hunger in their bellies from lousy food, mostly burned bananas, maybe a yam if they were lucky. They bore scars on their legs, arms, and backs, told of the beatings when they didn't work fast enough. The beatings when they didn't work long enough. The beatings when they tried to escape. All for no pay to the child, just a promise of perhaps a lump sum payment of ten or fifteen dollars to the child's family, a payment that was frequently never made. No one wanted to call it slavery, but one of the first rules I learned in law school is if it looks like a duck and quacks like a
duck . . .

Though the situation reportedly improved after I began my research, recent unrest in Côte d'Ivoire makes it impossible to gauge the present scope of the problem. There are some six hundred thousand cocoa and coffee plantations in the country, mostly small operations in isolated areas. They were difficult enough to monitor under a stable government. Throw in rebel gunfire and political unrest, and who knows what is going on at those plantations?


Last to Die is not about the cocoa industry, but the story did in many ways begin with the plight of these children. Some have called Last to Die a tale of "survival of the greediest," but very early on I realized that I needed at least one character who didn't care about money. Keeping true to the rule of "Show, don't tell," I created the character of Rene Fenning, a charity volunteer in West Africa who helps children escape from cocoa plantations. She's not a lead character, but she does give the reader a chance to see the problem of child slavery through the eyes of someone on the battle's frontline. And for those readers who simply want to have a good time, West Africa provides ample opportunity for Jack and his colorful sidekick, Theo Knight, to get into all kinds of trouble. I think I had more fun writing the scenes involving Jack and Theo in Côte d'Ivoire than any scenes I've ever written. I hope you'll have as much fun reading them.

LAST TO DIE: HarperCollins Publishers: July 2003 Behind the Writing of the Novel: Copyright 2003 James Grippando