Mottley wrote and published Nightcrawling at a time when police violence and systemic racism were undergoing a period of intense scrutiny in the United States. In the novel’s endnote, Mottley explains that the story is rooted in a real-life sex trafficking scandal involving members of the Oakland Police Department.

The scandal unfolded in September 2015 when officer Brendan O’Brien passed away by suicide, leaving behind a note in which he expressed guilt for having an affair with a teenager. The teen, who used the pseudonym Celeste Guap, was contacted and confirmed the relationship. Guap explained that it began when O’Brien came to her aid one night when a pimp was chasing her. At the time, Guap was an underage sex worker, and O’Brien offered her protection in exchange for entering a sexual relationship with him. Later, it was revealed that other members of the Oakland Police Department engaged in sex with Guap, either paying her or warning her of planned sex-work stings so that she could avoid them. Guap asserted that a total of 28 officers were involved. At the time, the police department was already under federal monitoring due to past corruption (Sidner, Sara. “

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