As she told them all about her buried memory, she felt an awe at how all their separate lives were twisted and tangled, growing over and around one another, altering, aiding, and blocking one another’s paths. Not just her family but people who seemed so distant, like Travis, Marshall and Melody, Sarah and Eloise Montgomery, Tommy Delano. And how the connections between them were as terribly fragile as they were indelible.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
A lifetime ago, a girl I knew went missing. I lived in a small, quiet town in New Jersey with my family. I was fifteen years old. This missing girl was someone I knew… we played in the same school orchestra, said hello in the hallways. I wouldn’t have said we were friends. But her disappearance and the eventual discovery of her body, the chaos that followed, the fear and sadness that lingered in the wake of her murder, have stayed with me in ways that have only recently become clear to me.
That said, this novel-one I have been trying in various ways to write for twenty years-is not about that event or about that girl. It is not my intention to exploit her memory, or to cause any more pain. In fact, I won’t even mention her name here. Nothing in this book bears more than a passing resemblance to the events that occurred in the mid-eighties. I have done little or no research to improve my fuzzy recall of chronology or details. This story and the characters that populate it are wholly products of my imagination; even the town itself is fictional, not based on any place I have ever been.
As always, any inaccuracies and liberties taken for the sake of the narrative are my own.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Every writer needs touchstones, places where she can go and remind herself what is real, what is solid, what has value. And as much as writers work in solitude, living inside their heads, publishing is a business of relationships. I have been blessed personally and professionally with people who keep me grounded and help me reach for the stars. I’ll take this opportunity to shower them with love and gratitude.
My husband, Jeffrey, and our daughter, Ocean Rae, are the sun and the moon. Everything I am and everything I do is for them. They nourish, delight, bolster, and energize me every day, and fill my life with love. Whenever I need a reminder about what matters in this world, I look to them. I am weak with gratitude for my beautiful, funny little family.
My brilliant agent, Elaine Markson, and her wonderful assistant, Gary Johnson, control my professional universe and are the most loving and supportive friends a girl could have. This year will mark ten years working with them. At this point, I can’t even begin to list everything they do for me. Let it suffice to say I’d fall to pieces without them.
I have said this many times, but it demands repeating here. A home like Crown/ Shaye Areheart Books is every writer’s dream, full of intelligent, creative, passionate people who really care about books. Shaye Areheart is a magnificent editor and one of the most spirited, passionate, and loving people I have known. I am as grateful for her friendship as I am for her brilliance as an editor and publisher. Jenny Frost is a ferocious and unflinching supporter of her authors and a truly brilliant businesswoman; I have been so grateful to be under her umbrella in a stormy industry. I also offer my humble thanks to Philip Patrick, Jill Flaxman, Whitney Cookman, David Tran, Jacqui LeBow, Andy Augusto, Kira Walton, Patty Berg, Donna Passannante, Katie Wainwright, Annsley Rosner, Sarah Breivogel, Linda Kaplan, Karin Schulze, Kate Kennedy, and Christine Kopprasch. They each bring their unique talent to the table, and comprise the most remarkable team I have encountered in my career. And, of course, I can never heap enough praise on the topnotch sales force. They are on the front lines of a very competitive business. I know that every one of my books that makes it out of the warehouse does so largely because of their tireless efforts on my behalf.
As ever, my family and friends continue to offer their love and support, cheering me on in this crazy writing life. My parents, Joe and Virginia Miscione, never tire of bragging about me, facing out books in their local bookstores, and buying lots and lots of copies. I hope they never do! This one’s for you, Mom and Dad. My brother, Joe Miscione, and his wife, Tara Teaford Miscione, are endlessly spreading the word. And Tara is one of my most important early readers. Thanks, guys.
What could a girl do without her best girlfriends? I couldn’t publish a thing without the eagle-eyed editing of my dear, funny, sweet, talented friend Heather Mikesell. Even though she knows I’m going to stalk her until she reads what I’ve sent her, she never refuses me! It seems I haven’t taken a step on this journey without Marion Chartoff and Tara Popick, my two oldest friends. I’m not sure I’d find my way without them-or at least it wouldn’t be nearly as fun.
As always, I owe a debt of gratitude to people who have offered their time and expertise in order to fill in my knowledge gaps. Special Agent Paul Bouffard (ret.) continues to be my source for all things legal and illegal. His tireless forbearance of my continuing barrage of questions and wonderings never fails to astound. Although I noticed he avoids working out with me at the gym, knowing that even on the treadmill he is not safe. My thanks to Wendy Bouffard for her wonderful friendship, the trip to Brantingham that so inspired, and of course her endless patience with the fact that I only refer to her husband as Special Agent Bouffard.
Dr. Richard Capiola, M.D., medical director of The Willough in Naples, was an invaluable resource in my research about the patient-therapist relationship, as well as the particular challenges therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists face in their practice and own inner lives. I met Dr. Capiola at a conference in Naples. Little did he know that for the small amount of advice I gave him about writing, he’d be forced to answer my myriad questions in return. He is a very patient man.
Steve Collins, mechanic extraordinaire, offered his expertise about classic cars and classic car restoration, among other things. And thanks to his wonderful wife, Lee, for her ongoing support of my novels.
I am a very lucky girl.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa Unger is an award-winning New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author. Her novels have been published in more than twenty-six countries around the world.
She was born in New Haven, Connecticut (1970) but grew up in the Netherlands, England, and New Jersey. A graduate of the New School for Social Research, Lisa spent many years living and working in New York City. She then left a career in publicity to pursue her dream of becoming a full-time author. She now lives in Florida with her husband and daughter. She is at work on her next novel.
