http://www.amazon.com/Illicit-Smugglers-Traffickers-Counterfeiters-Hijacking-ebook/dp/B000MAH5NS/
Steve Osborne’s The Job: True Tales from the Life of a New York City Cop (and for God’s sake, if you like audiobooks, listen to Osborne read this one in that tailor-made New York accent!).
https://www.amazon.com/Job-True-Tales-Life-York/dp/1101872144
Adam Plantinga’s 400 Things Cops Know: Street-Smart Lessons from a Veteran Patrolman
https://www.amazon.com/400-Things-Cops-Know-Street-Smart/dp/1610352173
David Simon’s Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
https://www.amazon.com/Homicide-Killing-Streets-David-Simon/dp/0805080759
Maija Soderholm’s The Liar the Cheat and the Thief: Deception and the Art of Sword Play
https://www.amazon.com/Liar-Cheat-Thief-Deception-Sword/dp/1505407672/ref=sr_1_1
Randy Sutton’s True Blue: Police Stories by Those Who Have Lived Them
http://www.amazon.com/True-Blue-Police-Stories-Those/dp/1250051258/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_2
Alice Vachss’s Sex Crimes: Ten Years on the Front Lines Prosecuting Rapists and Confronting Their Collaborators
https://www.amazon.com/Sex-Crimes-Prosecuting-Confronting-Collaborators-ebook/dp/B01FTBDKJM
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Police work is less familiar terrain for me than espionage, and I did a fair amount of research while preparing to write this book. I’m deeply grateful to the following officers of the Seattle Police Department, not just for their time and generosity, but for the work they do, the risks they take, and the costs they bear on behalf of the public:
Clay Agate; Megan Bruneau; Dana Duffy; Mike Freese (more on Mike below); Diana Freese; Michael Devine; Alvin “Big Daddy” Little; Suzanne M. Moore; Donna Strangeland; and Lauren Truscott.
I have to share an anecdote here. On a late-night ride-along, Mike Freese asked if I might want to see Seattle’s “Jungle”-the sprawling area under Interstate 5 and various other overpasses, occupied by homeless, transients, and other trackless people. I told him I did. We stopped, got out, and went through a hole in the fence. Mike was careful to shine his flashlight at the ground, and as I came through the hole after him, he raised his finger to his lips and pointed at a sleeping bag under a tarp. “Shhh,” he whispered. “People are sleeping.”
As I prepped for this book, I asked a lot of cops what they thought was the top quality in a good officer. The most frequent response was, “Compassion.” That moment in the Jungle was a demonstration of it.
A few other cops I want to thank for their time and generosity:
Loren Christensen, former army MP and Portland cop, who knows a thing or two about martial arts and self-defense, as well.
http://www.lorenchristensen.com/martial-arts.html
Montie Guthrie, former Texas cop and federal air marshal, who for years has given me great feedback on everything about firearms and more despite being traumatized by the love scenes.
Randy Sutton, former Las Vegas PD officer, who made the call that got things rolling for me with SPD, and who possesses a wealth of knowledge about police work. Plus his books are great and damn you, Randy, your stories always make me cry.
http://thepoweroflegacy.com
John Vanek, former San Jose PD officer. I highly recommend John’s book, The Essential Abolitionist: What You Need to Know about Human Trafficking & Modern Slavery. It’s just what the title says, and along with John was an invaluable resource for writing this novel.
http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Abolitionist-Trafficking-Modern-Slavery/dp/0997118008/ref=sr_1_1
http://www.johnvanek.com
Thanks also to Gloria Fichou, former DHS Homeland Security Investigations; Andrew Huang, Assistant US Attorney; Mary Petrie, former San Francisco PD; and Daniel Velez, Assistant US Attorney, for terrific background on law enforcement work against human trafficking.
Thanks to Prasong Taja, for being the best Chiang Rai guide a writer could ever ask for.
Thanks to Xeni Jardin, for her insights into the psychological consequences of childhood abuse.
https://twitter.com/xeni
Thanks to Emma Eisler for her amazing insights into, and patient explanations regarding, the inner world of teenage girls.
Thanks to Maya Levin, for telling me a true story about Sean Uenoyama, and thereby inspiring the character named after him.
Thanks to Tony Bartholomew of SF Moto, who took time out of a busy morning to patiently and enthusiastically answer all my questions about motorcycles and riding.
http://sfmoto.com
Thanks to Justin Bell and the other staff at TechShop for answering my somewhat unusual questions about metal shredders, oxyacetylene torches, and hydraulic presses, and for showing me the equipment in action.
http://www.techshop.ws/ts_menlo_park.html
No one knows more about the evils of child abuse than novelist and protector of children Andrew Vachss, and the hours he generously spent talking to me about Livia’s origins and character were a master class in close listening, informed insights, and terrific ideas. He corrected what I was getting wrong, made me more conscious of what I was getting right, and shared two great concepts that Livia wound up borrowing: that behavior is the truth; and what isn’t a weapon is a weakness.
http://www.vachss.com
Livia’s firearms skills are courtesy of Massad Ayoob, who I’ve been privileged to train with.
http://massadayoobgroup.com
More about Maija Soderholm and the Vaari knife here. The Vaari wasn’t around when Livia was in high school, but hopefully I can be forgiven for transporting it back in time a bit.
http://www.somico-knives.com/about-us.html
Sometimes I wind up listening to a certain album a lot while working on a book. This time around it was Ray LaMontagne’s Ouroboros.
Thanks to Rex Bonomelli for another knockout cover.
http://www.rexbonomelli.com
Thanks to Naomi Andrews, Daniel Born, Wim Demeere, Grace Doyle, Alan Eisler, Emma Eisler, Judith Eisler, Montie Guthrie, Mike Killman, Lori Kupfer, Dan Levin, Maya Levin, Genevieve Nine, Laura Rennert, Ken Rosenberg, Johanna Rosenbohm, Jennifer Soloway, and Alice Vachss, for helpful feedback on the manuscript.
Most of all, thanks as always to my wife Laura Rennert, who’s also my literary agent and a great editor and collaborator. Even more than the characters in previous books, Livia Lone was a joint effort. Thank you, babe, for everything.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2007 Naomi Brookner
Barry Eisler spent three years in a covert position with the CIA’s Directorate of Operations, then worked as a technology lawyer and startup executive in Silicon Valley and Japan, earning his black belt at the Kodokan Judo Institute along the way. Eisler’s award-winning thrillers have been included in numerous “Best of” lists, have been translated into nearly twenty languages, and include the #1 bestseller The Detachment. Eisler lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and, when he’s not writing novels, blogs about torture, civil liberties, and the rule of law. Learn more at www.barryeisler.com.
