To Liz and Mark Powell, who fielded my queries from the moment I met them at a party and discovered they are police officers, culminating in a tour of police custody by Mark, which, as you’ll have read, was fundamental to this novel.
To Ameera from a mosque I visited: Thank you for giving me a tour, explaining about Islamic graveyards, and answering my clumsy questions sensitively and accurately.
To Phil and Marie Evison, for reading an early draft and pointing out my many policing errors (“They no longer wear huge boots, Gillian . . .”). To Sami Davies, again, for your medical input, for reading an early version, and for introducing me to the mammalian diving reflex. Your answers are always immediate, and they never question my sanity.
To Darin Millar, who read this book alongside my agent and fed back such helpful advice on criminal defense. And to Neil White, who answered many bonkers queries over Twitter DM. I couldn’t have written a novel like this without both of you. And Roxie Cooper, who helped me on the law of self-defense and mistake. Thank goodness for lawyers!
To Tom Davis, my English tutor at university, who, one day in 2004, emailed me and said: I read your blog. Hey, you can do dialogue. There began a thirteen-year mentoring relationship. I still send him early chapters, about which he is brutal and kind.
And finally, as always, to David. Life coach, therapist, cook, cleaner, muse, sounding board, best friend, and lover. I couldn’t do anything without you, least of all write novels.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gillian McAllister is the author of The Good Sister, as well as several Sunday Times bestsellers in the UK. She lives in Birmingham, England, where she worked as a lawyer and now writes full time.
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