I will always be thankful to Steve Hillier, who didn’t laugh six years ago when I announced I wanted to write a book, and who instead let me write as much as I wanted to and then bragged about me to everyone he knew.
My girlfriends do a stellar job of making me feel talented and important, even when I don’t. So much love goes out to Dawn Robertson, Annabella Wong, Lori Cossetto, Shellon Baptiste, Micheleen Beaudreau, Jessica Szucs, Nancy Thompson, Jennifer Baum, Jennifer Bailey, Teri Orell, and Scott Kubacki (who’s not a girl, but who is my counterpart in all things darkly funny).
I’m also grateful for my supportive family, especially my mom, Nida Allan (who’ll read this book in one sitting), and my dad, Roberto Pestaño (who won’t read it at all because of the sex scenes). My big brother John Perez also won’t read this book, but he’ll cheer me on anyway and hopefully listen to the audio version if he’s bored at work.
Lastly, I’d like to thank Darren Blohowiak, the newest member of the family, my best friend, and my love. Thank you for not running the other way when I told you what I do for a living, and for only being mildly uncomfortable whenever you see me with a knife in my hand. I promise never to cut you. I love you too much.
JENNIFER HILLIER is the author of two previous novels, Creep and Freak. She is a member of the International Writers Organization, International Association of Crime Writers, and Mystery Writers of America. Originally from Canada, she now lives in the Pacific Northwest. Visit her online at www.jenniferhillier.org, follow her on Twitter, and read her blog, The Serial Killer Files, at www.jenniferhillier.org.
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ALSO BY JENNIFER HILLIER
Creep
Freak
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Jennifer Hillier
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Gallery Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Gallery Books hardcover edition July 2014
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Interior design by Jill Putorti
Jacket design by John Vairo Jr.
Jacket photograph © Ilona Wellmann/Trevellion Images
Author photography by Steve Hillier
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hillier, Jennifer.
The butcher / Jennifer Hillier.—First Gallery Books hardcover edition.
pages cm.
Summary: From the author of the acclaimed suspense novels Creep and Freak and whom Jeffery Deaver has praised as a “top of the line thriller writer,” The Butcher is a high-octane novel about lethal secrets that refuse to die—until they kill again.
1. Serial murders—Fiction. 2. Family secrets—Fiction. 3. Psychological fiction. I. Title.
PS3608.I446B88 2014223
813’.6—dc23
2013047237
ISBN 978-1-4767-3421-7
ISBN 978-1-4767-3422-4 (ebook)
The Butcher Page 30
