Blood Victory: A Burning Girl Thriller (The Burning Girl)
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THE HUNT LIST. A database listing individuals worldwide who regularly purchase chemicals that can be used to aid the rapid decomposition or complete destruction of a human body and who have no legitimate personal or professional reason to do so. This database is compiled through a sophisticated series of computer hacks of both public and private records that are arguably unethical and entirely illegal. The fifteen individuals on the list who make qualifying purchases most frequently occupy what is called “The Red Tier.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Creative inspiration for this novel along with invaluable research insights came from the book Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, and I thank its editor, David J. Wishart, along with all the other writers who took part in this cooperative project from the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska.
The massive tornado that struck Lubbock, Texas, on May 11, 1970, is a real event that changed meteorology forever, but the Payne family as well as the Plains Rapist are complete fictions. A big thank-you to authors Pamela Brink and Cindy Martin for their wonderful picture book, Lubbock, which is part of the Images of America series.
Charley’s third outing was gifted with the same great editors as her first two, Liz Pearsons and Caitlin Alexander, and the same great agent, Lynn Nesbit. Also to Thomas & Mercer, major gratitude for the continued support from Grace Doyle, editorial director, publicity director Dennelle Catlett, and marketing director Lindsey Bragg. And for making Texas a state I don’t have to research as much as many others, thanks to all my family there, who keep me connected to the state’s uniqueness and colloquialisms and who I can say, much to their delight, appear nowhere in these pages. Much gratitude to Elizabeth Newman, formerly of CAA and now of Fox 21, and my fantastic attorney, Christine Cuddy.
I also have to give thanks to a very special group of people who enlightened me and educated me in ways they might not have realized while I was writing this novel: Dee Johnson, Paul Keables, Rebecca Kirsch, Emily Bensinger, Terry McGrath, Henry Thomas, and Evan Kralj-Johnson. I miss our special Fridays.
And, of course, profound gratitude to my bestest of best friends and my partner in the TDPS podcast and video network (www.thedinnerpartyshow.com), Eric Shaw Quinn. Launching our new podcast TDPS Presents Christopher & Eric with you has been a gift . . . even though you might quit when you find out I wrote another scary book with snakes in it. You’re the only dude I’d ever do Christopher & Eric’s True Crime TV Club with. Thanks also to our TDPS support team, Brandon Griffith and Brett Churnin. And a massive thanks across the board to our amazing web team at the Unreal Agency, specifically Cathy Dipierro and Christine Bocchiaro.
And last, but certainly not least, thanks and love to my mother, Anne Rice, and my beloved aunt, Karen O’Brien, both of whom taught me the redemptive power of justice fantasies. And by justice, I mean revenge. Sometimes.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo © 2016 Cathryn Farnsworth
Christopher Rice is an Amazon Charts bestselling author whose works include Bone Music and Blood Echo in the Burning Girl series; the New York Times bestseller A Density of Souls; and the Bram Stoker Award finalists The Heavens Rise and The Vines. He is an executive producer of The Vampire Chronicles, a television show based on the bestselling novels by his mother, Anne Rice. Together they penned Ramses the Damned: The Passion of Cleopatra. With his best friend and producing partner, New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, he runs the podcast and video network TDPS, which you can find at www.TheDinnerPartyShow.com. Visit him at www.christopherricebooks.com.