Thank you to Jenni Ferrari-Adler for suggesting I turn my MFA thesis into a thriller. I’d always loved reading suspense, but I wasn’t sure I could write it until you suggested I give it a shot. Thank you to Maya Ziv for your storytelling brilliance and deep insight into character. This book grew so much in your hands. Thank you to Lexy Cassola for your excellent notes, Mary Beth Constant for your copyediting magic, and Sarah Oberrender for the gorgeous cover. Thank you to Christine Ball, John Parsley, Emily Canders, Stephanie Cooper, Nicole Jarvis, Isabel DaSilva, Alice Dalrymple, and everyone at Dutton for helping bring this book into the world.
Thank you to everyone who read early pages in writing workshops at LSU. Thank you especially to Danielle Lea Buchanan and Hannah Reed for joining me in a pact to write five hundred words each day, and then holding me to it. Thank you to my professors and thesis advisors, Jennifer Davis, Mari Kornhauser, and Jim Wilcox, for your guidance throughout that messy first draft.
Thank you to Jim Krusoe for your example, your famous surgical brackets around unnecessary sentences, and, above all, the beautiful community of writers you fostered at Santa Monica College. Thank you to everyone at 30B who listened to and commented on my writing, and to Monona Wali, who brought me into the world of teaching older adult writers at SMC’s Emeritus College.
Thank you to my fabulous writing group: Catie Disabato, Anna Dorn, Jon Doyle, Maggie Murray, Robin Tung, and KK Wootton. I’m so grateful for all the feedback and for your friendship.
Thank you to my family. On the Reyes side: Gracias a mis abuelos, Hilda y Guillermo Reyes, por todo lo que han hecho para que sus hijos, nietos, y bisnietos puedan tener oportunidades como la que yo he tenido. To my aunt Hilda Reyes, in whose spare room I spent a lot of time editing this book: thank you for always making me feel at home. Thank you to my uncles. Gracias a Ana María Ordóñez Aldana, Gabriela Villagrán Ordóñez, Juan Pablo Villagrán Ordóñez, Jose Alberto Villagrán Ordóñez, Blanca Rosa Aldana De Alvarez, Wilfredo Alvarez, Carlos Muñoz Ordóñez, y toda la familia por hacerme sentir como en casa en Guatemala.
Thank you to my father, Paul Reyes, for sharing your love of history with me and being one of the kindest people I know.
On the Carey side, thank you to my late grandparents, Patricia and William Carey. Several of the Pittsfield settings in this book are places I visited with you when I was young. Thank you to my aunts and uncles for always cheering me on, and to the town of Pittsfield, where I lived when I was in fourth and fifth grade.
Thank you to my mom, Mary Carey, for talking about your hometown with me, for reading multiple drafts of this book, and for teaching me at a young age to value language and writing. Thank you to Brian Schultz for joining us in Pittsfield when I went to do research, and for doing all the driving.
Thank you to my brother, Nicolas Reyes, for talking about ideas with me and being hilarious.
Thank you, reader, for reading this.
And thank you, Adam D’Alba, for everything. There’s nowhere in the world I’d rather be than on the couch with you, talking about stories.