This story would still exist in fractured pieces across a dozen different notepads and Microsoft Word files if it were not for the care, patience, and professionalism of many different people, all of whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. I would like to thank everybody at Ballantine, but particularly Brendan Vaughan, who acquired The Unusual Suspect for U.S. publication, and Pamela Cannon, my editor, who oversaw everything with perfect calm and perception. Thanks must also go to Lexi Batsides for her tirelessness, to all the proofreaders and copy editors who managed to make so many strange English terms and expressions understandable to American readers, and also to Carlos Beltrán, whose cover art I think is absolutely brilliant.
It’s impossible for me to imagine any of this happening without Richard Pike at C&W. Richard managed to make the prospect of writing a book seem not only possible but also even vaguely enjoyable and rewarding. I now accept that he was probably right. Throughout this entire process Richard has been a constant source of reassurance, good humor, and deep professional knowledge that I could not have managed without. I am very fortunate to have him as an agent. I’d like to thank everyone at C&W as well as Luke Speed and Anna Weguelin at Curtis Brown, and Zoe Sandler and Heather Karpas at ICM, who have all been instrumental in bringing this story to as wide an audience as possible.
Everybody who contributed interviews or information to The Unusual Suspect deserves special thanks. They did not have to give me their time and attention in order to speak about Stephen and his crimes, but they all did, and I will always be grateful to them. Similarly, there are dozens of people who contributed in ways that may not be obvious on the page, but who nevertheless helped immeasurably. There are all the various cheerful and forbearing members of staff working for different prison services and police forces who did their best to answer my questions or politely explain that my requests were impossible. There are the members of the public who replied to my posts on the community Facebook pages for places like Seaton and Ledbury, where Stephen had committed his crimes, and who had recollections they were willing to share. There is also Joseph Evans, a brilliant young writer whose talents were absolutely wasted helping to lighten the load of interview transcription. So thank you all.
I would never have had the opportunity to write this book if I had not been given opportunities to write in the first place. I would therefore like to sincerely thank everybody who has ever commissioned me, but especially when I was young and not particularly good. On this very specific note, I have to say that I will forever look up to the funny, clever, and kind people at MOJO magazine circa 2005—Andrew Male, Jenny Bulley, Ian Harrison, Danny Eccleston—who all gave me a tremendous amount of encouragement and hope when I had very little idea what I was doing.
Since then I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last fifteen years at The Times and the number of people who have given me chances, trust, and friendly bollockings are too many to mention. That said, I do want to thank all my Times Magazine colleagues, past and present. First and foremost, I need to thank Tony Turnbull for giving me a job in the first place and Gill Morgan, my first editor, for letting me have a go at writing features. Nicola Jeal, Simon Hills, Louise France, and Monique Rivalland have all been amazingly supportive editors to write for and I cannot thank them enough, while Amanda Linfoot and Chris Riley will always be two of the most talented people I’ve ever worked with. The past fifteen years have whizzed by, and this is in massive part due to the pleasure of sitting right next to my fellow writers Robert Crampton and Hilary Rose, whose friendship, humor, and kindness have been constant. Cheers!
Finally, I want to say thank you to my whole family. My mother and father, Lydia and Robin, are the most loving, intelligent, and funniest parents you could ever hope to have, and every member of the Machell, Streit, and Lees families is a wonderful person to have in your life. Thank you, of course, to Thomas and Willow. You are, in every sense, the reason I get out of bed in the morning. Most of all, though, I want to thank Nathalie. You are the best person I have ever met and I could not have done any of this without you. Nor would I have wanted to. I love you.