To all the people who so generously gave of their time, talent, and expertise to help a fledgling writer get his first book off the ground, sincere thanks: to Brendan Pierce for introducing me to the people, places, and customs of South Boston; to Lieutenant Robert O’Toole of the Boston Police for sharing his encyclopedic knowledge of the department; to Robert Johnson-Lally, archivist of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, for information about the parochial school system of the sixties and seventies; to Bill Lessley of Everett, Washington, for guidance to the streets and sights of the Olympia-Everett corridor; to Margaret Kurtz of Caesars Palace for a fascinating glimpse into the infrastructure of the casino world; to Sergeant Greg McCurdy of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for his patience on a busy day; to Mike Donahue of the Las Vegas News Bureau for a wealth of information about the world’s premier entertainment destination; to Captain R. L. Sgrignoli of the U.S. Marines for her comprehensive insights into the Corps; to Doug Shaddock of Nortel for his help with cellular telephone technology; to Robert Nagy
of Voyageur Colonial for showing me around intercity buses; to Peter Constantine, Jean Ledoux, David Goodger, and especially Shelley Grandy for their invaluable suggestions; to Eddie Kritzer for believing in the book; to Jessica Kaye, my perspicacious agent, for proposing changes that greatly improved the story; and to Linda McFall, my editor at St. Martin’s Minotaur, for her expert guidance.
—John Goodger, Montreal, August 2004