Gale Force

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It might be something of a cliché to claim the ocean is in one’s blood, but I am descended from generations of mariners, and I’ve always wanted to write a deep-sea adventure story like Gale Force. That this dream has come to life owes a lot to my agent, Stacia Decker, who practically ordered me to write the first draft over cocktails at some raucous convention bar. It owes just as much to my editor, Neil Nyren, whose enthusiasm, encouragement, and keen editorial eye truly gave birth to McKenna Rhodes, and brought the Gale Force and her crew to life.

I’m ever grateful, as always, to the all-star cast at Putnam for everything they’ve done and continue to do behind the scenes to get books like this out into the world. In particular, thanks to Ivan Held, Alexis Sattler, Katie Grinch, and Carolyn Darr; it’s a privilege to work with you all, year after year.

Thanks again and again and again to Rob Sternitzky and the rest of the copyediting and proofreading squad. I say this every year, but copy editors are the true unsung heroes of this business, and I’ve had the good fortune of working with the best. Any foolish errors that remain in the text are my responsibility and mine alone.

A huge thanks to Clive Cussler, C. J. Box, John Sandford, Lee Child, Linda Castillo, Boyd Morrison, Justin Scott, Meg Gardiner, John Lescroart, Steve Berry, Gayle Lynds, Robin Burcell, and Ace Atkins for reading early proofs of this book and lending their names to its cause.

I’m grateful to the captains and crews of the fishing vessels Koskelo and Nicole & Terri Lee for taking me aboard and putting me to work, on both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans: Joey and Suzi Laukkanen; Chad Accettura; Earl Stoesigger; Stevie, Travis, and Logan Gibbs; Louis Peters; and my dad, Ethan Laukkanen.

To my family—Ethan Laukkanen, Ruth Sellers, Andrew and Terrence, Laura Mustard, and little Ethan—my thanks don’t ever seem like enough, but I’ll give you them anyway, and all the love I have in the world.

But most of all, this book wouldn’t exist without my dad, because it’s through him that my love for the sea first took hold. Gale Force has its roots in our walks along the breakwater in Victoria’s Outer Harbor, and in the bedtime stories of shipwrecks and seafaring heroism he’d read to me when I was a child. It was born of ferry rides, and lobster pots, and in the first rudimentary knots he taught me before I set out for my first summer on the water. Dad, this book is for you, with gratitude and love, and with hopes for many fine days and full pots ahead.