House on Fire

Acknowledgments

The Kimball family isn’t based on any real-life family. Long before I decided their money derived from pharmaceuticals, I was drawn to the terrain of great family wealth, dynastic ambitions, and shame. For legal assistance I’m indebted to Joe Teig of Reed Smith, Christopher Lynch of Reed Smith, David Sheldon, George Warshaw, Mark Batten of Proskauer, Jay Waxenberg of Proskauer, Jay Shapiro of White and Williams, Lori Smith of White and Williams, and particularly Celeste Letourneau of Reed Smith.

On the byways of the Pentagon, thanks to Lieutenant Colonel Richard (Rick) Drew. On Nick Heller’s Special Forces background, my thanks to Sean Parnell, retired Staff Sergeant Kevin Flike (an American hero), and especially retired U.S. Army Special Forces Command Chief Warrant Officer John Friberg. For the Spanish translation, thanks to Oscar De Muriel.

The New York Times’s Barry Meier wrote an excellent book on the opioid crisis, Pain Killer, and helped me make sense of the business pressures behind it. Ed Silverman, of the invaluable STAT, was a terrific source on the pharmaceutical industry. On the development of drugs and clinical trials, I was helped by Dr. Maurizio Fava, the chairman of the department of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital; and Professor David Armstrong of the Division of Gastroenterology at McMaster University Medical Centre. Dr. Amy Cohen helped me understand grieving children and families.

On Broadway, I got some sage insider advice from Evangeline Morphos. On documentary filmmaking, thanks to David Schisgall. My fashion gurus were Ashley Segal, Lucia Baldwin Rotelli, and Jillian Stein. Thanks to Wake Smith for details on the Choate school. On house fires and procedures, my thanks to Tim Simkins. A big thanks to a very astute hacker, Jayson Street. I’m grateful to Nick’s trainer, Jack Hoban, and to my unindicted co-conspirator, Giles McNamee. I’m grateful as well to Detective Jeremiah Benton of the Boston Police, and my own team, Clair Lamb, Karen Louie-Joyce, and Marilyn Saks Goldstein. In the UK, I’m grateful to Laura Palmer and the team at Head of Zeus for their support; and especially Clare Alexander of Aitken Alexander.

Finally, my deepest thanks to the team at Dutton: John Parsley, Christine Ball, Amanda Walker, Elina Vaysbeyn, and Cassidy Sachs; and to my terrific agent, Dan Conaway of Writers House. Thanks once again to Emma J. S. Finder and Michele Souda, for their steadfast, loving encouragement. Most of all, for help above and beyond, I thank my brother, Henry.