Never Look Away

Acknowledgments

Let’s start with booksellers. You wouldn’t have this in your hands-or on your eReader-without them. I am most grateful for the enthusiasm shown by those people who’ve turned their love of books into a life’s work. It doesn’t matter how many ads you may see or reviews you may read, nothing sells a novel better than a bookseller putting it in your hands and saying, “You really should try this.”

Thank you.

I’d be nowhere without my good friend and agent, Helen Heller. She knows a good story, and she knows a bad one, and she’s never afraid to tell me which kind I’m writing. Her instincts and advice are invaluable.

I am deeply indebted to Gina Centrello, Nita Taublib, Danielle Perez, and everyone else at Bantam for their dedication and support.

Keith Williams, of Williams Distinctive Gems, filled me in on diamonds. At the Vaughan Press Centre, where the Toronto Star-my terrific employer for twenty-seven years-is printed, Sarkis Harmandayan and Terry Vere kindly gave me a refresher course on how presses operate.

Speaking of newspapers, I’d like to thank them, too. Most of what I know comes from reading them, and working for them. They’re having a tough time these days. If they end up going totally online, so be it, but we need to pay for it, or stories that need to be told won’t be.

And, as always, none of this would matter without Neetha, Spencer, and Paige.