Perfect

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Perfect was the toughest Pretty Little Liars book to date, because there were so many pieces that had to fit in exactly the right places to make everything work. So I want to thank all of the careful readers, plotters, chart-makers, word arrangers, and other brilliant people who helped in the process: Josh Bank and Les Morgenstern, who saw Perfect through its early stages, spending days with me hashing out how exactly Spencer should go mad. I’m very grateful to have you guys on my side. The wonderful people at HarperCollins, Elise Howard and Farrin Jacobs, who puzzled over many drafts, catching all kinds of things I constantly missed. Alloy’s Lanie Davis, who drew brilliant charts, was on-call whenever, wherever, and remained an unflagging fan. And, last but not least, my patient, incredibly competent and wonderfully innovative editors—Sara Shandler at Alloy and Kristin Marang at HarperCollins—whose hard work helped to really snap this book into focus. I appreciate all of you for knowing these characters so well, loving this series as much as I do, and really believing in its success. We truly are Team Pretty Little Liars, and I propose we start a bowling team, or perhaps a synchronized swimming team, or perhaps we could all just wear matching Lacoste polo shirts.

Many thanks and much love to Nikki Chaiken for professional advice on early drafts about Spencer and Dr. Evans. Love to my wonderful husband, Joel, for his research on what sort of plane would be used to write messages in the sky and the physics of what happens to cars when they crash into each other, and who continues to read all the drafts of this book—amazing! Love also to my wonderful friends and readers, including my fabulous parents, Shep and Mindy (no swanky bar that serves red wine would be complete without either of you), my sweet and loyal cousin, Colleen (no swanky bar would be complete without you, either), and my good friend Andrew Zaeh, who texted me as soon as he stepped off a plane to tell me that someone was reading Pretty Little Liars, 20,000 feet up. And thanks to all who have reached out so far with your thoughts and questions about the series. It’s great to hear you’re out there. You guys are part of Team Pretty Little Liars, too.

And thanks to the zany girl this book is dedicated to—my sister, Ali! Because she’s nothing like the Alison in this book, because we can still go on for hours about the magical, fictitious world of pelicans, owls, and square-headed creatures we made up when we were six, because she doesn’t get mad when I accidentally wear her $380 Rock and Republics, and because tattoos look very nice on the back of her neck—even though I think she should’ve gone with a certain man’s face and a huge eagle tattooed there instead. Ali is quality with a capital Q, and the best sister anyone could ask for.