Eight in the Box (26 page)

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

T
hanks to Lin Haire-Sargeant, Peggy Walsh and Candice Rowe, the
members of my writers’ group, for their critical observations, encouragement and support; to Mark Meadows, always a hospitable host serving us delicious desserts at each of our meetings; to Paul Treseler, a prosecutor and a friend, who turned out to be a great editor as well; to MaryKay Mahoney who graciously read early drafts with a keen eye.

Special thanks to Kevin Waggett, a Boston Police sergeant detective, lawyer and friend who had great passion for the novel, spending many hours on the phone, day and night, imparting his police knowledge and critical insight.

Thanks, too, to my two favorite forensic scientists, Kevin Kosiorek and Amy Kraatz of the Boston Police Crime Lab, for lending me their expert advice; to Bob Lawler of the Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home in West Roxbury for ensuring that my details were accurate; to my good friends Paul Curran, Paul Leonard and Paul Toomey for answering my technical questions; to Jeremiah Healy for his support and expert editorial advice; to my father and my brothers and sisters for keeping me out of trouble; to Henry for his unconditional love; and, of course, to all of my friends in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Boston Police Department and in the Trial Court.

I am also fortunate to have an insightful and thoughtful editor at Ballantine in Mark Tavani and a brillliant agent in Simon Green at Pom, Inc.

Most important, this novel would never have been written if not for the love, support and encouragement of my wife, Candice Rowe. She has taught me to be a better writer and a better person.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R
AFFI
Y
ESSAYAN
spent eleven years as an assistant district attorney in Boston. Within two years of becoming a prosecutor he was named to the Gang Unit, ultimately becoming its chief. He recently left the DA’s office to go into private practice. He and his wife live in Massachusetts. This is his first novel.

E
IGHT IN THE
B
OX
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2008 by Raffi Yessayan

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

B
ALLANTINE
and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Yessayan, Raffi.
Eight in the box : a novel of suspense / Raffi Yessayan.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-345-50723-5
1. Serial murderers—Fiction. 2. Boston (Mass.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS365.E87E38 2008
813'.6—dc22      2008005055

www.ballantinebooks.com

v1.0