The two girls skipped down the narrow side street, hand in hand. The council houses all looked the same around here, boxy and grey. Only the doors were painted different colours. ‘B. O. R. I. N. G,’ they chanted in time with each springing step. The afternoon sun warmed the backs of their necks and Read more
CHAPTER ONE SOMETHING VERY BAD was about to go down. There are things you know as a cop in Boston. You know how the city feels, because its streets are your veins and the voices of its people come through your lips when you talk. You know the smell of the salt in the harbor Read more
When it stops, she’s lying on the grass with her face crushed into it. She can smell the green sap of it, feel the scratch of weeds against her skin. Her body comes back to her piece by piece. Her throat, wheezing and burning from where he choked her. He choked her. She can’t entirely Read more
Long before she’d agreed to go on a date with him, Tyler had known he would kill Lindy Munson. One day. Somehow. Preferably slowly. For years, whenever Tyler had thought of the girl with the sallow complexion and the snow-white hair, he’d fantasized about doing something bad to her—probably from as far back as the Read more
Sometimes I think this part is harder than writing the whole rest of the book. But there are so many people to whom I am deeply indebted for the existence of this book. To Mom and Deb, for answering disturbing and bizarre medical questions for research, and thus saving me from getting put on Lists Read more
Moscow, Russia Zarina Kazakova stepped to the glass doors of Belyy Dom, the Russian White House, and peered out at the leaden sky threatening to suffocate Moscow. It was not if the sky would unleash the first flurry of snow, but when. Meteorologists had forecast evening temperatures below zero, and as much as six to Read more
Simon sat on a bench in Central Park—in Strawberry Fields, to be more precise—and felt his heart shatter. No one could tell, of course, at least not at first, not until the punches started flying and two tourists from Finland of all places started screaming while nine other park visitors from a wide variety of Read more
JULY 14 I don’t know why I’m writing this. That’s not true. Maybe I do know and just don’t want to admit it to myself I don’t even know what to call it—this thing I’m writing. It feels a little pretentious to call it a diary. It’s not like I have anything to say. Anne Read more
Torture Police have confirmed that the man’s body, found earlier this week in Didsbury, Manchester, showed signs of torture. They have refused to comment on the nature of the injuries and defended their lack of progress in finding the killer. The lighting in the church was pleasantly subdued. Flames flickered through sconces of red glass Read more
Tuesday, July 12, 2016 Flaming sword in hand, the Avenging Angel, bestride a monumental tomb, looked over the rolling land toward the Blue Ridge Mountains. His mouth set hard, his eyes piercing, he was not the promise of peace, repose, and eternal joy with the Almighty. Lying underneath this imposing marble tomb rested the bones Read more
