I write novels about people who are fearless and fierce when it comes to sticking their noses into the things that are wrong. It is a basic formula: F + F = F. That third F is for fulfillment, meaning fulfillment for me the writer hidden behind the words and fulfillment for the reader consuming those words. It is not an original formula. Variations on it can be found in many a crime novel and non-so-called genre books alike. The formula is part of a larger scheme to use fiction to ensure and reassert social order. That’s why the formula is so important in crime fiction. From a moment of disorder—a murder or any crime—comes a character who steps in to restore order.
This is the detective or sometimes the lawyer or even sometimes the reporter. The variations on that character and the form of disorder they encounter are endless, and perhaps that is why bookstores and bestseller lists are stocked with novels that feature protagonists who are fearless and fierce. These are the people we want to ride with in our imaginations. These people step forward when others step back. We all want to be one of those who steps forward, and these books show us the way.
This construct is not unique to fiction but rare to find in the real world—the nonfiction world. It is easier to construct a story about a hero than to find a real one. But what you have here is a real one. Jillian Lauren is fearless and fierce. She has seen what is wrong and stuck her nose into it. What has emerged is a story that transcends a crime story to be a story that threatens social order. Sam Little is the monster in this story and Jillian Lauren is the slayer. She is the one who stuck her nose into it, saw something was not right, was dreadfully wrong, in fact, and did something about it.
In Lauren’s story are the stories of the many women whose names seemed lost in time until she found them, gave them their names back, and told their stories, made them bigger and stronger than Sam Little. Each one is given loving care in these pages. Under Lauren’s skillful and empathic eye, they become real to us, and in becoming so, we see the depth of despair and pain in their loss. This is art and this is not easy to do. It’s why I take the easy road and make it up while Lauren chooses to tell the true story with such grace and dignity, a story that cuts into the cancer of what is wrong in our world.
Michael Connelly, Los Angeles