Gone Before Goodbye - 30

First, I would like to thank my mother and father, Betty and John Witherspoon, who served in the Tennessee Air National Guard and US Air Force, respectively. Their forty years of service in military hospitals and then private health care were the background of this novel. Living on military bases as a child, surrounded by medical military families, I learned about the connectedness of communities dedicated to risking their own lives to help others. Every dinner table conversation about surgery and patient care, filled with thrilling stories of harrowing medical experiences, influenced me to write about Maggie and Marc’s passion for health care. My childhood visits to hospitals and military bases instilled in me a powerful lesson that a life of service to others is the most noble life to lead. Mom and Dad, I love you.

Thank you to Reza, Kevin, Steven, Dasha, Nader, and many others who helped me build out details of locations and worlds I could only imagine visiting one day. You added truth and humor to every story you shared with me. Thank you.

Thank you to Ben Sevier, Lyssa Keusch, and the whole team at Grand Central Publishing for believing in this idea from Day One. Your enthusiasm was the wind at my back during this whole experience.

Thank you to my book agent, Cait Hoyt, who never fails to be my biggest champion, especially when I am past deadline and feeling so nervous I could crumble. You always help put me back on track and convince me I am writing something truly original. That’s the biggest compliment I could ever hope for!

Thank you to Kate Childs-Jones, Meredith O’Sullivan, Chelsea Thomas, Maha Dakhil, Gretchen Rush, Rick Yorn, Josh Dembling, and my entire team, who always make sure I am endlessly supported in every creative project. Your hard work and encouragement made writing my first novel feel a little less daunting—notice, I only said “a little.”

Thank you to Hillary, Beatrice, Jenna, and Jeff, who keep my life in order and make me look much more pulled together than I am! Your organization, attention to detail, and deep loyalty mean the world to me.

Thank you to Rachel Bati, who has kept the many different crazy trains in my life running on time for over (gulp!) thirty years. The three hundred emails, five hundred phone calls, and at least seven pep talks a day have made space for my creativity to flourish and grow in every way. I will be forever grateful for all the little ways you motivate me, including lots of funny stories about your hair and my favorite surprise cheer-me-up cookies during long days at work. I love you!

I would like to thank Harlan Coben for agreeing to jump in and become my partner on this amazing journey. I have no idea how I managed to convince a writer of your esteem to agree to coauthor with me for the first time, but I will be forever grateful to you for taking my seed of an idea and building out this fascinating world. A novel filled with global medical intrigue and massive corruption, all centered around a woman whose superpower is her surgical prowess, seemed like a far-fetched dream. You brought Maggie McCabe to life with your ability to shape an idea into a fully fleshed-out, page-turning thriller. And you made the whole process so fun! I am enormously proud of our collaboration and the deep humanity inside it. Thank you for being the best partner in the whole world.

Thank you to all my favorite writers, including all my Reese’s Book Club authors, readers, and booksellers who inspire me to explore the edges of my imagination and dream of more stories to tell.

Finally, to my wonderful children and family, there aren’t enough pages in this book to tell you how much your love means to me. I am so blessed to have the most encouraging family in the world.

—Reese Witherspoon

Ditto what Reese said.

Let me list a bunch of people who contributed to this book in no particular order: Ben Sevier, David Shelley, Lyssa Keusch, Danielle Thomas, Beth de Guzman, Karen Kosztolnyik, Colin Dickerman, Jonathan Valuckas, Matthew Ballast, Quinne Rogers, Lauren Sum, Staci Burt, Tiffany Porcelli, Andrew Duncan, Taylor Parker-Means, Alexis Gilbert, Joseph Benincase, Albert Tang, Liz Connor, Rena Kornbluh, Rebecca Holland, Mari C. Okuda, Jennifer Tordy, Ana Maria Allessi, Nita Basu, Laura Essex, Melanie Schmidt, Venetia Butterfield, Selina Walker, Charlotte Bush, Olivia Thomas, Rebecca Ikin, Lucy Hall, Alice Gomer, Anna Curvis, Meredith Benson, Mary Karayel, Diane Discepolo, Jamie Megargee, Lisa Erbach Vance, Samantha Reiter, and Anne Armstrong-Coben, MD.

A very special shout-out to the genius that is Robert Silich, MD, FACS. Reese and I had a lot of help on the medical front from many physicians and scientists, but Rob really took the extra step and came up with some fun, clever, and twisted research for us. Thanks, my friend.

And of course, what can I say about my partner and friend Reese Witherspoon? I keep getting asked if Reese is as cool, kind, and smart as she seems—and the honest answer is no, she’s even cooler, kinder, and smarter than you imagine. Taking this journey with you was an honor and a hoot. You are a generous, compassionate, insightful, and brilliant partner.

—Harlan Coben