Acknowledgments.

If you drive to the end of Little Harbor Road, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, it will take you to the ocean, but you won't find the sandy lane to Camp Wyndham. I made the place up. Many other features of the area, however, are much as I presented them: South Street Cemetery, South Mill Pond, the Piscataqua Bridge. Here and there I have changed features to suit the needs of the story.

One danger of writing an acknowledgments page is the great likelihood of leaving out someone who made important contributions. When I was expressing my thanks at the end of the last novel, NOS4A2, I neglected to mention how grateful I am for my occasional conversations with Dr. Derek Stern. Talk therapy has been out of fashion for a while now. Who wants to talk when they could just pop a pill, am I right? But psychopharmacology has its limits; no one can write you a prescription for a sense of perspective. I'm not sure I ever would've finished that last novel (or this one) if not for Doc Stern's wry, literate support.

When you work on a book for four years, you get useful information from a lot of quarters. My thanks to Dr. Marc Sopher, Dr. Andy Singh, and Dr. Brian Knab for answering so many of my medical questions. Where I got it wrong, don't blame them-when I had a choice between serving the story or serving medical truth, I chose the story. To put it another way, you can't pop a dislocated lunate back into someone's wrist by squeezing, although it's a nice fantasy. Kids, if this ever happens to you, proceed to the emergency room, and prepare for surgery. That said, most of Harper's medical procedures are within the realm of possibility . . . including relieving the pressure on Father Storey's brain with a Home Depot hand drill.

A number of friends read some or all of this book in the early stages and provided helpful feedback: Chris Ryall, Jason Ciaramella, C. Robert Cargill, Lauren Buekes, Shane Leonard, and Liberty Hardy. My screen agent, Sean Daily, and his wife, Sarah, offered support and good advice, and then Sean turned around and sold the film rights to 21st Century Fox and Temple Hill. My deepest thanks to Steve Asbell, Isaac Klausner, and Wyck G.o.dfrey for placing a bet on Harper and John, and to Sean's boss, Jody Hotchkiss, for placing a bet on me.

My editor at William Morrow, Jennifer Brehl, and my UK editor at Gollancz, Gillian Redfearn, are a seamless creative yin-and-yang. Every single page of this book is better because of their diligent attentions. Kelly Rudolph and Sophie Calder plotted world-beating publicity campaigns. HarperCollins/Morrow has a murderer's row of professionals, who worked tirelessly to make every aspect of The Fireman shine. They include Kelly O'Connor, Tavia Kowalchuk, Aryana Hendrawan, Andrea Molitor, Maureen Sugden, Amanda Kain, Leah Carlson-Stanisic, Mary Ann Petyak, Katie Ostrowka, Doug Jones, Carla Parker, Mary Beth Thomas, an incredibly hard-working sales team, and publisher Liate Stehlik. The UK squad is no less formidable, beginning with David Sh.e.l.ley, and including Kate Espiner, Jon Wood, Jen McMenemy and the whole marketing team, Craig Leyenaar, Paul Hussey, my pal Mark Stay, and the rest of the Orion sales crew. Kate Mulgrew read this book on audio, instantly making me sound at least five times cooler than I really am. She is owed a nice bottle of wine. My thanks to Laurel Choate at the Choate Agency for looking after business so I could stay focused on the creative end (i.e., the fun stuff).

Love and thanks to Christina Terry, who made sure I occasionally got away from the office to have some fun while I worked on this thing. All the love in the world to the King-Braffet compound, to Naomi, and to my parents, who as a group, in a thousand ways, made this book possible, and make my days a joy. Above all, thanks to my three sons, who make me so happy-I love you boys. I'm so grateful for our life together.

Finally: shortly after I completed the third draft of this novel, my friend and agent of twenty years, Mickey Choate-Laurel's beloved husband-pa.s.sed away of lung cancer, at the age of fifty-three. I didn't know he was sick. He kept it to himself. The first I learned of his illness was when Laurel called me up to tell me he had died. He never smoked and he ran every day and it all seems very unfair. In our last conversation he had just finished reading The Fireman and he told me he thought it was a d.a.m.n fine book. His approval meant the world to me; at the same time, I hate that so many of our conversations were about me and my writing. I wish we had talked about him a bit more. Mickey loved to get a good meal at an exciting new restaurant, and I wish we had had a last dinner together, so I could've told him I thought he was a d.a.m.n fine friend. Maybe turnabout is fair play, though. Mickey represented me for almost a decade before I told him Hill wasn't really my last name. We each of us managed to spring at least one truly jolting surprise on the other.

I love you, Mickey. Thank you for letting me have a place in your life.

About the Author.

JOE HILL is the author of the New York Times bestsellers NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box, and the prizewinning story collection 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Awardwinning writer of a six-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. He lives in New Hampshire.

Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.

Also by Joe Hill.

NOS4A2.

Horns.

Heart-Shaped Box.

20th Century Ghosts (story collection).

Graphic Novels.

Locke & Key, Volumes 16 (with Gabriel Rodriguez).

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