ABOUT THE BOOK
Silver Winner: 2020 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Award
Mystery & Thriller Category
One brutal attempted rape.
One unbowed woman facing impossible odds for justice.
One dedicated D.A. who believes her.
"First great book of the #metoo era."
"A disturbing but intelligently crafted crime drama."
- Kirkus Reviews for Among the Dead, the first in the Alex Greco series
Gripping, fast-paced and unflinchingly reflective of the #Metoo era, Bleed Through will grab you from the very first page, pitting a powerful, predatory man against a young female entrepreneur, Kim Hadley, with a tragic past but also a defiant sense of justice.
Inspired by actual events in the life of a former special victims prosecutor, this second in the series continues the path of ADA Alex Greco. Still battling his own tragic past and tending its dark secrets, Alex and Kim test their mettle against an aggressive defense team which will stop at nothing to stop them- even if it means the personal destruction of them both.
On an autumn night in a chic Manhattan neighborhood, a young woman crawls out of an alley, clothes torn, bruised and beaten. Although well-dressed and attractive, she uses her last ounce of strength to flee the scene when the police arrive. Thus begins Bleed Through, a riveting and unpredictable story of a brutal attempted rape, a strong but reluctant victim, and the system that eventually takes her case, but offers as much risk and uncertainty as it does hope for justice.
Catching the case is ADA Alex Greco and Detective Angie Keegan, both newly assigned to a citywide unit designed to take on New York's toughest special victims cases. Their quest to identify the victim and encourage her to seek justice is where the story begins. But the pitfalls they encounter against a wealthy, well-connected defendant and the secrets unearthed along the way soon make for a shocking set of twists and turns that not only threaten the case but also bore malevolently into the lives of those involved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I'm a former prosecutor and current consultant and legal expert on special victims issues, born in New York City and raised in Northern Virginia. I'm back in NYC and continue to write, speak, teach law, and consult.
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Stephen King once dedicated a novel to his children with the words "Kids, fiction is the truth inside the lie." That's a beautiful sentiment, and I suppose when I reflect on the gifts in my life, the one of simple storytelling, either of a story I've enjoyed or one I've told, ranks as high as any.
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The reality of sexual abuse in early childhood drove me, in a way, to what I considered a calming distance from the concept of truth. But in boomerang fashion I returned to it with a vengeance and became a special victims prosecutor in the late 1990's, a career I loved dearly and still take part in as a trainer and consultant.
Like many who write, I probably have little choice. There's magic in the ability to tell a tale; I've known this since I was a toddler. Truth telling, in particular, is power; a disarming, vivacious force. I told that to the victims I worked with- hundreds of them, mostly children- when preparing them for testimony. From their shared memories and my own, I have created fiction that I believe is the very essence of myth: Every bit the truth inside the lie.
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I own a sailboat and love nothing quite like feeling her fly beneath me when the wind is around 12 knots and steady. I'm blessed with a loving family, a beautiful nephew, and the best childhood friends- still steadfast after 40 years- that I could have asked for to help pull me through. Newer friends have appeared and decorated my life in layered ways I never thought possible. I believe in a God and still practice as a left-leaning Catholic, although with strong Deist tendencies. Lately my most tempting image of God is one of a frustrated artist and the cosmos a palette. Magnificent. But still striving.
It's a joy-filled, messy thing. I can only smile ear to ear at the chance to be a part of it, every day, until the last one meets me. Until then, I'll tell stories. Thanks for reading this one.
