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This is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
Harper
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers
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London SE1 9GF
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
First published in the USA in 2015 by Bantam Books,
an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group,
A division of Random House, Inc., New York.
Copyright © Dean Koontz 2015
Cover design by Richard Augustus © HarperCollinsPublishers 2016
Cover photographs © Demurez Cover Arts/
plainpicture (main image); Shutterstock.com (wasps)
Dean Koontz asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
Text design by Virginia Norey
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
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Source Edition 9780007520350
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2016 ISBN: 9780007520329
Version 2017-02-23
With much affection, this book is dedicated to
Susan (Allison) Cathers, my sister from another mother.
Thank you for thirty years of kindness and excellence.
She …
Hears the song in the egg of a bird.
—James Dickey, Sleeping Out at Easter
Table of Contents
Part 1: The Woman Who Intended to Marry a Hero
Chapter 1: The Girl Whose Mind Was Always Spinning
Chapter 2: Another Perfect Day in Paradise
Chapter 4: Searching for the Silver Lining
Chapter 6: The Frightening Pace of Examination
Chapter 7: The Power of Cookies
Chapter 8: Hammered and Fully Prosecuted
Chapter 9: Into the Tunnel of Fate
Chapter 10: The Kind of Girl She Is
Chapter 11: A Time When She Believed in Magic
Chapter 12: Footsteps of a Man Unseen
Chapter 13: Young Again in Grief
Chapter 14: She Sat Up, Sat Up, Sat Up in Bed
Chapter 15: One Moment of Truth Among Many
Chapter 16: A Memory Inexplicable in These Circumstances
Chapter 17: In the Hours Before the Crisis