Thanks, too, to my two favorite forensic scientists, Kevin Kosiorek and Amy Kraatz of the Boston Police Crime Lab, for lending me their expert advice; to Bob Lawler of the Lawler and Crosby Funeral Home in West Roxbury for ensuring that my details were accurate; to my good friends Paul Curran, Paul Leonard and Paul Toomey for answering my technical questions; to Jeremiah Healy for his support and expert editorial advice; to my father and my brothers and sisters for keeping me out of trouble; to Henry for his unconditional love; and, of course, to all of my friends in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Boston Police Department and in the Trial Court.
I am also fortunate to have an insightful and thoughtful editor at Ballantine in Mark Tavani and a brillliant agent in Simon Green at Pom, Inc.
Most important, this novel would never have been written if not for the love, support and encouragement of my wife, Candice Rowe. She has taught me to be a better writer and a better person.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RAFFI YESSAYAN spent eleven years as an assistant district attorney in Boston. Within two years of becoming a prosecutor he was named to the Gang Unit, ultimately becoming its chief. He recently left the DA’s office to go into private practice. He and his wife live in Massachusetts. This is his first novel.
EIGHT IN THE BOX is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2008 by Raffi Yessayan
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Yessayan, Raffi.
Eight in the box : a novel of suspense / Raffi Yessayan.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-345-50723-5
1. Serial murderers—Fiction. 2. Boston (Mass.)—Fiction. I. Title.
PS365.E87E38 2008
813'.6—dc22 2008005055
www.ballantinebooks.com
v1.0
Eight in the Box Page 24