SarahARolph

Loved the book. David Boies seems to have acted like a real thug. Was his behavior normal for a high-powered lawyer? Will his reputation suffer for his role here?

She was connected -- the book describes the social networks that were crucial to her scam.

I'm interested in hearing about your writing process. For example: How long was your book leave? Did you do a lot of additional reporting for the book or did you already have most of the information from your WSJ reporting? How do you organize your material, do you make an outline or use some other method? And what is your revision process like?

Yes, the use of a small blood sample was central to Holmes's vision/scam. That artificial constraint was in a sense the root of the problem. She refused to accept the real-life ramifications of that constraint, and decided to fake it instead.

Thanks very much! I write nonfiction, and in addition to being astounded and fascinated by the story you tell, reading your book was helpful for the difficult project I am working on now. (Which is also about a really big lie, as it happens.) A long time ago a writer friend told me reading good writing is good for your writing and reading bad writing is bad for your writing and it's SO true. Your tone is authoritative without being at all stuffy; we know from the start we are in good hands. You did a great job with the pacing, the suspense definitely builds; it is almost a relief when we get to the part about your first article, like, finally, John is on the case! Because we're very invested by then. By the same token, you start off with a bang by giving us the scene with the CFO. Right away we know things are very, very fishy, and we have a big clue about why, and a bunch of unanswered questions. Great book, I'm so glad you wrote it.