The Longest Rope Has an End

In this visceral contemporary thriller, KT is the fourth of six children abandoned by her mother since birth. Her grandmother does a fine job keeping the six siblings together, until her untimely death results in them being farmed out to distant relatives. KT never sees or hears from her family again.

Soon, the troubled KT is sentenced to a juvenile facility until her eighteenth birthday. There she meets Skeeter, a narcissistic sociopath. Terrified, she tries her best to avoid him, but to no avail. Their uneasy relationship allows Skeeter to unburden his soul with stories of past hurts at the hands of his worthless mother, while giving KT protection from other inmates targeting her ultra-feminine mannerisms.

At eighteen, KT sets out to build a life for herself. Working days at a fashion boutique and nights as a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, she recreates herself, taking the name Marilyn. For ten years she does fine, until a chance encounter with sixteen-year-old Cali, who has just escaped from a drug treatment center. Cali needs heroin, so Marilyn makes the fateful decision to reconnect with Skeeter, now a drug dealer. Skeeter skillfully pries from Cali that she's the granddaughter of a judge and daughter of a commercial airline pilot-meaning wealthy. Skeeter sees Cali as nothing more that his personal cash cow. When the FBI teams up with the Baltimore City Police, things turn dire for all three.

C. and R. Gale's careers as a critical care nurse and a police officer lends authenticity and credibility to their story. C. Gale has a baccalaureate of science degree from the University of Maryland. They are a husband and wife team who are passionate about observing the smallest details of human behavior. They live in Maryland and are currently working on their next novel.