I Loved You Before You Knew Me

Official public synopsis

A complete, unpublished work.

In 1984 Tampa, Nina Caruso begins noticing small violations around the Royal Palms Motor Lodge: an object moved, a window opened, a man breathing behind an ordinary old-man mask. Her watcher is Milo Hollis, an escaped institutional patient who mistakes surveillance for devotion and believes a person’s final gaze can preserve the soul.

As detectives Rafael Martinez and Joan Rourke uncover the women Milo has stalked, recorded, and killed, Nina discovers that his obsession began with the sister he strangled as a teenager. Milo has spent years learning Nina’s routines and building hidden rooms beneath the city for the ending he believes she owes him. To survive, Nina must remain frightened without becoming passive—and fight the man who has confused being seen with being loved.