Wish You Were Here - by John Allore & Patricia Pearson (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

As compelling as Michelle McNamara's I'll Be Gone in the Dark or James Ellroy's My Dark Places, this is the story of a brother's lifelong determination to find the truth about his sister's death, a police force that was ignoring the cases of missing and murdered women, and, to the surprise of everyone involved, a previously undiscovered serial killer.

In the fall of 1978 teenager Theresa Allore went missing near Sherbrooke, Quebec. She wasn't seen again until the spring thaw revealed her body in a creek only a few kilometers away. Shrugging off her death as a result of 1970s drug culture, police didn't investigate.

Patricia Pearson started dating Theresa's brother John during the aftermath of Theresa's death. Though the two teens would go their separate ways, the family's grief, obsession with justice and desire for the truth never left Patricia. Little did she know, the shockwaves of Theresa's death would return to her life repeatedly over the next forty years.

In 2001, John had just moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, with his wife and young children, when the cops came to the door. They had determined that a young girl had been murdered and buried in the basement. John wondered: If these cops could look for this young girl, why had nobody even tried to find out what happened to Theresa? Unable to rest without closure, he reached out to Patricia, by now an accomplished crime journalist and author, and together they found answers far bigger and more alarming than they could have imagined--and a legacy of violence that refused to end.

Review Quotes

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

"Wish You Were Here is an investigation intimate and mournful in nature, yet heroic in its level of forensic detail. By bearing witness to how a malefactor slips through the cracks of a haphazard, morally bankrupt system, infected by misogyny and cronyism--and how the legacy of that injustice connects to further calamity--the brave authors take back some of what is lost, bringing some measure of justice to an unending spiral of tragedy." --Robert Kolker, author of Lost Girls and Hidden Valley Road

"Wish You Were Here is at once a riveting mystery, an astute analysis of sexual violence, an investigation of a police force, and a study in grief and loss. On all levels it succeeds brilliantly. An engrossing, heartbreaking and necessary book." --Don Gillmor, Governor General's Literary Award̶ winning author of To the River

"Wish You Were Here is a heartbreaking story of the murder of Theresa Allore and a fierce, brave investigation . . . Infuriating, gripping and devastating, Wish You Were Here is also a heartfelt memorial to Theresa, and a testament to her family, who have never stopped seeking justice for her and many others who were stolen." --Jessica McDiarmid, bestselling author of the RBC Taylor Prize finalist Highway of Tears

"Unfolding as a hard-headed, finely detailed mystery, the story gradually leads us into a deeper pool of reflection on the alchemy of trauma, loss and memory, and its rippling, lifelong effects. In this shared labour of love, we taste the elusive vapour of 'proof' and 'closure, ' the spiritual dangers of gazing too long into the abyss." --James FitzGerald, Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize̶winning author of What Disturbs Our Blood

About the Author

JOHN ALLORE hosts the podcast Who Killed Theresa?, which concentrates on unsolved murders in Quebec, and other justice issues. He launched one of the first crime blogs and the website theresaallore.com, which is now a trove of information on unsolved cases in Canada and the US. He lives in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

PATRICIA PEARSON is a critically acclaimed journalist and the author of several books of both fiction and non-fiction. Her book about what people experience when they die, Opening Heaven's Door, was a finalist for the BC National Book Award. She has won three National Magazine Awards and the Arthur Ellis Award for best non-fiction crime book. She lives outside Toronto.