In my first novel, "A Stain of Innocence", my plan was to be sympathetic to boys who have suffered childhood abuse, without overlooking character flaws, many of which can be traced back to the abuse. This goal has prevented me from adhering to some familiar ideas and tropes of the psychological thriller genre. I hope readers can forgive this and will enjoy a story that is a little different. Please accept this story that addresses difficult topics not typically discussed in a novel format. Goodreads shows "The Healing Tomb" as a separate novel, but actually it is just an earlier version of "A Stain of Innocence".