While Bernd is traveling with his wife through the Black Forest in Germany, he comes to realize that there are things hidden behind Ellen's mask that he should have dealt with much sooner. He had not torn the mask off her face for fear of embarrassing her in public and harming their children psychologically. He was a fool not to have unmasked her, he now says, sitting in the office of her psychiatrist and screaming his way out of his poisoned union with her.

Udo Staber wurde 1953 in Ulm geboren. Er studierte in Kanada und den USA Soziologie, Psychologie, Wirtschafts- und Organisationswissenschaften, promovierte an der Cornell University, New York, und war Professor an Universitäten in den USA, Kanada, Deutschland und Neuseeland. Er ist Autor zahlreicher Fachbücher und wissenschaftlicher Zeitschriftenartikel und Empfänger mehrerer Auszeichnungen für seine Forschungsarbeiten.