Quotes from Gregg Olsen

She'd learned from Nikki's experience that not rocking the boat didn't stop bad things from happening.

a visceral reaction to a word that scrapes at her like the talons of an eagle, cutting and slicing her skin until blood runs out.

she woke up, unable to breathe through a pillow pressed over her face.

If only these walls could talk…the world would know just how hard it is to tell the truth in a story in which everyone's a liar.

Some of this story is completely true. And some of it isn't. Like truth, evil comes in all sorts of flavors. Some bitter. Some deceptively sweet. Sometimes it comes with a heavy price. While most people don't invite evil into their lives, the dirty little secret is that an invitation isn't necessary. Locked doors don't matter. Neither do fancy security systems. Evil is kind of amazing when you think about it. She knows how to get inside.

no one can help a troubled person who doesn't think they need it.

I loved my mother because I didn't know I had a choice. I had to love her.

Trust and stupidity are close friends. Of course, no one really knows that until it's too late.

Maybe it was more than that. Maybe some things shouldn't be explained.

Dying, she thought, is the only way out of what is happening to me.

You poke at evil with a stick," Valerie had said, offering chilling advice they'd never forget. "Never use your fingers.

She'd done exactly what she'd wanted to do. Making people unhappy was her way of having fun.

I'd tell my mother to, you know, go you-know-what herself and I would go help those children. They're in an orphanage and they've got family! That's sickening. What does John do? Nothing. His kids are in an orphanage... and he does nothing. ~ Michelle Jarvis

I was free. Free also means nothing.

From the inside, a violent home looks starkly different than it does to outsiders. Children who grow up with cold, narcissistic, or sadistic parents don't know that a caretaker with the potential for extreme cruelty is not the norm. Even when they see a contrast in the families of friends, they've already been robbed of the ability to challenge parental authority. Instead of seeking help, they hunker down and adapt.

No one speaks the truth to anyone anymore. Lies either by omission or purposefully have become our national pastime. Backstabbing is an Olympic sport. Or at least it should be.

But in late March in the Pacific Northwest, a cease-fire on precipitation only meant the clouds were taking a coffee break.

leathery tan face and eyes popping from white rings of flesh left by tanning goggles, had his head so far up his ass that he needed a snorkel to breathe. At least most thought so.

Our marriage is quietly rocky. Silently in shambles. I love her without a scintilla of doubt.

The ones that test the limits sometimes do the most amazing things in life. That's what I've always thought.

Around forty children die every year after they're forgotten in a car

And he'd kill Lily Ann Denton, put her in the trunkm and go to arbys. Godm he was hungry.

He always told his girl, "If only these walls could talk... the world would know just how hard it is to tell the truth in a story in which everyone's a liar." But the walls didn't talk.

She was only fifteen! What is the matter with these kids today? Can't they wait to have sex until they get their driver's license and can go somewhere?