Quotes from Harlan Coben

All around her, children and families played and laughed and reveled in the glory of this seemingly ordinary day. They did so without fear or care because they didn't get it. They all played and they all laughed and they felt so damn safe. They didn't see how fragile it all was.

Some men carry torches for old loves, and then some guys—not many, but some—get completely consumed by the torch's flames. It makes them nothing but long-term trouble for the follow-ups.

Captain Midnight is always careful." "It's not just Captain Midnight I'm worried about it. It's his alter ego." "And who might that be?" "My Love Muffin." Myron grinned into the receiver. "Hey, Jess, did you know Joan Collins was on Batman?" "Of course," Jessica said. "She played the Siren." "Oh yeah? Well, who did Liberace play?

She circled in front of the woman, trying not to be too obvious, ducking behind taller people, and when she was in the right place, Edna spun around. The possible-Katie was walking toward her. Their eyes met for the briefest of moments, and Edna knew.

The other: "Oh my God, we were like so wasted." "From beer?" "Beer and shots, yeah." "How did you get home?" "Randy drove." At the top of the stairs, Myron stiffened.

Man may be evil or good, that wasn't the issue. The issue was that man rarely considered the consequences of his actions.

I can be over in ten minutes." "You'll stay for dinner?" "Depends on what's on the tape," I say. "Right, yeah, that makes sense." Ellie hears something in my voice and knows me too well. "Everything else okay?" "We'll talk." I hang up first.

It all changed in an instant. That was something I had learned the hard way. Your world doesn't come apart slowly. It doesn't gradually crumble or break into pieces. It can be destroyed in a snap of the fingers. So

I always assumed I'd find love like that. But now I don't want it. It isn't healthy. It makes you too dependent. You smile when they smile. You laugh when they laugh. But when they stop laughing, so do you. And when they die, a part of you dies too.

He had learned never to disturb her when the keyboard was clacking. He left a quick note and slipped out. He grabbed the 6 train up to midtown and walked to the Kinney lot on 46th Street. Mario tossed him the keys without glancing up from his paper.

Nick at Nite, the cultural equivalent of aerosol cheese.

Everyone looks happy," he'd said to Corinne. "Oh, not you too." "What?" "Everyone looks happy on Facebook," Corinne said. "It's like a compilation of your life's greatest hits.

Most people oversimplify Occam's razor to mean the simplest answer is usually correct. But the real meaning, what the Franciscan friar William of Ockham really wanted to emphasize, is that you shouldn't complicate, that you shouldn't "stack" a theory if a simpler explanation was at the ready. Pare it down. Prune the excess.

used to quote Voltaire to me: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

That sensitivity workshop," Myron said, "it's really starting to pay off.

You read me," Myron said, "like Vasco da Gama reads a map." Dimonte

Some people are drawn to trouble. Some people, no matter how easy the path they are given on the walk of life, will find a way to mess it all up.

it be nicer to think your parents, who worked hard, gave you those presents instead of some creepy stranger?

There is a very fine line between relentless and stupid," Win said. "Try to stay on the right side of it.

Okay, okay, no need for theatrics." "No need," Harry said with a bright smile, "but why not throw them in if I can?

The reason why there are so many police officers surrounding this house is because they want to make sure that we do not remove anything before a search warrant is issued. They have made it crystal clear that they want no Kardashians on this one." Kardashian. As in O.J. The man had changed law lexicon forever.

The secret in any interview was the ability to not fill the silence. A few seconds passed.

There are some places the mind should not go; it gets steered there anyway.

And bad stays. Bad doesn't go away. You bury bad, it digs itself out. You throw bad in the middle of the ocean, it comes back at you like a tidal wave.