Quotes from Harlan Coben

Occam's razor," Adam said. "The simplest answer is usually correct. Corinne texted that she needed time apart. It's still only been a few days. She'll come back when she's ready." "You

The ones who are fearful all the time, who need to medicate to function? It is because they understand the reality, how thin the line is. It isn't that they can't accept the truth—it's that they can't block it.

They arrived at Cathay, an old-fashioned Chinese restaurant with the retro classics like chow mein and egg foo young, cracked vinyl booths, and a grumpy old woman at the front counter who watched you eat as if fearing you'd pocket the utensils. The

Look at the scales, numb nuts. In her left hand. Some people think the scales are supposed to represent both sides of the argument—prosecution and defense. Others claim it is about fairness or impartiality. But think about it. Scales are really about balance, right? Look, I'm an attorney—and I know my rep. I know people think I subvert the law or use loopholes or bully or take advantage. That's all true. But I stay within the system." "And

She had not been sure what to wear—a classic peach maid of honor dress or a black leather corset. Her compromise: peach leather with a fringed hem, sleeveless so as to display arms with the relative dimensions and consistency of marble columns on a Georgian mansion. Big Cyndi's hair was done up in a mauve Mohawk and pinned on the top was a little bride-and-groom cake decoration.

While waiting for Carl Vespa to arrive, Grace started picking up the bedroom. Jack, she knew, was a great husband and father. He was smart, funny, loving, caring, and devoted. To counter that, God had blessed him with the organization skills of a citrus beverage. He was, in sum, a slob. Nagging him about it—and Grace had tried—did no good. So she stopped. If living happily was about compromise, this seemed to her like a pretty good one to make. Grace

The trappings might have been eighties New Wave, but this was still a working-class bar, where hardy men and seen-too-much women came after a full day of labor and damned if it wasn't deserved. You couldn't fake belonging here. I might be wearing jeans, but I still didn't come close to fitting in. Win, however, stuck out like a Twinkie at a health club. Patrons

In short, we all want to be liked. The refs, like all humans, are all social creatures and assimilate the emotions of the crowd. Every once in a while, a referee will subconsciously make a call that will make the crowd happier.

Sie begrüßte mich mit einem so hölzernen Lächeln, dass Draufklopfen Glück gebracht hätte.

And that makes it okay?" "Yep. Because that's the balance." "And I, to keep within your metaphor, disturbed the balance?" "Exactly. That's the beauty of our system. It can be tweaked and twisted—Lord knows I do it all the time—but when you keep within it, right or wrong, it somehow works. When you don't, when you lose balance even with the best of intentions, it leads to chaos and catastrophe." "That

He put down his chopsticks and wiped his napkin with his chin.

Ein paar Sekunden lang herrschte Totenstille. Es war so leise, als würden selbst die Möbel die Luft anhalten.

Politicians used deception and slick packaging to create an image a person could trust.

Myron headed out to his car. He took a deep breath in the parking lot and looked back behind him. The whole visit already had an unreal feeling, like one of those descriptions of alien abductions sans the anal probe. He got in the car and dialed Win's cellular. He just wanted to leave him a message on the machine. But to Myron's surprise, Win answered.

Gavin Chambers was at the window of his office high-rise in midtown, looking down at the "protestors"—a ragtag group of aging grunge-ola that probably numbered no more than twenty—mulling inside the building's courtyard

His beard is big and thick and curly and dirty-white, so that it looks as though he were eating a sheep when the photograph was taken.

Oh my soul, be prepared for the coming of the Stranger. Be prepared for him who knows how to ask questions. There is one who remembers the way to your door: Life you may evade, but Death you shall not. —T. S. Eliot

comes to my door. Mr. Mayor now. Got the suit, with the American flag in the lapel. Don't join the military; don't help out the little guy; don't take in your tired, your poor, your huddled masses—but if you wear a little flag, you're a patriot.

EVERYONE SEEMS TO HAVE this terrifying dream where you are suddenly about to take the final exam in a class you haven't attended all semester.

Michael hugged Sara tightly. "You all right?" he asked. "Fine," Sara replied. She took off her glasses and wiped them with Michael's handkerchief. "So what have you been up to tonight, my valiant hero?" Michael shrugged. "The usual—saving small children from fires, fighting crime in the streets, getting pawed by your sister." Sara

He smiled. "What?" she said. "I was just thinking." "Thinking what?" "Something Esperanza said to me yesterday," Myron said. "Men tracht und Gott lacht." "Is that German?" "Yiddish." "What does it mean?" "Man plans, God laughs." She repeated it. "I like that." "Me too," he said. He

Had Malcolm helped her father run from Archer Minor's family? I don't know. I suspected that he probably did. Either way, Aaron Kleiner was Malcolm's impetus for joining Fresh Start. His daughter would be someone he'd immediately care about and take under his wing. "Natalie

Know what you know. 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. Andrew

It's been a long day." "It's only nine in the morning." Myron said, "For what breeds time but two hands on a clock?