Quotes from James Patterson

Davis leaned over his former mother-in-law, put

If we all took our problems and threw them into a pile next to other people's and saw what they had to deal with, we'd grab our own problems back as fast as we could.

online activity. No suspicious e-mails. Websites are all over the place—including

But I wasn't surprised, or scared, or even angry. I accepted it like a friendly wind, come to fly me home. It's okay, I thought. And it was.

The latest victim was the youngest yet:

active imagination

BOHICA: Bend Over, Here It Comes Again. A Vietnam War–era phrase that has lasted for decades, meaning those folks in the field—military or intelligence—are going to be the sacrificial lambs once again to protect the ones issuing orders.

carving our way south through the chaos of midtown Manhattan dinner traffic. Unhealthy food and a healthy dose of road rage, I thought with an impressed nod. My new partner was getting this New York cop thing down pretty fast. The calm from my shower and my visit with the kids lasted less than a New York minute as I scanned the pages of her notes. The latest victim was the youngest yet: a seventeen-year-old high school student named Mary Beth Haas.

We've got something," I said, starting down the stairs again. "We've got a killer at large in this goddamned building. As for Madison Tyler, we've got another dead end.

Understandable, Lindsay.

HOLYCOWIT'S JEANNEYOUCANDOTHISRAFEJUSTSTAY COOLANDDON'TDOANYTHINGSTUPID!

My grandmother and my mom can both cook like crazy, which is great because I can usually eat like crazy.

I'm never going to make any friends here," Georgia whined. "Come on, honey. I know it's a big adjustment, but you've got to stay positive," Mom said. "Okay," Georgia said. "I'm positive I'm never going to make any friends here.

The French actually coined a word for urban strollers, flâneurs, people who derive

earthen berm that ran next to the nearest set of tracks.

GRANDMA DOTTY WANDERED into the kitchen, singing at the top of her lungs. She was wearing a tracksuit and a pair of rainbow-striped leg warmers.

Rock the Casbah!

Bree had explained it to us in the summary of her research. In twelfth-century French literature, the paladins, or twelve peers, were said to be the elite protectors and agents of King Charlemagne, comparable to the Knights of the Round Table in the Arthurian legends. Paladin Inc. had been launched five years before by Vance

What exactly were the duties of an imaginary friend? Pretty much just to make it easier for the child to fit into the world without feeling too alone or scared. Hours? Whatever it took. Benefits? The incredibly pure love between a kid and an imaginary friend. It didn't get better than that. Where did he fit in the great cosmic plan? Well, no one had ever told him.

kills a cop, the net gets big and wide. That net

pleasure from observing the urban scene completely objectively and aesthetically.

arrangement with Cheryl was working out.

speak with the man in charge," he said, a smile spreading across his face. Billy popped his head inside. The mayor, Francis Delaney, was sitting upright against the bed, a sheet wrapped around

Rider on the White Horse, Conqueror; the Rider on the Red Horse, War; the Rider on the Black Horse, Famine; and himself, the Rider on the Pale Horse, Death.