Quotes from Jeffery Deaver

The smoke of death wafted everywhere around him, constantly. But it wasn't that finality that troubled him. In death, you had no reckoning. Far worse would be a catastrophic injury to the spine, to the eyes, the ears. Crippling his body, darkening the world or muting it forever.

Charlotte McKenzie was present. No longer saddled with her fake role as a diplo, she was wearing black slacks, a dark blouse and a supple leather jacket. She was still grandmotherly—but she was a grandmother who might practice tae kwon do and enjoy white-water rafting, if not big-game hunting.

Only the weak compromise.

The workbench was filled with glassware, books, syringes, tattooing machine parts, plastic bags, tools. Dozens of books on toxins and thousands of downloaded Internet documents

The more beautiful the package, the harder it is to unwrap.

THE LITTLE HOUSE AT CROIX-ROUSSE Georges Simenon

You bet they did. Dellray was there. You should've seen him. He ordered every other case put on hold and said if metallurgy report wasn't in your hands ASAP there'd be one mean mother——you get the picture——reaming their——you get the rest of the picture.

You okay?" "The worst movie line ever written," Victoria replied.

You do what you think is best, Jim," Mason said in a taut voice, "but I don't think we have time for any more searches. There's a lot of territory out there. We've got to get after that boy and get after him fast." But it was Lincoln Rhyme who responded. Eyes on the map, at Location G-10, Blackwater Landing, the last place anyone had seen Lydia Johansson alive, he said, "We don't have enough time to move fast.

Stanton clawed his way to the bedside table and managed to grab his knife. He jabbed it into Rhyme. Once, twice. But the only places he could reach were the criminalist's legs and arms. It's pain that incapacitates and pain was one thing to which Lincoln Rhyme was immune.

Okay," Simpson said. "You got

Zip. He's the most careful OC boss I've ever investigated. Nothing's committed to paper or computer or phone. He doesn't even give direct orders when he's alone with his crew. He hints, he

Author O. Henry coins the term "Banana Republic" for countries with one main product like bananas, ruled by a small rich military-elite of landowners at the tip and a vast impoverished populace crushed beneath like an iceberg.

Playing in the mist doesn't build character at all, Booty; it just makes you fucking wet.

Ross Macdonald

He was not good looking, by any means, nor was he tall but these conditions were not troubling to him. Physical flaws were significant only to those with egos.

I sat down at my desk and ate a pickle spear and a large bite of sandwich, a Heimlich bite. I then sipped hot and strong and very good coffee. I

Our SUV and four other cars accelerated fast and skidded up over the grass on Professor Peter Yu's property, tearing up the lawn and destroying shrubs. I'm told that this dramatic entrance, which you'd think was made up by TV-movie directors, is in fact the most efficient way to approach a suspect. It's all about intimidation. We

Either find a solution to your problem, or stop considering it a problem.

Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan.

We tugged on door levers and jumped out, all our jackets fluttering in the wet breeze. I was limping—the toe still stung like crazy. DuBois and I moved in slowly, behind the eight armed tactical officers, who were sprinting into Yu's open garage, brandishing weapons. "On the ground, FBI! FBI!" Screaming is standard operating procedure too. Intimidation, again. In

Prejudice and idiotic ideas—about race, AIDS, Covid, STDs—only exist in the vacuum of ignorance. Give people energy, and they'll have not only lighting, but enlightenment.

studio and the junkyards

was a lean, unsmiling man, a dusting of short gray hair on his head.