Quotes from Lisa Gardner

Pain is not what you see and not what you feel. Pain is what you can only hear, alone in the dark.

His job already had him lying and manipulating me. My past had me lying and manipulating him. Both of us thought we were right.

Family is family. Even if you hate them, it's hard to let go.

Irresponsible is only irresponsible if you fail. Succeed, however; and irresponsible quickly becomes merely unorthodox.

It's not the flying that's the hard part; it's the landing.

Winners never quit, quitters never win

We are all a little bit broken, she tells me (the reason she doesn't sleep at night?), but we all work on fixing ourselves.

Maybe she'd get a Siamese fighting fish. Or better yet, a ficus tree. God knows a plant would probably be a lot less offended that she ate take-out sushi almost every other night. It was a thought.

The past has a will of its own. It wants to be heard.

Because you and I are alike that way. We know monsters are real, and they don't all live under the bed.

Whomever speaks first gives up some power.

A child's bonds with his or her mother are extremely powerful, so any negativity in the mother is being communicated to the child.

approached alone, the hallway too small, the rooms too tightly bunched

They died, leaving behind the kind of void that is never filled, a relentless ache that follows an abandoned child throughout her entire life. And

Miggy sees me watching the approaching wave of dark clouds. Maybe it will slow him down. The guy who's been outfitted by Survivalists R Us? No, he probably has some waterproof supersuit that repels lightning. I hate him so much.

Shallow graves took on a life of their own. And eventually, all bodies did what they were meant to do. Decay. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Disappearing back into the earth, until months later, a uniquely shaped depression was formed. The kind of hollow that any experienced homicide detective could look at and say, hey, betcha a body is buried there. The

Quincy, boyfriends apologize, shrinks analyze. Which are you?

How terrible to lose a child most of the world never knew was missing.

A parent's approval always mattered, regardless of age—

It's true that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. But no one says that strength doesn't come at a price.

It was not the past that broke you. - It was the empty future, the endless string of days filled with none of the people who mattered most.

I could stay in every night for the rest of my life and my mother still wouldn't be happy. In fact, maybe she'd be better off if I finally did go out and meet a grand demise. Get the waiting game over with. Because, as my mother will tell you, there are worse things than having your daughter abducted. There's getting her back and realizing you've lost her after all.

You're strong and that helped you, but this doesn't have to define you. You are a young woman with your whole life ahead of you. Don't confuse what you had to do to survive with who you are.

Funny how you can fear change, even when already surrounded by the worst of the worst.