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a97885d
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Years fly by, but the heart stays in the same place.
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Harlan Coben |
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f62f4e3
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Myron reached for the phone and dialed Win's number. After the eighth ring he began to hang up when a weak, distant voice coughed. "Hello?" Win?" Yeah." You okay?" Hello?" Win?" Yeah." What took you so long to answer the phone?" Hello?" Win?" Who is this?" Myron." Myron Bolitar?" How many other Myrons do you know?" Myron Bolitar?" No, Myron Rockefeller." Something's wrong," Win said. What?" Terribly wrong." What are you talking about?" Some..
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Harlan Coben |
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7a2162a
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Trust is like that. You can break it for a good reason. But it still remains broken.
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Harlan Coben |
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6e484e4
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Memories, you see, hurt. The good ones most of all.
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Harlan Coben |
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0b20298
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I remember one time I heard this English professor asking the class what the world's scariest noise is. Is it a man crying out in pain? A woman's scream of terror? A gunshot? A baby crying? And the professor shakes his head and says, 'No, the scariest noise is, you're all alone in your dark house, you know you're all alone, you know that there is no chance anyone else is home or within miles--and then, suddenly, from upstairs, you hear the ..
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Harlan Coben |
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1998dba
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Part of the human condition is that we all think that we are uniquely complex while everyone else is somewhat simpler to read. That is not true, of course. We all have our own dreams and hopes and wants and lust and heartaches. We all have our own brand of crazy
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Harlan Coben |
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0917ff1
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Sure, on a larger scale, it was healthy to have people out there you cared about more than yourself. She knew that. But then there was the abject fear you would lose it. They say possessions own you. Not so. Loved ones own you. You are forever held hostage once you care so much.
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mania
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Harlan Coben |
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48f31b7
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Hope is cruel. Hope reminds me of what almost was. Hope makes the physical ache return.
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Harlan Coben |
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ee23bd5
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Kids don't do what their parents say-they do what they see their parents do. So who was to blame here?
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Harlan Coben |
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f076bf7
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There's always a price you pay when you lie. Once you introduce a lie into a relationship, even for the best of intentions, it is always there. Whenever you're with that person again, that lie is in the room too. It sits on your shoulder. Good lie or bad lie, it's in the room with you forever now. It's your constant companion.
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Harlan Coben |
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401f8fd
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You bring your own weather to the picnic.
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Harlan Coben |
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eb4306b
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Summer romances cometo an end. That was part of the deal. They are built like certain plants or insects, not able to survive more than one season. I thought we would be different. We were, I guess, but not in the way I thought. I truly believed that we would never let each other go. The young are so dumb.
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Harlan Coben |
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9713946
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We are often told during times of bereavement that time heals all wounds. That's crap. In truth, you are devastated, you mourn, you cry to the point where you think you'll never stop - and then you reach a stage where the survival instinct takes over. You stop. You simply won't or can't let yourself "go there" anymore because the pain was too great. You block. You deny. But you don't really heal."
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Harlan Coben |
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9b6d305
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Genius is a curse. That's how I look at it. Some think that the brilliant comprehend the universe in a way the rest of us can't. They see the world how it truly is--and that reality is so horrible the lose their minds. Clarity leads to insanity.
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Harlan Coben |
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b2137d9
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Amazing what we can self-rationalize when we really want something
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Harlan Coben |
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99770e7
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I don't regret the things I've done. I regret the things I didn't do when I had the chance.
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Harlan Coben |
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0f587a0
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That's the problem with falling in love. It makes you start talking like a bad country song
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six-years
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Harlan Coben |
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1fd6e80
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For a short time, I hated them. But when you think about it, what good does that do?It takes so much to hold on to hate--you lose your grip on what's important, you know?
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Harlan Coben |
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5a5e240
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It was one lesson he never forgot.You don't sit back when you or a loved one is being assaulted.And you don't act like the goverment with their "proportional responses" and all that nonsense.If someone hurts you,mercy and pity must be put aside,You eliminate the enemy.You scorch the earth."
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revenge
care
life
love
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Harlan Coben |
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f473ee4
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A dancer on break approached him. She smiled. Each tooth was angled in a different direction, as if her mouth were the masterwork of a mad orthodontist. "Hi," she said. "Hi." "You're really cute." "I don't have any money." She spun and walked away. Ah, romance."
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Harlan Coben |
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1130fbf
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I wish i could tell you that through the tragedy i mined some undiscovered, life-altering absolute that i could pass on to you.I didn't.The cliches apply-people are what count,life is precious,materialism is over rated, and the little things matter,live in the moment-and i can repeat them to you ad nauseam.you might listen, but you won't internalize.Tragedy hammers it hm.Tragedy etches into your soul.You might not be happier.But you will be..
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tragedy
life
truth
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Harlan Coben |
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edd7d10
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There is the old catch-22 line that a mentally unstable person can't know, as per their illness, that they are unstable. But that was wrong. You can and do have the insight to see your own crazy.
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Harlan Coben |
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a5806e6
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Its funny how you can let yourself forget for seconds, how even in the heat of the horrible, you can have moments when you fool yourself into thinking it might all be okay
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Harlan Coben |
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0d22a7d
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Sometimes the loudest cries for help are silent.
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Harlan Coben |
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cc54635
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No, I don't live in heartache. I don't cry myself to sleep or any of that. I am, I tell myself, over it. But I do feel a void, icky as that sounds. And--like it or not--I still think about her every single day.
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six-years
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Harlan Coben |
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01274f2
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So basically your plan is to flail about helplessly.
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Harlan Coben |
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be1c6ba
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I used to wonder why Lucy liked those songs so much. You know what I mean? She sits in the dark and listens and cries. Music does that to her...I didn't understand for a long time. But I do now. The sad songs are a safe hurt. It's a diversion. It's controlled. And maybe it helps you imagine that real pain will be like that. But it's not. Lucy knows that, of course. You can't prepare for real pain. You just have to let it rip you apart.
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self-description
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Harlan Coben |
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1e827f4
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We get mad at someone for cutting us off in traffic or for taking too long to order at Starbucks or for not responding exactly as we see fit, and we have no idea that behind their facade, they may be dealing with some industrial-strength shit. Their lives may be in pieces. They may be in the midst of incalculable tragedy and turmoil, and they may be hanging on to their sanity by a thread. But we don't care. We don't see. We just keep pushin..
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Harlan Coben |
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56b8e0f
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You don't worry about happiness and fulfilment when you're starving.
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Harlan Coben |
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9791265
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The truth may be better than lies... But it doesn't always set you free.
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Harlan Coben |
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ad13103
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They say possesions own you. Not so. Loved ones own you. You are forever held hostage once you care so much.
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Harlan Coben |
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66d14d5
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Getting into a fight with a popular senior. Pissing off a school teacher and the local chief of police. Hanging with two major-league losers." She slapped my back. "Welcome to high school."
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humor
mickey
shelter
high-school
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Harlan Coben |
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40b5f0c
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Doctors kept stressing that mental disease was the same as physical disease. Telling someone who was clinically depressed, for example, to shake it off and get out of the house was tantamount to telling a man with two broken legs to sprint across the room. That was all well and good in theory, but in practice, the stigma continued. Maybe, to be more charitable, it was because you could hide a mental disease.
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mental-illness
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Harlan Coben |
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63e3c9c
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So basically, that entire theory is blown to hell." Not basically," Win corrected. "Entirely."
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Harlan Coben |
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860f1b6
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You live among this ridiculous wealth and you get lost. You worry about nonsense like spirituality and inner health and satisfaction and relationships.You have no idea what it is like to starve, to watch yourself turn to bones.
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harlan
starve
woods
hunger
food
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Harlan Coben |
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3de0afa
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Every person has hopes and dreams.
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Harlan Coben |
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db8b3e2
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I kept hearing that "better to have loved and lost" bullshit. Another falsehood. Trust me, it is not better. Don't show me paradise and then burn it down"
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Harlan Coben |
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51f5814
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But sometimes, maybe most times, it isn't that clear. It is dark and you are near the edge of a cliff, but you're moving slowly, not sure which direction you're heading in. Your steps are tentative but they are still blind in the night. You don't realize how close you are to the edge, how the soft earth could give away, how you could just slip a bit and suddenly plunge into the dark.
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Harlan Coben |
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f41afa4
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desperation can toy with you and if you give desperation any wiggle room, it will find alternative answers
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Harlan Coben |
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d1492c1
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Do you believe in love at first sight? Neither do I. I do, however, believe in major, more-than-just-physical attraction at first sight. I believe that every once in a while--once, maybe twice in a lifetime--you are drawn to someone so deeply, so primordially, so immediately--a stronger-than-magnetic pull.
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Harlan Coben |
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c53bff8
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This was a place where tattoos outnumbered teeth.
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Harlan Coben |
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3f92e11
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Sad songs are a safe hurt. It's a diversion. It's controlled. And maybe it helps you imagine that real pain will be like that. But it's not. You can't prepare for real pain. You just have to let it rip you apart.
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Harlan Coben |
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b3810a8
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The first sip of beer on a hot day is like that first finger-dip when you open a new jar of peanut butter.
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Harlan Coben |
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2ebf356
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We all play God every day. When a woman buys a new pair of expensive shoes, she could have spent that same money feeding someone who was starving. In a sense, those shoes mean more to her than a life. We all kill to make our lives more comfortable. We don't put it in those terms. But we do.
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Harlan Coben |