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035a53f
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Painful memories didn't just ease back in-they shoved the door open hard, all of them and all at once
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Harlan Coben |
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42d7d74
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There are few times that I feel more at peace, more in tune, more Zen, if you will, than when I force myself to unplug.
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technology-addiction
peace
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Harlan Coben |
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2b3d874
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It was all so damn fragile, that was the thing. Obvious, for sure,but for the most part we block - we refuse to think about how easily our lives could be torn asunder, because when we recognize it, we lose our minds. 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 - its that they can't block it.
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Harlan Coben |
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2073486
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Sex is for anyone; the aftermath is for lovers.
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Harlan Coben |
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b630825
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If you want to experience love, then you have to be ready for pain. One doesn't come without the other. If I didn't love you, I wouldn't have to worry about losing you. If you want laughter, expect tears.
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Harlan Coben |
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8a38f79
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There is a certain fate to the universe and a certain randomness.
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Harlan Coben |
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134c7eb
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I'm paraphrasing, but basically Sherlock warned that you should never theorize before you have the facts because then you twist the facts to suit the theory instead of twisting the theory to suit the facts.
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Harlan Coben |
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72a506a
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An hour before his world exploded like a ripe tomato under a stiletto heel, Myron bit into a fresh pastry that tasted suspiciously like urinal cake.
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Harlan Coben |
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72e0f73
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There should have been a dark whisper in the wind. Or maybe a deep chill in the bone. Something. An ethereal song only Elizabeth or I could hear. A tightness in the air. Some textbook premonition. There are misfortunes we almost expect in life--what happened to my parents, for example--and then there are other dark moments, moments of sudden violence that alter everything. There was my life before the tragedy. There is my life now. The two ..
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Harlan Coben |
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8dae86d
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He truly believed that no one could love him, and no matter who you are, that hurts. It made you insecure. It made you want to hide and build fences
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love
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Harlan Coben |
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2f825f6
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She wore a killer smile, absolutely devastating. It was a smile that could twist a man's heart. A man could fall in love just being on the receiving end of that smile. A man would want to see the smile every day and be the one who could make it appear. He would want it all to himself.
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Harlan Coben |
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4adf36f
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Why do humans never really learn the lessons we are supposed to? What is in our makeup, in fact, that draws us to that which should sicken us?
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Harlan Coben |
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3133f23
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Kids don't come with instructions. We all mess up. Raising a child is pure impromptu.
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Harlan Coben |
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b1206f3
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Things can always be said later, but things can never be unheard.
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Harlan Coben |
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a519231
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Natalie had what I'd call a slow beauty, the kind you don't really notice at first and then it knocks you back and grows on you and she gets more beautiful every time you see her and then you can't believe that you ever thought that she was anything less than completely stunning. Whenever I saw her, my entire body reacted, as though it were the first time or better.
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love
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Harlan Coben |
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9b48216
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It was more about understanding that you could give it your all, give yourself the best chances, but control is an illusion.
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Harlan Coben |
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e953445
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Did tragedy cause fissures, open them wider--or did tragedy merely turn on the light so you could see the fissure that had always been there?
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Harlan Coben |
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5ae1ba6
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You have heart disease, people understand. When the brain gets sick, well, it's almost impossible to comprehend.
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Harlan Coben |
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49de83b
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We all have our demons. But men? They have them much worse. The world tells them that they are the leaders and great and macho and have to be big and brave and make a lot of money and lead these glamorous lives. But they don't, do they? Look at the men in this neighborhood. They all worked too many hours. They came home to noisy, demanding homes. Something was always broken they needed to fix. They were always behind on the house payments. ..
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Harlan Coben |
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a55dfc0
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You can only be strong for so long.
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Harlan Coben |
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91d09aa
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The sun was now in its death throes, bruising the sky a coiling purple and orange.
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Harlan Coben |
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557c207
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With everyone else, you put up this facade so you can hide the crud and make them like you. But with real friends, you show them the crud-and that makes them care. When we get rid of the facade, we connect more.
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Harlan Coben |
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8e066bd
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Replicas never have the ghosts. They're bodies without souls.
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Harlan Coben |
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a38e636
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but every home is its own island with its own secrets.
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Harlan Coben |
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ea09493
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Cherish and take care of what you value. Happiness is fragile. Appreciate every moment and do everything you can to protect it.
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Harlan Coben |
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7bd76a2
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whenever I see a table of college "friends" sitting together they are inevitably texting with unseen others, searching, always searching, I guess, for something that might be better, a perpetual life hunt for digital greener grass, an attempt to smell roses that are elsewhere at the expense of the ones in front of you..."
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Harlan Coben |
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c67f476
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A Spoon swoon, if you will.
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Harlan Coben |
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2384a1c
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It reminded him of the Sound of Music. Myron liked the ole Julie Andrews musical well enough. who didn't? but he always found one song particularly dumb. One of the classics, actually. My Favorite Things. The song made no sense. Ask a zillion people to list their absolute favorite things, and how many of them are going to list doorbells for crying out loud. You know what, Milly, I love doorbells. To hell with strolling on a quiet beach, or ..
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Harlan Coben |
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27f7b3a
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Ambition is natural when you don't have anything. You know what you're driving for.
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Harlan Coben |
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ba570a3
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Watch out for people who belong in your past. Don't let 'em back in your life.
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Harlan Coben |
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bc6677f
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Rumors always hardened to facts. Accusations are convictions in the public mind. You are guilty until proven innocent.
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Harlan Coben |
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4511879
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It's not the dead even. They're gone. Nothing you can do about that. It's what's left behind - the echo. These woods you're walking through. There are some old timers who think a sound echoes here forever. Makes sense when you think about it. That Billingham kid. I'm sure he screamed. He screams, it echoes, just bounces back and forth, the sound getting smaller and smaller, but never entirely disappearing. Like a part of his is still callin..
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scream
murders
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Harlan Coben |
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4d12d76
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There was an old joke about being left on a deserted island with an editor. You are starving. All you have left is a glass of orange juice. Days pass. You are near death. You are about to drink the juice when the editor grabs the glass from your hand and pees into it. You look at him, stunned . "There," the editor says, handing you the glass. "It just needed a little tweaking." --
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Harlan Coben |
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4b73dac
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Fame is more addictive than crack. Adults who lose fame--one-hit wonders, for example--usually tailspin into depression, though they try to act like they're above it. They don't want to admit the truth. Their whole life is a lie, a desperate scramble for another dose of that most potent of drugs. Fame
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Harlan Coben |
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d4557c6
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I ordered a cheeseburger and a beer from a waitress who looked as though she wanted to be in one of those want-to-get-away? commercials. She called me hon. I love when a waitress calls me hon.
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Harlan Coben |
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095c3ec
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My great-grandfather, Dad often told us, saved his best wines for special occasions. He was killed when the Nazis invaded Paris. The Nazis ended up drinking his wine. Lesson: you never wait. When I was growing up, we used only the good plates. We used the best linens. We drank out of Waterford crystal. When my father died, his wine cellar was nearly empty.
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Harlan Coben |
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69cdaf9
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the cardinal rule: You never have to take back words you don't say.
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Harlan Coben |
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dd30a3c
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There was an old joke about being left on a deserted island with an editor. You are starving. All you have left is a glass of orange juice. Days pass. You are near death. You are about to drink the juice when the editor grabs the glass from your hand and pees into it. You look at him, stunned . "There," the editor says, handing you the glass. "It just needed a little tweaking."
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Harlan Coben |
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48eea54
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She looks really happy." "Everyone looks happy on Facebook." "I know, right? What's up with that?"
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social-networking-virtual
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Harlan Coben |
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01d23a4
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Grief is devastating, all-consuming. But grief merely visits friends, even the closest. It stays much longer, probably forever, with the family, but that was probably how it should be.
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Harlan Coben |
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6943b2e
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War is never a meritocracy for the casualties.
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Harlan Coben |
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3b99ddd
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Well-meaning friends ' often the worst kind ' handed me the usual clich+!s, and so I feel in a pretty good position to warn you: Just offer your deepest condolences. Don't tell me I'm young. Don't tell me it'll get better. Don't tell me she's in a better place. Don't tell me it's part of some divine plan. Don't tell me that I was lucky to have known such a love. Every one of those platitudes pissed me off. They made me ' and this is going t..
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Harlan Coben |
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1907bf3
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They - bliss and fear - are constant companions. Rarely does one venture out without the other.
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Harlan Coben |
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7fbc3a5
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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.
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Harlan Coben |