Harlan Coben said

Hi - I'm reading "Fool Me Once" by Harlan Coben and wanted to share these quotes with you.

Some days, every song seems to be talking directly to you, don’t they? And some days, a lyric may hit too close to home. She drove down a narrow, quiet street. Thick woods lined both sides of it. The phone map showed that the address was at the end of a dead end. If that was the case, and she had no reason to doubt it, the residence was in a secluded spot.

Whatever you believe, accident or intentional, we the people should know. We may still want to fight the war. But we should know. Businessmen lie and cheat. Sports figures lie and cheat. Governments lie and cheat. We shrug. But imagine a world where that didn’t happen. Imagine a world where we have full accountability instead of unjust authority. Imagine a world where there are no abuses or secrets.” “Are there unicorns and pixie dust in this world?” Maya asked. He smiled. “You think me naïve?”"

The waitress left. Corey turned toward Maya. “People think I want to weaken governments or businesses. Actually I want the opposite. I want to strengthen them by forcing them to do the right thing, the just thing. If your government or business is built on lies, then build them on truth instead. So no secrets. No secrets anywhere. If a billionaire is paying off a government official to get that oil field, let the people know. In your case, if your government is killing civilians in a war—”

You are forced to be what you are by a corrupt system. Part of me wants to reveal that because, again, the truth will indeed set you free. But you’d be irreparably harmed. Claire convinced me that if I did that, I’d be no better than my colleagues who nail small-time cheaters.” Maya was getting tired of the circling. “You were more interested in hurting the war cause than hurting me.”"

"“You know the phrase that behind every great fortune is a crime? It’s true. Oh, I’m sure you could find exceptions, but scratch the surface behind every major corporation and someone got paid off or someone intimidated the competition.” “And in this case?”"

"big donations. Shock alert: Money means power and gets you stuff. Judith went"

"The desire for privacy and discretion was understandable, of course—Maya didn’t want anybody knowing about her “disorder” either—but it was probably harmful too. 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."

"There was no reason to sleep. The sounds would come alive if she did. Maya knew that. Let them stay quiet a little while longer. Just sit here and watch Lily. Wouldn’t that be far more restful and peaceful than hopping on that nightmarish nocturnal gerbil wheel in her head? Maya"

Lies never die. You can try to smother them, but lies will always find a way to show themselves again.” Maya nodded. “That’s deep, Kierce.” He chuckled at that. 

Always better to be cautious. Things can always be said later, but things can never be unheard. Shane leaned close, made sure nobody could hear,"

"from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle via his creation Sherlock Holmes: “When you eliminate the impossible what remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”