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 government 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.

— Harlan Coben

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 clichés apply-people are what count, life is precious, materialism is overrated, and the little things matter, live in the moment-and I can repeat them to you add 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 better.

— Harlan Coben

Make no mistake, adolescence is a war. No one gets out unscathed.

— Harlan Coben

Mrs. Friedman lived in a happy snow globe of AP History.

— Harlan Coben

Muse usually gestured like an amphetamine-fueled Sicilian who's nearly gotten clipped by a speeding car.

— Harlan Coben

Myron lay sprawled next to a knee-knocking gorgeous brunette clad only in a Class-B-felony bikini, a tropical drink sans umbrella in one hand, the aqua clear Caribbean water lapping at his feet, the sand a dazzling white powder, the sky a pure blue that could only be God's blank canvas, the sun a soothing and rich as a Swedish masseur with a snifter of cognac, and he was intensely miserable.

— Harlan Coben

Secrets...were cancers. Secrets festered. Secrets ate away at your innards, leaving behind nothing but a flimsy husk.

— Harlan Coben

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.

— Harlan Coben

Some people, no matter how easy the path they are given on the walk of life, will find a way to mess it all up. Ray Levine was one of those people.

— Harlan Coben

The gray has no chance against that smile. It vanishes in a wonderful haze of bright color.

— Harlan Coben