More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
It turns out that men have more authority, even when they’re not real.
If she was going to get murdered, she’d like to do it in Paris. Or Tokyo.
There is nothing as instructive for learning how to get someone on the ropes as being put there yourself.
Whatever his secrets were, she could still count on him. He was currently getting rid of a dead body for her. You couldn’t get more dependable than that.
There are lots of different kinds of lies. Fibs to lubricate society. Deceptions, to avoid consequences. Misrepresentations to hide behind, because you’re worried another person won’t understand, or won’t like you, or because what you’ve done is bad and you’re ashamed of it. And then there are the lies you tell because everything about you is a lie.
That’s what good con artists did. They didn’t need to convince you of anything, because you were too busy convincing yourself.
“So trauma is what quickens shadows?” Posey’s voice was a little breathless now that they’d come to the part of the conversation she was most interested in. Malhar frowned. “It seems to be, but trauma is highly individual. There are some very disturbing videos of people doing extreme and irresponsible things to wake their shadows. But they’re unlikely to work because they don’t carry emotional weight. Trauma is more than pain.”
And yet, what she longed for was for him to slide into bed and put his hand on her shoulder, to tell her he knew she was awake. To say that he loved her desperately and wanted to confess all the things he’d kept from her, and all the reasons for them. It was a childish desire, a wish for the world not to be as it was, for people to act in ways they just didn’t. It was the wish of a sucker, ready to be fleeced for everything she had.
If she couldn’t be responsible or careful or good or loved, if she was doomed to be a lit match, then Charlie might as well go back to finding stuff to burn.
Love was a family religion, passed down to her when she’d been too young to protect herself from belief.
