We Are All Guilty Here (North Falls, #1)

by Karin Slaughter

Never to suffer would never to have been blessed.’”

In nearly half of missing children cases, a parent or family member is the perpetrator. The victim is usually under the age of six. Typically, there is a bitter divorce or custody dispute involved, but there is sometimes a sexual assault component.

Fewer than one percent of child abductions were committed by predatory kidnappers. The victims tended to be almost exclusively females with the aggregate age of fourteen. They were more likely to be taken in an outdoor setting and to be coerced with a firearm. The kidnapper was more often than not driving a car. In forty-four percent of cases, the victim is murdered within the first hour. Seventy-eight percent die within the first three hours. Within twenty-four hours, virtually all of the victims are dead.

“Used to be too rigid. Always saw things in black and white. I turned some people out of my life. Shouldn’t have done that. Can’t change what happened. Too late to apologize. Had to teach myself never to do it again. Had to learn how to forgive.”

Small men can’t handle grown women. They go after girls because most girls are pliable and desperate for outside approval. At that age, you’ll do almost anything for attention, even if it feels bad and you know it’s wrong.”

“Psychopaths don’t worry about right and wrong. They make their own rules. Freddy was transactional. I visited him. I talked to him. I was interesting. He gave me enough information to keep me coming back.”

You could’ve tracked the time periods by their hair styles and make-up, and the cultural transition between teenagers yearning to look older and the sudden desperation to appear young.

“A man has to prove himself once. A woman has to prove herself every day.”

“They should call it fuckapause, because you run out of all the fucks you can give.”

He had long told her that she needed to learn how to set her burdens down. The truth was, Emmy was afraid if she set them down, she would never be able to pick them back up again.

“The thing about pedophiles is, they don’t just groom their victims. They groom everyone around them.” Jude stepped back so he could fill the reservoir with water. “It’s a standard part of their playbook. They’re the nicest guys you know. They’ll help you move a couch or cut your lawn or volunteer to drive you to a doctor’s appointment. That way, when a child finds the courage to tell the truth, no one believes such a good guy would ever do anything so unspeakable.”

Pedophiles seek out children because they’re easier to manipulate. They can’t handle grown women.

“When people die, your relationship with them doesn’t end. You find new ways to connect with them.”

“Denial gets a bad rap, but it can be very helpful on a temporary basis. The problem starts when you stay in denial, because trauma doesn’t go away. It stores itself in the body, particularly with children. The more they try to force it down, the more ways the body finds to push it back out.”

“People with trauma are more likely to struggle with mental health issues, to become addicted to substances, to self-harm. Then, there’s

the physical component. Over time, trauma can alter your brain chemistry, cause illnesses like immune deficiencies, heart disease, sometimes it can even shorten your life span.”