The Short Drop (Gibson Vaughn, #1)

by Matthew FitzSimmons

“If you don’t have anything nice to say, take a big bite and chew slow.”

The women who thrived were the ones who cursed louder, talked more trash, and showed no sign of weakness. Eventually, you got branded “one tough bitch” and earned a grudging tolerance.

Measuring one’s life in terms of days was purposeless. He could still feel his heartbeat in his chest, still taste the breath from his lungs. He yet lived, and that was the only measure of time that truly mattered.

Time was the great leveler, and neither money nor power held sway over its relentless march.

Most people were overawed by time. They allowed time to bully them, fearing that it was passing too fast or too slowly, sometimes both simultaneously.

Tinsley thought of himself as almost prehistoric, something unspoiled by the softening influence of progress—he

Why try to anticipate a man who was purposefully trying to be unpredictable? It was foolish.

Entitlement breeds laziness, which in turn breeds decline. But of course with enough money, it is possible not to notice for decades that your family name is gathering dust.

The dead have no rights, or so my lawyers tell me, and rarely rise to defend themselves.

“Politics is an ugly picture with a pretty frame.

Hope is a cancer. One of two things happens. Either you never learn the truth, in which case it gnaws down to the bone until there’s nothing left, or worse, you do, and you go through that windshield at ninety because hope told you it was okay to make the drive without a seat belt.”

What was the first rule to getting someone to fall in line? Figure out what they need and give them a taste. Not enough to sate them, but enough to whet their appetite.

An eternal truth of the human condition was that no one ever thought they were evil. No matter how reprehensible their actions, people always convinced themselves they were justified.

The name of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was invoked in describing her.

Hope is a cancer. Either you never learn the truth, or you do and go through that windshield at ninety because hope told you it was safe to make the drive without a seat belt.