The Last Coyote (Harry Bosch, #4; Harry Bosch Universe, #4)

by Michael Connelly

“If I wanted to quit, I could do it. People are either smokers or they’re not. I am.” “Yes. It’s perhaps the most obvious symptom of a self-destructive nature.”

You see, the past is what you make of it. You can use it to hurt yourself or others or you can use it to make yourself strong.

An octopus on display at a city aquarium in San Pedro had apparently killed itself by pulling a water circulation tube out of its tank fitting with one of its tentacles. The tank emptied and the octopus died. Environmental groups were calling it suicide, a desperate protest by the octopus against its captivity. Only in L.A., Bosch thought as he turned the radio off. A place so desperate even the marine life was killing itself.

There is a basic rule of nature. No living thing sacrifices itself or hurts itself needlessly.

Sakai stood up. Bosch knew that Sakai knew that if he backed down now after making the overture, then Bosch would gain a superior position in the netherworld of male interaction and in all their dealings that would follow. If Sakai followed through and got the prints, then the advantage would obviously go to him.

What is jealousy but a reflection of your own failures?

“The past is like a club and you can only hit yourself in the head with it so many times before there is serious and permanent damage.