The Winter of Frankie Machine

by Don Winslow

There are five things that make guys give you an opening: Carelessness. Fatigue. Habits. Money. Sex. That’s it. That’s the list.

Every man has a fatal flaw. Bap had taught Frank that. Not in those words exactly, but the point was that every man had a chink in his armor, and it was just a matter of finding it. Bap had even listed them for him. “You got your lust, your greed,” Bap had said, “you got your ego, your pride, and then you got your wishful thinking.”