The Final Detail Quotes

“One time Clu tried to explain it to me,” Enos continued. “‘Sometimes,’ he said, ‘you don’t want to escape the world; sometimes you want to escape yourself.’ ” He cocked his head. “Do you believe that?” “Not really,” Myron said. “Like a lot of cute phrases, it sounds good. But it also sounds like a load of self-rationalization.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“It reminded him of the Sound of Music. Myron liked the ole Julie Andrews musical well enough. who didn't? but he always found one song particularly dumb. One of the classics, actually. My Favorite Things. The song made no sense. Ask a zillion people to list their absolute favorite things, and how many of them are going to list doorbells for crying out loud.

You know what, Milly, I love doorbells. To hell with strolling on a quiet beach, or reading a great book, or making love or seeing a broadway musical. Doorbells, Milly, doorbells really punch my ticket. Sometimes I just run up to people's houses and press their doorbells and, well, I think i am man enough to admit I shutter.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“Myron lay sprawled next to a knee-knockingly gorgeous brunette clad only in a Class-B-felony bikini, a tropical drink sans umbrella in one hand, the aqua clear Caribbean water lapping at his feet, the sand a dazzling white powder, the sky a pure blue that could only be God's blank canvas, the sun a soothing and rich as a Swedish masseur with a snifter of cognac, and he was intensely miserable.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“It was true what they said: The older you become, the more you are like your parents. Soon he’d be telling a kid not to stick his elbow out the car window or he’d lose it.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“Jared was her son and the “co-general manager” of the Yankees—co meaning shares the title with someone who knows what he’s doing because he got the job through nepotism.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“...the grandmothers interrogated one another, measuring their own children and grandchildren against the competition, seeking an opponent's weakness and any conversational opening to jab forward with tales of offspring heroics, no one really listening, just preparing for the next frontal assualt, familial pride getting confused with self-worth and desperation.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“When Myron was ten years old, his father had taken him and his younger brother, Brad, to a game. Brad was five at the time. Dad had secured”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“They watched a repeat of Frasier on Channel 11. The show was starting to grow on them both.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“Mom was an early career woman. The kitchen was a place to read magazines.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“TAKE A GUESS: IT’S ABOUT AMBIGUITY, NOT ANDROGYNY.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“She looked at him. “So if I subpoena you to testify and if I ask if you’ve ever witnessed Windsor Horne Lockwood the Third kill someone, what would you say?” “No.” “Uh-huh. Guess you also missed the class on perjury.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“The most important decision you’ll ever make is who you marry,” Dad said. “You can take every other decision you’ll ever make, add them together, and it still won’t be as important as that one. Suppose you choose the wrong job, for example. With the right wife, that’s not a problem. She’ll encourage you to make a change, cheer you on no matter what. You understand?” “Yes.” “Remember that, okay?” “Okay.” “You have to love her more than anything in the world. But she has to love you just as much. Your priority should be her happiness, and her priority should be yours. That’s a funny thing—caring about someone more than yourself. It’s not easy. So don’t look at her as just a sexual object or as just a friend to talk to. Picture every day with the person. Picture paying bills with that person, raising children with that person, being stuck in a hot room with no air-conditioning and a screaming baby with that person. Am I making sense?”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“His face reminded Myron of a magnified photo of head lice.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“You have to love her more than anything in the world. But she has to love you just as much. Your priority should be her happiness, and her priority should be yours. That’s a funny thing—caring about someone more than yourself. It’s not easy. So don’t look at her as just a sexual object or as just a friend to talk to. Picture every day with the person. Picture paying bills with that person, raising children with that person, being stuck in a hot room with no air-conditioning and a screaming baby with that person. Am I making sense?”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“Friends and lovers were great, he thought, but sometimes a boy just wanted his mom and dad.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“I’m afraid so,’ he said. ‘Ugh. Go on.’ ‘This whole thing is sort of like a boxing match,’ Myron began. ‘We’ve been ducking and diving and weaving and trying to keep away from our opponent. But we can only do that for so long. Eventually we have to throw a punch.’ She made a face. ‘Christ, that was lame.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail

“People with addictive personalities need an addiction.”
― Harlan Coben, The Final Detail