The Bookmaker Quotes

“We painfully wake up to an annoying alarm and get ready in a hurry to rush somewhere we don’t want to go. We muddle through our daily existence and the mindless minutia that each day brings: from eating and sleeping, to working and waiting, to pissing and shitting—all ubiquitous tasks to keep us alive, yet ultimately revealing our frailty and the waste of time that is the human condition.”
― Chris Fraser, The Bookmaker

“Son, laws are just suggestions, guidelines to keep people under control.”
― Chris Fraser, The Bookmaker

“Remember, laws are created by man, and there is nothing as fallible as man.”
― Chris Fraser, The Bookmaker

“The fire covered the field, the flames worked fast. I glanced over at Preston who was watching the destruction with a dark grin. The fire reflected in his eyes; shadows moved across his face illuminating the deep creases as he gazed ahead with great conviction. He looked evil. Was he evil? Lord knows he’s done evil. Or was he a man who thought he was doing the right thing, just reacting to situations and conditions that were thrust upon him? Each man is the protagonist of his own life. Always right in their own mind, altruistic and correct no matter what society deems acceptable. Nobody thinks they're evil. Nobody thinks they’re a bad person. All deeds, no matter how harmful or offensive to others can be rationalized in the perpetrators mind; perhaps that is the definition of evil? I looked away, who am I to judge? I thought. I don’t have the theological qualifications or the clean track record to deem anyone evil, he’s just a man. I focused back on the inferno.

Watching the fire spark and dance forming grinning malevolent shapes, I thought of the ancient Celtics when they’d set their world on fire with their Samhain bonfires; their unholy pagan ritual for summer’s end. That sacred night when the veil between the living and the dead was at its thinnest. The night of the great sacrifice. Blue-red flames licked the sky crackling and hissing their macabre cleansing cacophony that drew our unblinking stares and didn’t let go, it had us, it made us watch. Corynne clutched me close, her breathing was soft and warm; the air was beginning to cool. October was coming.”
― Chris Fraser, The Bookmaker