The Ritual Bath Quotes

“What a crock of bullshit, Decker thought. He felt guilty. Initially, she’d reacted with anger, which was healthy, and he’d quelled her fire. Now, she was internalizing the bad hand she’d been dealt. “Rina, none of this is your fault. And no one is after your kids. If they’re out of the way,”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“True, my boy. Only Hashem is omniscient, and until He decides we’re worthy of His communication via prophets or the Messiah, we mortals are forced to live in a state of ignorance. I’ve spent my whole life learning, Detective, acquiring knowledge not only from the scriptures of my belief, but from countless other sources—American law, philosophy, psychology, economics, political science: I have studied them all at great length. Yet, a madman can slip under my nose, and I realize I know nothing. I am still a meaningless speck of dust in the scheme of things. A most humbling experience.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“She said it was because I wasn’t Jewish, but I knew the truth. She was laughing behind my back at me. I know she was. She made me unable to function. They all did. They all laughed at me.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“It just burns me, Rina, that this creep has all the women here suspecting everything in pants. But I guess it’s natural. It must be tough to be a woman, huh?”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Listen. Sarah wore a black wig that could have easily been mistaken for your own hair. You told me she said the rapist went wild after he pulled off the wig. Of course he’d become unglued. At that point he realized that he had the wrong woman.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Theirs was a relationship that could never be. But she couldn’t help her feelings.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“They ain’t American. They’re all spies for Israel, and they come here to bleed us of all our money and”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Besides, I could never spit in my parents’ faces and suddenly declare myself a Jew, like my ‘real’ parents. It would upset them tremendously.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Kikes!” Macko spit. “I wouldn’t fuck those pieces of shit if they was the last bitches on earth.” Decker’s eyes blurred for a split second. When they refocused, he realized his hand was on the butt of his .38.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“She was a bitch. They’re all bitches. I’m telling you, they asked me to do it. They begged me.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“She was pretty pissed at him.” “Goddam fucking people,” Decker muttered. “Stupid bitch. She looks the other way while he’s out raping and beating up other women, but he kicks her precious poodle, and all of a sudden she decides he’s a menace to society.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“No. She only dates Jews—religious Jews—if she dates at all. Her oldest boy, Sammy, sometimes talks to me. He says she doesn’t go out.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Simply this. If God was so sure that righteous Jewish men and women wouldn’t murder, why did He bother with the sixth commandment?”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“ingest a lot of illicit chemicals. The murder smacks of drug-frenzied adolescence. The dismembered arm and leg, the slit throat. Spaced-out teenage boys who love gore and have low impulse control.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“They required roughhousing that was just too physically demanding for her. They needed a constant male figure. The boys at the yeshiva were nice, but didn’t provide consistency. She had tried a Jewish Big Brother once, but it hadn’t worked out. It was nearly impossible to get someone who had an understanding of her religious views.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Yitzchak was bad enough, but how could He abandon Moshe so cruelly? But her ire was quickly quelled by the immediate guilt that followed whenever she doubted her faith.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“You’d rather protect your own, even if he’s a criminal, than trust an outsider who happens to be a cop and, more important, a human being who’s very concerned about your welfare.” “Peter, it’s not that.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“But I know as soon as I pack my bags and step off these grounds, I’m going to get swallowed up by that woman you just met.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“What the fuck is this? Looks like a secret code to me. You some commie spy, rich bitch Hebe lady?”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“don’t think a rich Jew bitch like you would mind makin’ us a little loan, would you? Plenty of bread where this came from. Just gotta spread those nice legs for that rich fucker husband of yours and your”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“We know our way of thinking is considered antiquated, as dated as an Edsel. But to me, it has meaning.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“I would have felt that I nailed his coffin. He was a wonderful person, Peter. A sweet man with a brilliant mind. In some ways he was much more attentive to me than Yitzchak. He would never do anything criminal, Peter. Just as you wouldn’t. It’s not in his makeup.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“It’s those punk kids.” Ruthie Zipperstein grimaced. “They wear those Nazi armbands and the leather pants. Anti-Semites, each and every one of them. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they were behind what happened at the mikvah.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“It was cruelly ironic that his brilliant brain cells eventually led to his demise.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“But that was just part of it. Some force was sucking him into this place. He knew he’d be returning here in a professional capacity. And that worried him.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“This is our home, Detective Decker. At least until we all make it to the Holy Land. We were not intimidated by vandals. We will not be intimidated by rapists, thieves, or murderers. If the police can’t adequately protect us, we will use our own means.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“A rape in Jewtown,” Marge muttered. “I’ve always thought of the place as sacrosanct. Sort of like a convent. Who’d rape a nun?” “Who’d rape, period?” Decker said. “Good point.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“He’d considered transferring back to Homicide, tired of seeing rape survivors hung up to dry by a fucked-up—and misnamed—justice system. At least with Homicide the victims never had to face the perpetrators.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Anti-Semitism was nothing new to him. He’d grown up a good ole boy in Gainesville, where there was little direct contact with Jews but still a lot of prejudice. The locals regarded decadent Miami as a pinko watering hole for kikes, spics, and niggers.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath

“Alone at last, Rina stood up, stretched, and glanced at her watch again. Her own boys were still at the Computer Club. Steve would walk them home to a waiting baby-sitter so there was no need to rush. She could take her time. Removing her shoes, she rubbed her feet, slipped them into knitted socks and shuffled along the gleaming white tile. Loaded down with a bucket full of soapy water, a handful of rags, and a pail of supplies, she entered the hallway leading to the two bathrooms.”
― Faye Kellerman, The Ritual Bath