The Burning Room Quotes

“The good ones all had that hollow space inside. The empty place where the fire always burns. For something. Call it justice. Call it the need to know. Call it the need to believe that those who are evil will not remain hidden in darkness forever.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“I have waited twenty years for this phone call . . . and all this time I thought it would go away. I knew I would always be sad for my sister. But I thought the other would go away.”

“What is the other, Henrik?” Though he knew the answer.

“Anger . . . I am still angry, Detective Bosch.”

Bosch nodded. He looked down at his desk, at the photos of all the victims under the glass top. Cases and faces. His eyes moved from the photo of Anneke Jespersen to some of the others. The ones he had not yet spoken for.

“So am I, Henrik,” he said. “So am I.”

- "The Burning Room" by Michael Connelly”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Bosch counted twenty-two names and it made him miss the old Los Angeles Times. In 1993 it was big and strong, its editions fat with ads and stories produced by a staff of some of the best and brightest journalists in their field. Now the paper looked like somebody who had been through chemo—thin, unsteady, and knowing the inevitable could only be held off for so long.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“It had been one of the biggest landgrabs in the city’s history and Bosch knew the story well, having tried all his life to counter his love of baseball and the Dodgers with the ugly story buried beneath the diamond where, as a boy, he watched Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale pitch. It seemed to him that every gleaming success in the city had a dark seam to it somewhere, usually just out of view.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Because it’s a hot door and we have to be careful. You never open a door on a burning room.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Shouldn’t death be the relief from the tortures of life?”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Bosch always thought that if you started with the assumption that murder is an unreasonable action, then how could there ever be a fully reasonable explanation for it? It was that understanding that kept him from watching and being able to enjoy films and television shows about detectives. He found them unrealistic in their delivery of what the general audience wanted: all of the answers.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“For Bosch such cynical thoughts came easily. He had been around the block a few times.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“continued to perform as Los Reyes Jalisco.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Bosch always thought that if you started with the assumption that murder is an unreasonable action, then how could there ever be a fully”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“twelve-hundred-dollar chairs and wore sleek designer shoes with tassels. Gone were the days of thick rubber soles and function over form,”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Bosch was tempted to wait in line for another round but decided to stay hungry. The”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“What are you sorry about? It’s not your fault.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Joel Bremmer, Times Staff Writer”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“when one reaches the top of a public agency, one becomes a politician, and politicians fall out of favor.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“It seemed to him that every gleaming success in the city had a dark seam to it somewhere, usually just out of view.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“LOS ANGELES IS LIKE YOUR BRAIN.
YOU ONLY EVER USE 20% OF IT.
BUT IMAGINE IF WE USED IT ALL.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Fair Warning dot com?” “Dot org.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“lighted”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“told her to clean up all the empty shells so they could recycle them. He said he’d wait for her in the”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“checked the alignment of the bullet hole again. “After you pick up the stuff from Chung, go over to ballistics and see if you can get someone”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“push”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“area”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“between 7th and 8th Streets, and then the location of the”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“The song was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and she produced a sound from the horn that no human voice could ever touch. It was plaintive and sad but it came with an undeniable wave of underlying hope. It made Bosch think that there was still a chance for him, that he could still find whatever it was he was looking for, no matter how short his time was.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“pretty name that never”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Better hope so,” she said.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“batches of samples collected from”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“Little Peter’s,” Soto said.”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room

“stopped at his partner’s desk. Soto’s”
― Michael Connelly, The Burning Room