Stranger Child Quotes

“Emma wondered not for the first time how silence could vary so much in pitch and tone. This silence held a high-pitched scream at its heart.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Procrastination, Tom.’ ‘Yes–I know. It’s the thief of time.’ Leo had given him a smug look. ‘I wasn’t going to say that–I was going to say makes easy things hard, hard things harder.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“How could pain that wasn’t inflicted by a physical assault hurt so much? How could emotional distress turn into this agonising emptiness?”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Sometimes she thought of David as an ostrich, burying his head in the sand and forcing himself to believe that all would be well. It was one of the few things about him that she found frustrating. It wasn't so much optimism as an inability to face reality and a tendency to look for the easy way out. It wasn't going to work this time. There was no easy way out.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“She’s a giver, if that makes sense. Always willing to help others, but she finds it very difficult to accept anything from people.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Caroline Joseph gave a shudder of relief that the long journey would soon be over. She never enjoyed driving at night and always felt slightly out of control. Each pair of approaching headlights seemed to draw her towards them, their white light illuminating the car’s interior as she gripped the steering wheel, struggling to point the car straight ahead”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Not long now, though. She was looking forward to giving Natasha a warm bath, a mug of hot chocolate, and tucking her up in bed. Then she could devote the remnants of the evening to David. Something was troubling him, and Caroline thought that maybe if they settled in front of the fire with a glass of wine when Natasha was asleep, she might be able to coax the problem out of him. It had to be something to do with work”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“All those personal pronouns and social relationships, for one thing. But there are other clues: females tend to progress information using the negative, such as “I don’t think”, or “our future is not as a couple”. They hedge – you know, use polite forms – to soften the information – “perhaps”, or “I’m sorry if …” – and they refer more to cognitive and emotional processes: think, feel, hope.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“silence could vary so much in pitch and tone. This silence held a high-pitched scream at its heart.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“How could pain that wasn’t inflicted by a physical assault hurt so much? How could emotional distress turn into this agonising emptiness? She could touch the parts of her that ached, but she knew of no analgesic that would relieve the pain.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Sometimes she thought of David as an ostrich, burying his head in the sand and forcing himself to believe that all would be well. It was one of the few things about him that she found frustrating. It wasn’t so much optimism as an inability to face reality and a tendency to look for the easy way out.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“said he’d made many mistakes in his life and that the day of reckoning had finally arrived. He’d made a decision that he knew was going to cause pain, but as far as he was concerned it was the only way out of an existence that had become unbearable”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“turnoff to the lanes leading to their house was fast approaching, and Caroline took a final glance at”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“that few things were black and white, and that sometimes good people did bad things.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“There was an oppressive silence in the car, and Emma wondered not for the first time how silence could vary so much in pitch and tone. This silence held a high-pitched scream at its heart.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“She had never understood about Melissa, though, who had appeared to come from nowhere, and had been with Jack for the last six months of his life. To this day, Melissa had been one piece of the puzzle in their relationship that had eluded her. His suicide was the other.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Sometimes she thought of David as an ostrich, burying his head in the sand and forcing himself to believe that all would be well. It was one of the few things about him that she found frustrating. It wasn’t so much optimism as an inability to face reality and a tendency to look for the easy way out. It wasn’t going to work this time. There was no easy way out.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“It spoke of a level of hopelessness that was outside his comprehension. Even in the bleakest moments of his life he had managed to retain the hope that each day, things would get a little better.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Expect the worst and be surprised if it’s not as bad as you think was Becky’s motto. That way people ceased to have the ability to shock and appal you.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Procrastination, Tom.’ ‘Yes – I know. It’s the thief of time.’ Leo had given him a smug look. ‘I wasn’t going to say that – I was going to say makes easy things hard, hard things harder.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“The road seemed to stretch endlessly before Tom as he walked quickly, head down, back towards where he had left his car. In the open air he felt exposed, unable to focus his thoughts as he struggled to come to terms with all that Emma had told him. He knew he should be concentrating on the missing baby, but he made a deal with himself. A few minutes – that was all – to try to adjust and to reconcile everything he had ever thought about Jack’s death with the truth.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Tiger kidnap,’ Green”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Expect the worst and be surprised if it’s not as bad as you think was Becky’s motto.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“into”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“symbol, or it won’t be recognised.’ Tom stared at Leo’s keyboard for a moment, mentally going through each of the possible symbols. He pulled the SD card out of his trouser pocket, slotted it into Leo’s computer and clicked the file icon. ‘I think I know what it is,’ he said, his voice soft and hesitant. ‘I think R might be a right hand bracket.’ He typed in the password, pressed ENTER and waited. It was wrong. The password was rejected. ‘Bugger. I was sure it was a bracket.’ Tom said, drumming his fingers on the table. He looked at the keyboard again. ‘I have an idea,’ he said, quickly making a change to the password. He pressed ENTER, and an Excel workbook opened on the screen. ‘Bingo. It was a curly bracket, not a normal one,’ he muttered, as the”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“wasn’t going to say that – I was going to say makes easy things hard, hard things harder.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Suicide had never been something he had found easy to deal with in his job. It spoke of a level of hopelessness that was outside his comprehension. Even in the bleakest moments of his life he had managed to retain the hope that each day, things would get a little better.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“For Becky, life was simpler when the good behaved themselves, and the bad were the rotten bastards she expected them to be.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“Tom had always told her that few things were black and white, and that sometimes good people did bad things.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child

“We’ve got to stop them before everything goes tits up. Bollocks. This is all we need.”
― Rachel Abbott, Stranger Child