203 Quotes by Tess Gerritsen

The bush makes you see your real place in the world,” says Johnny. “Here, you’re reminded of what you really are.” “Animals,” Elliot murmurs. Johnny nods. “Animals.

Sometimes, the stars line up, the gods smile, and love gets a fighting chance. Just a chance. That’s all it can really hope for. No guarantees, no certainties.

They slept because they were exhausted and weak and because most human beings can learn to endure almost anything, even the cries of the tormented. It was not that their hearts had hardened; it was because they could do nothing about it, and powerlessness leads to its own form of serenity.

This unsub is a classic picquerist. Someone who uses a knife to achieve secondary or indirect sexual release. Picquerism is the act of stabbing or cutting, any repeated penetration of the skin with a sharp object. The knife is a phallic symbol – a substitution for the male sexual organ. Instead of performing normal sexual intercourse, our unsub achieves his release by subjecting his victim to pain and terror. It’s the power that thrills him. Ultimate power, over life and death.

We’re not trying to mess.

The heart makes its choices without weighing the consequences. It doesn’t look ahead to the lonely nights that follow.

She’d loved their scent – not sweet and cloying like other flowers, but pungent. Assertive. She’d loved the way they sprang up wild in vacant lots and roadsides, reminders that true beauty is spontaneous and irrepressible.

All those mounted heads in the living room,” said Jane. “And he ends up hanging, like some dead animal. I’d say we’ve got a theme going here.

The best heroes in the world are the reluctant ones. Courage isn’t fearlessness – it’s acting in the face of fear.