John Lutz > Quotes

“Even cannibals don't like to be called cannibals.”
― John Lutz

“Ruth Rendell, Jonathon Kellerman, Len Deighton . . . clever writers, all of them. No romance, or supernatural, or street-level cop novels here. Psychological mysteries. Suspense. Kellerman was even himself a psychologist. Quinn figured the readers of such books got their enjoyment out of trying to outwit the writers. Would Ida or her late husband be the sort to write critical Amazon”
― John Lutz, Frenzy

“She also knew the attraction shouldn’t lead anywhere”
― John Lutz, Night Victims

“He moved gallantly to the side”
― John Lutz, Single White Female

“It’s today that matters. And tomorrow. Don’t you think?”
― John Lutz, Single White Female Seeks Same

“How had she viewed the night before? As a lapse, a temporary surrender to desire? An unfortunate, never-to-be-repeated interlude?”
― John Lutz, Tropical Heat

“Occam’s razor,”
― John Lutz, Twist

“Being underestimated could be a great advantage.”
― John Lutz, Single White Female Seeks Same

“whose only luggage seemed to be the overstuffed backpacks lying at their feet in a tangle of canvas strapping”
― John Lutz, Single White Female

“The sound of the surf playing itself out on the beach drifted in through the open window like urgent”
― John Lutz, Torch

“Allie wondered why New Yorkers seemed to think that leaning on a horn might help clear a traffic jam. Many of them thrived on noise, she supposed. Maybe some people adapted to noise and then craved it.”
― John Lutz, Single White Female

“Spaced about ten feet apart on the first-floor ledge were leering gargoyles with chipped features that only added to their grotesqueness. They’d once been functional drains to divert rainwater from the entrance, but now a dark brown canopy served that purpose. The gargoyles didn’t seem to mind; now they could concentrate full-time on leering at passersby too preoccupied to glance up and notice them.”
― John Lutz, Single White Female

“Her bare tanned legs looked impossibly long from Carver’s low vantage point”
― John Lutz, Torch

“It was a wicked”
― John Lutz, Torch

“We embrace what we can’t escape.”
― John Lutz, Frenzy

“The space was available because it was a loading zone”
― John Lutz, Chill Of Night

“sounded calm when she answered the phone. Which meant that Jody had probably left. They had begun the day with the two women arguing about whose phone the government had legal and moral authority to tap. Pearl and her daughter could discuss such subjects until they were all talked out and Quinn had long since fled to wherever it might be legal and moral to smoke a cigar. “Still reeling from the Minnie Miner show?” Pearl asked him. “Not per se,” Quinn said. “That sounds like something Winston Castle would say. He must have gotten to you with his member-of-parliament persona.” “I suppose that’s why I’m calling,” Quinn said. “There’s something familiar about Winston Castle’s act. It reminds me of a magician’s patter, designed to get you looking at one hand while he’s doing something with the other. Just when everybody’s attention is distracted, Presto! Out of the hat pops the rabbit.” “Or the right card,” “Never play poker with them,” Quinn said. “Rabbits?” “People. Like the ones in Winston Castle’s whack-job family, or whatever it is. They have their patter.” “Meaning?” “Maybe somebody has a real Michelangelo up a sleeve.” “Magicians,” Pearl said, not quite understanding. “I’ve always kind of liked them.” “Their act wouldn’t work if you didn’t.” “I still like them.” “They cut people in half, you know.” “Only beautiful girls. And it doesn’t seem to hurt.” “I wouldn’t want to see you proved wrong.” “Where are you going with this,” Pearl asked with a sigh. Jody had apparently worn her down. “We are going to stake out the Far Castle’s Garden.” “I thought we were concentrating on D.O.A.” “Maybe we are,” Quinn said. “My guess is he’s not one of the many people who think Bellazza isn’t in the garden, just because an imitation has already been found there.” “Are we among the many, Quinn?” “On one hand, yes.” “But on the other?” “Presto!” 78 The searcher came by night, as Quinn had suspected he would, and hours after the restaurant had closed. Quinn was slouching low behind the steering wheel in the black Lincoln. He’d parked where he had a catty-corner view across the intersection and the Far Castle’s outdoor dining area. Beyond the stacked and locked tables and chairs loomed the shadowed topiary forms of the garden. Beginning several feet behind the flower beds was the larger garden, wilder and less arranged than the beds, with a variety of”
― John Lutz, Frenzy

“Lido sniffled and wiped his nose. “That’d be”
― John Lutz, Serial

“He used his palm to wipe sweat from his face, dragging his hand painfully downward from forehead to chin. He checked his palm to see if his face was there.”
― John Lutz, Tropical Heat