A.J. Waines > Quotes

“It was one of those late summer days trying its best to convince everyone that winter would never seep through and ravage the earth.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“...We were pulling into the next station, when the woman suddenly got to her feet and made a move to squeeze past me. As her knees made contact with mine, she turned towards me. Her eyes locked straight onto mine, her eyelids pinned back, with a look I could only describe as sheer dread. In the next second, deep tram-lines formed between her eyebrows and her expression shifted. It was as if she was silently imploring me, entreating me. To do what? I had no idea. I was immobile, her gaze pressing me into my seat by some centrifugal force and I held her stare, unsure of how to react. Just as swiftly, she dropped her eyes and the moment passed. With one final glance behind her, she was swallowed up in the bodies at the door.
She was getting off. Something wasn’t right.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“She had been lying there, facedown in the water long before the tide had turned at 3.04 that morning. Her eyes were staring into the river, her blonde hair first fanning out, then drawing back under her head with the wash of the water, like a pulsating jellyfish. The belt of her raincoat was caught on the branches of an overhanging tree and she’d been hooked, destined to forever flap against the corner of the broken pier with outstretched arms. She wasn’t going anywhere now; she was simply bobbing up and down with the rhythm of the water - and she hadn’t blinked in a long while.”
― A.J. Waines, The Evil Beneath

“Flora had once told her that ‘Friendship is God’s way of apologising for our families’.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“Fear did that to you. It made small things seem insurmountable. Insignificant things seem suspicious. She”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“His parents blamed me of course; I never told them the truth. I was prepared to take the brunt of their wrath, fending off accusations of being a bad wife, not making him happy, dragging him down - to protect his privacy. It was one small precious thing that still held us together - our last secret. WPC”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“I can’t help but smile. This is so like you: to turn towards making things better, always facing the light instead of the darkness.”
― A.J. Waines, Dark Place to Hide

“Now your heart is changing?’ she”
― A.J. Waines, Don't You Dare

“There was no question that we loved each other; love comes in many forms - it just wasn’t the kind of love marriages are made of.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“There was no question that we loved each other; love comes in many forms - it just wasn’t the kind of love marriages are made of. I”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“I felt like I’d mixed two lethal substances together and I had no idea how to cope with the aftermath.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“No one would notice the binoculars now trained towards the towpath. She had to arrive at the scene any time now, to get a good view, before the body was bagged up and taken away by the river police.”
― A.J. Waines, The Evil Beneath

“The first time I met you, five years ago now, I felt a solid certainty that we had not only met before, but that we’d existed together in some other setting and timeframe far removed from this one.”
― A.J. Waines, Dark Place to Hide

“alacrity”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“bunsen burners had been replaced by computers and sophisticated microscopes. We walked past people in white coats, poring over trays containing fine soil or sand, holding jugs and vases under special blue lights. There were tripods leaning against the wall and several hi-tech cameras nestling on the filing cabinets. ‘We’ve got various computer packages”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“I wake and in those first fuddled moments forget you’re not here. I must have been dreaming about you – a tense, erotic dream. I reach out in bed to the place your body should be. It’s cold and there is no hollow. Even the bed is forgetting you.”
― A.J. Waines, Dark Place to Hide

“First impressions,’ says Tara pensively, ‘they can set your heart on fire, but they never warn you about the disasters ahead.’ Diane”
― A.J. Waines, Dark Place to Hide

“The water was grey today, like a man who yesterday had hired a smart dinner jacket, but today had reverted to his dirty raincoat.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“The novel you started is still here. I pick it up, flick through the pages. That’s odd. You told me you’ve read at bedtime ever since you were a child and can’t do without it – you say it’s a vital comfort that helps you get off to sleep.”
― A.J. Waines, Dark Place to Hide

“Fear did that to you. It made small things seem insurmountable. Insignificant things seem suspicious.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“Even now in the mornings, I prop myself up on one elbow and quietly watch your face with the sublime satisfaction of knowing you’re in my bed, inches away from me, breathing the same air. You continue to light up the room whenever you enter, even after our three years as Dr and Mrs Penn. Nothing”
― A.J. Waines, Dark Place to Hide

“FACT: There are thirty bridges over the tidal stretch of the river Thames. FACT: The Thames is tidal for ninety-five miles inland, from the Outer Thames Estuary to Teddington Lock. Port of London Authority.”
― A.J. Waines, The Evil Beneath

“chose the quiet coach when I boarded at Portsmouth and Southsea. True to form, most people were chatting inanely on their mobile phones or leaking hissing drumbeats from their headphones, so I kept going, looking for an area without cackling post-hen-parties, toddlers or badly tuned radios. There is nothing worse than being forced to listen to other people’s choice of music, except perhaps other people’s children’s choice of music. As I entered the next carriage, my foot caught in a loose strap and I found myself spread-eagled over a table occupied by four men in rugby shirts,”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“outside”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“my”
― A.J. Waines, Cut You Dead

“the first corner when I had the feeling I was being followed. I”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“You are getting harder and harder to find. You are stepping further and further away from me. You’re shrinking into a past that I don’t recognise anymore. Come back… Another”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“It was one of those weird moments when you want the world to freeze-frame so you can savour it; knowing with certainty that something special, significant, sensational is taking place.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“Friendship is God’s way of apologising for our families’.”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train

“concentrate on my novel”
― A.J. Waines, Girl on a Train