Organised Crime Quotes

“Life was better than he expected with his new Italian family inheritance, and it felt good to take a deep breath without fear of someone attacking him or his family.”
― Carolyn M. Bowen, Legacy of Shadows: An International Crime Thriller

“That’s it. Let’s go.”
“Yep,” whispered Suley. He turned to leave. “This is crazy.” He had his phone in his hand. “Look, we’re still in Rowland Forest. What’s this fence doing here? How come it’s not marked?”
“We’ll tell your father about it.” Saskia pulled at his arm, looking anxiously around and up. To her horror, she saw a surveillance camera mounted on an overhead tree branch. It pointed straight at them. “Merde! Suley, we’ve got to go!” she hissed, pointing to the camera.
His eyes widened.
Distant shouts and an engine roaring to life exploded the forest calm.
Suley and Saskia bolted back the way they’d come.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“Another mound of boulders reared up before her. She scrabbled along the base of the mound, slipping and sliding, barely catching herself from tumbling down the slope. She caught sight of the person coming after her. It was a man, brown hair in a halo around his white face. He glared up at her, lips drawn back over stained teeth in a snarl, long, bare arms eating the ground in leaps against her ineffectual progress.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“Saskia groaned again. She threw back her bed covers, the last vestiges of sleep leaving her. It would be evening in Lyon. Clarissa would be expecting to hear from her. A call-in at least once every 24 hours was part of several protocols Clarissa had established. The instruction at the end of the conversation, “Give the dogs a pat for me”, reassured Clarissa that all was well. Leave the words out, replace any one of the words in the sentence with another or not place a call in a 24-hour period, and Clarissa would alert authorities. In her younger years, Clarissa had served in the British army. Her experiences in those years had caused the trauma she now lived with, though she used her expertise by teaching her three partners basic self-defence, how to operate firearms and how to wield weapons. She also programmed their watches and phones to enable her to constantly track their whereabouts, explaining, “I want to know that my three charges are safe”.
Another protocol was to always check accommodation venues for listening devices. Saskia did this before calling Clarissa.
“Clarissa. Ça va?”
“What have you to report?”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“She pulled open the reception area door, bright sunshine causing her to pause, momentarily blinding her. Her eyes adjusted and she saw Josh, Peta and Daryl in deep conversation at an outdoor table. Saskia retreated, holding the door open. She saw Daryl lunge out of his bench, reach across the table, grab the front of Josh’s shirt and haul him close. Daryl’s mouth worked in angry lines and Josh’s head bowed, shaking back and forth slowly. Peta glanced nervously over her shoulder and towards the door of the administration building. She laid a hand on Daryl’s arm, leaning towards him. Daryl let Josh loose, sinking back into his seat. Josh also sat back, tugging his shirt into place.”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“I believe the saying “Time heals all wounds” is mostly accurate, although it doesn’t address the nature of the healing. Inevitably, some wounds leave deep scar”
― Steven Decker, INNOCENT AGAIN: A LEGAL THRILLER

“Whoo-eeee!”
From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Peter. He was on the road to the side, probably waiting to ensure she’d managed to negotiate the first part of the track. She didn’t stop, her adrenaline pumping. He’d catch up. “Come get me!” she yelled, making a slight counter-direction turn in the air to help her blow into the berm on the other side of the road. The trail crossed a short flat, a marked rock garden, a beam over a bog, another rock drop and berm, a zigzag around massive trees, roots and rocks that kicked the bike’s tyres this way and that and tested her balance, more air over another drop – this one caused by a massive log – enough air for her to do a back flip from a kicker over another part of the forestry trail, steep to the left. The first wall appeared. She took it fast, skidded around to slam into the side of a berm and round off on to another gully crossing.
“Whoo-eeee!”
― Miriam Verbeek, The Forest: A thrilling international crime novel

“As we left Hava Java, I reached into my purse and discretely pulled out the Smith & Wesson handgun, putting it in my jacket pocket and keeping my finger on the trigger.”
― Steven Decker, INNOCENT AGAIN: A LEGAL THRILLER

“Panting and out of breath all he can get out is, “Body! Body!”
“Mr. Ingly? Slow down! What’s the matter?”
“Dead body!”
Ingly, still panting and out of breath, sits down heavily in one of the cushy lobby chairs.
“Didn’t you hear me? There’s a dead man…lying on the sidewalk…just around the corner! Call the police! My dog is there. I couldn’t catch him!”
 ”
― Behcet Kaya, Murder in Buckhead

“Who the hell are you? And why are you here at this hour?”
“Who am I? My name is Colonel Westerdam. Now, get your butt in gear, Swamp. That was your call sign, wasn’t it?”
― Behcet Kaya, Deception: A Jack Ludefance Novel

“I called and called until someone took pity and told me what was going on. She developed COVID-19 pneumonia and they put her on a ventilator.”
My sister’s crying was bordering on hysteria. “Jack, she died this morning! Deloris is gone! I still can’t believe it!”
I swerved, slammed on the brakes, and pulled the Ram over to the side of the highway.”
― Behcet Kaya, Deception: A Jack Ludefance Novel

“She reached the door to the forbidden room. The door with the light escaping through the cracks. Her hands shook. Her eyes watered from the pull. She panted, her chest visibly moving in and out. Her teeth clenched. She switched off the flashlight, turned the knob, and pushed. ”
― Chad Boudreaux, Homecoming Queen

“Birdie slid out the chair to his left, crawled up onto it, shifted to sit, and crossed her arms on the table. “I heard my daddy tell Mommy somebody painted your picture on a barn. He said the police are going to imbestigate you.”

“He did?”

She bobbed her head. “He said you looked like the devil. Are you the devil?”
― Steve Rush, Lethal Impulse

“It was odds on they would find out one of the team had escaped the blast, and it wouldn’t be long before they knew which one. Then they would come looking for him.
And Conor intended they should find him.”
― Michael Parker, The Eagle's Covenant

“Anika walked to the workbench, which was flanked by two metal cabinets. She opened the cabinet on the left and spotted sundry items—nails, paint, and whatnot—that one expected to see. Even the rat poison with skull and crossbones on the bag made sense. She also saw, however, several boxes wrapped in white and labeled, “Explosive Plastic Comp-4 (C-4).” Paralyzed, she tried not to panic or stare. ”
― Chad Boudreaux, Homecoming Queen

“You have a virus time bomb in your software. The active boot partition of your system has been encrypted. You must respond to this message within fifteen minutes to prevent detonation.”
― Michael Parker, The Eagle's Covenant

“Before I started killing people, I like to think I was a fairly normal kid.”
― Edward Williams

“Killing people is considered not just illegal Sally, it’s generally accepted as bad behavior.”
― Michael Deeze, The Deathbed Confessions

“The room was cavernous, divided into varied sections by high Moorish arches of a rusty peach, the ceiling of painted patterns set between strips of light blue wood. Bright colors everywhere, high curved windows bordered in violet, smaller windows inset with yellow and green stones and framed in aqua, banquettes upholstered in red and gold.
 ”
― Theasa Tuohy, Mademoiselle le Sleuth

“Bobby was a pretty boy. All looks no substance. Oh you know the kind, on the fringe, never gonna be a roller, but always gonna be the roller’s best friend. Never gonna hit the homerun, but damn sure gonna be happy with the singles, doubles and maybe a few triples.” She shrugged, “that was Bobby Dey-Dey.”
― Michael Deeze, The Deathbed Confessions

“Well, now, Mistress No-English," Sarah spat out, "I don't suppose you've seen a new pair of silver shoes." She looked down at the svelte French woman's feet. "Just about your size, I'd judge.”
― Theasa Tuohy, Mademoiselle le Sleuth

“If love is blind, so is hatred.”
― Yarro Rai, Vice and Virtue

“They passed through a marbled rotunda and Sarah gasped. Heading straight for them was a stampeding herd of skeletal animals, their bleached bones and empty eye-sockets shimmering in sunlight that flooded the vast hall from overhead windows.”
― Theasa Tuohy, Mademoiselle le Sleuth

“He thought he had her cornered, but grief had no corners.”
― Yarro Rai, Vice and Virtue

“She wore her fear like armor, polished and invisible.”
― Yarro Rai, Vice and Virtue

“A sister’s hug can mend what revolutions cannot.”
― Yarro Rai, Vice and Virtue

“An old man, thin as a rake, with cheap Clicks Pharmacy reading glasses perched on his nose, was leaning on the counter, paging through Die Burger newspaper. When he looked up, Leon involuntary took a step back. The man had the most intense blue eyes, strikingly contrasting his tanned bony skull. But it wasn’t the colour of the eyes that stopped Leon in his tracks, it was the expression on the man’s face. His eyes were limp, blank, incarcerated by an unfocused daze. He stared straight through Leon into, what felt to Leon as if into a vast abyss of nothingness.”
― Louis Wiid, from upcoming Novel SUBMERGED