Debbie Roth’s Reviews > Been Wrong So Long It Feels Like Right: A King Oliver Novel > Status Update

I have seen the entire world in the many faces of humanity on the streets of New York. I have seen the faces of people that I knew long ago on those I had just met; therefore, I’ve had potent emotional responses to persons unknown to me. I have seen hatred, love, and confusion in the eyes of strangers. I thought I had seen it all until Leaf walked down that hall.

You could take the man out of the prison but not the prison out of him, that’s what they said. Letting go of the fear and humiliation, the rage and the feeling of abject defeat, was by far the most difficult part of rehabilitation.

The toughest nut to crack in the interrogation game was always love…Love cannot escape, cannot switch loyalty, cannot exist without its yang. And, in my experience, a woman truly in love with her mate cannot be disabused of her commitments. Like a river, love must run its course, and if it is true love in the heart of the woman being questioned, then that truth will keep its own counsel.

The greatest mysteries are the ones we never suspect.