Larry Bassett’s Reviews > False Allegations > Status Update

I couldn't think of another rock to turn over. Truth is, I believed her the first time I heard her. It was only Kite who kept me going, following every spot of blood on the tracks. It wasn't the money. I know how to go through the motions without actually doing anything.

Poor little bitch, I thought. Hung out to dry, trained to dance so hard she kept it up even when the music stopped. But every time she heard that music again…"Sure," I said, "but is she—?"

The mystery of life isn't why a tortured child becomes a serial killer—it's why so many children don't. If we could only understand how the brain learns new accommodations…But we do know this: it's some form of interference later on."

Her face fell. "I don't mean that. There are plenty of…kids who didn't turn out like that. No matter what happened to them." "That's true. I'm not arguing with you. Being abused…it's no guarantee." "It's no excuse either," she said, looking at me with those orange eyes.

I'd forgotten how much I'd loved it, reading and studying. I'll bet if I'd been raised by humans instead of a collection of freaks and the fucking State, I'd have been…a scientist, maybe. I don't know. I know I wouldn't have been what I am now. You don't get born bad. NOT BORN BAD IS A VASHSS MANTRA

But those kind of burglars are a dying breed. Hell, burglary itself is a dying art. Today, it's mostly smash–and–snatch punks, junkies and fools, amateurs who think a fence is what you climb over to get to the windows…which you break with a brick. They don't know how to bypass an alarm, don't even know enough to start at the bottom with a chest of drawers.

"Allegations of child sexual abuse," Kite intoned. "The nuclear weapon in divorce cases, the staple of talk shows, the darling of the tabloids. Absolutely pandemic. And when those allegations are false, a greater threat to the fabric of our culture than AIDS, cancer, and cocaine combined!"

Here we are about a third of the way into the book and pretty much nothing has happened yet. It is pretty often the case that someone is asking Burke to take on a task and he has to decide if he is going to do it or not. If you think that process sounds like it might be interesting so far I think it would be wrong. Mama the Chinese restaurant owner seems frustrated that Burke is not doing any work. I am also.

Burke says,"It's all anarchy on the internet now. Makes me nervous. I'm more comfortable when I know the rules - it's easier to cheat."

"An idiot in an iridescent yellow Honda Accord flew past me on the right, huge tires set so far outside the fender line they looked like pontoons. That's what the tires were about - looks. The car wouldn't handle worth a damn. Lots of guys make that mistake, and not just with cars."