That's how I became the damaged party boy who wandered through the wreckage, blood streaming from his nose, asking questions that never required answers. That's how I became the boy who never understood how anything worked. That's how I became the boy who wouldn't save a friend. That's how I became the boy who couldn't love the girl.

Look how black the sky is, the writer said. I made it that way.

People can get accustomed to anything, right? Habit does things to people.

The better you look, the more you see.

Our lives are not all interconnected. That theory is a crock. Some people truly do not need to be here.

I like the idea of a writer being haunted by his own creation, especially if the writer resents the way the character defines him.

'Do you know what Ed Gein said about women?' [...] '"When I see a pretty girl walking down the street I think two things. One part of me wants to take her out and talk to her and be real nice and sweet and treat her right."' I stop finish my J&B in one swallow. 'What does the other part of him think?' Hamlin asks tentatively. 'What her head would look like on a stick...'