Everybody had something horrible happen to them at one time or another in their life.

Reading is not just an escape. It is access to a better way of life.

People just make stupid mistakes. And they keep making them and keep making them, and suddenly they can't dig themselves out.

Everyone had a reason for everything they did, even if that reason was sometimes stupidity.

Alafair Burke understands the criminal mind. Long Gone is both an education and an entertainment of the first order. This is a very clever and very smart novel by a very clever and smart writer. The dialogue crackles, the plot is intriguing, and the pacing is perfect.

I grew up reading crime fiction and, especially in the '80s, women were just there to be saved or screwed.

I don't understand people who say they're bored. Look out your window.