Reading, May '15 - “But still in the game.”

Robert B. Parker's Kickback (Spenser Book 28) by Ace Atkins
Gone Tomorrow (Jack Reacher, Book 13) by Lee Child
61 Hours (Jack Reacher, Book 14) by Lee Child
Worth Dying For (Jack Reacher, Book 15) by Lee Child
The Affair (with bonus short story Second Son) (Jack Reacher, Book 16) by Lee Child

Stumptown Volume 3 by Greg Rucka, Justin Greenwood & Ryan Hill
Ultimate Comics Captain America by Jason Aaron, Ron Garney
Ultimate Hulk vs Iron Man: Ultimate Human by Warren Ellis & Cary Nord
Ultimate Comics Thor by Jonathan Hickman, Carlos Pacheco

Gone Tomorrow
I am afraid of very little, but hassle with today’s security apparatus is always best avoided. Franz Kafka and George Orwell would have given me the same advice.

The World War Two-era Red Army greatcoat that Lila Hoth claimed to have been conceived under had almost certainly been made in America, as part of the Lend-Lease program. We had shipped a hundred million tons of woolen and cotton goods to the Russians. Plus fifteen million pairs of leather boots, four million rubber tires, two thousand railroad locomotives, and eleven thousand freight cars, as well as all the obvious heavy metal, like fifteen thousand airplanes, seven thousand tanks, and 375,000 army trucks. All free, gratis, and for nothing. Winston Churchill had called the program the least sordid in all of history. Legends had grown up around it. The Soviets were said to have asked for condoms, and in an attempt to impress and intimidate, they had specified that they should be eighteen inches long. The United States had duly shipped them, in cartons stamped Size: Medium.

Look, don’t see, listen, don’t hear. The more you engage, the longer you survive.

You can’t help anyone from a jail cell. Outside is always better than inside.

If you wish for peace, prepare for war.

61 Hours
“Certain situations and certain operations called for what the field manuals described as alertness, focus, motivation, and mental clarity, for extended periods. The doctors had all kinds of pep pills available. Straight meth was on its way out when I came on the job, but it had been around before that, for decades.” Janet Salter nodded. “It was called Pervitin. A German refinement of a Japanese discovery. It was in widespread use during World War Two. It was baked into candy bars. Fliegerschokolade, which means flyers’ chocolate, and Panzerschokolade, which means tankers’ chocolate. The Allies had it, also. Just as much, actually. Maybe more. They called it Desoxyn. I’m surprised anyone ever slept.”"

Worth Dying For
...you don’t start fights but you sure as hell finish them, and you don’t lose them either, and he was the inheritor of generations of hard-won wisdom that said the best way to lose them was to assume they were over when they weren’t yet.

The Affair
“Federal spending. You know how it was. Washington couldn’t let large parts of the South turn into the Third World, so we threw some money down there. A lot of money, actually. You ever notice how the folks who talk loudest about small government always seem to live in the states with the biggest subsidies? Small government would kill them dead.”"

Kickback
“What are your thoughts about cops in schools?” “When I was a counselor, we didn’t have them,” she said. “It’s a relatively new idea, and while I understand the need, I don’t like the message.” “Meaning?” “Some horrific things have happened in schools lately,” she said. “But while the old model had the counselors or teachers or administrators looking for solutions to most problems, all those problems now seem to fall to the school resource officer, and they’re ill-equipped to solve them. From what you’ve told me about Blackburn, and other things I’ve heard, it’s gotten very much out of hand. They’re cops. They have only one approach to a problem.” “Cops make an arrest and the school’s hands are clean.” “Out of sight and out of mind.”

“Nobody gets out of this world without a little maintenance.”

“At least you love your work.” “Some days,” she said. “When you make things right.” “Doesn’t last long,” I said. “Never does,” she said. “Only live for the moment. Order is an illusion.” “Who said that?” “Probably some dead white man.”

“You know why I hate golf?” Hawk said. “Too many assholes play it?” I said. “Exactly.”

“Turn here,” he said. I turned. “Turn there.” I turned there.

“But nobody is really going to care when you disappear, Spenser. You know how many guys I know who will throw a freakin’ party when you’re gone?” “How many?” I said. “Lots.” “But we’ll need a head count,” I said. “Appetizers. Cocktails.” “Arty?” DeMarco said. Arty looked up. Howdy Doody and Baldy had joined him to stare at me as Jackie DeMarco shamed me so thoroughly.

“White BMW,” I said. “Two guys up front.” “That’s them.” “You think you could redirect their attention while I attempt to talk to Miss Bennett?” “Be my pleasure, bawse.” “You do a good job,” I said, “and I’ll let you wax the car later.” “Lawdy,” Hawk said. “You just too good to me, Mista Spensah.” “Is that really necessary?” “Sometimes it’s important to underscore the racial dynamic to our relationship.”

“The law isn’t justice,” I said. “It’s a very imperfect mechanism.”

“For-profit prisons,” she said. “Their incentive is not to rehabilitate but rather to create a returning customer.” “Therein lies the rub.”

I’ve had worn-out parts replaced and improved the older ones. Did I not mention I’ve achieved my fighting weight?” “Better than ever.” “Maybe not better,” I said. “But still in the game.”