“Had she always been so insulated from human contact, like a bloom encased in frost?”

“I know there’s evil in the world, and there always has been. But you don’t need to believe in Satan or demons to explain it. Human beings are perfectly capable of evil all by themselves.”

“But human anatomy and human endurance are variable. While the much younger nun had succumbed to her injuries, Ursula's heart kept beating, her body unwilling to surrender its soul. Not a miracle, merely one of those quirks of fate, like the child who survives a fall from a sixth-floor window, and is only scratched.”

“She was the only woman in the homicide unit, and already there had been problems between her and another detective, charges of sexual harassment, countercharges of unrelenting bitchiness.”

“...Jane remained in her chair thinking about justice, about how the dead never benefited from it. For them it always comes too late.”

“The Christmas tree, twinkling with lights, had a mountain of gifts piled up beneath it, like offerings to the great god of excess.”

“She pressed her fingers to the woman’s neck and felt icy skin.Bending close to the lips, she waited for the whisper of a breath, the faintest puff of air against her cheek.The corpse opened its eyes.”