The Retreat Quotes
"The kind of scream that turns your stomach inside out, makes your ears burn."
"Laughing, she’d walked a few feet away, carefully positioned herself so Ollie could see only the sandy tips of her white Keds."
"His eyes flicker open and it’s then he sees it: the watery trail has become something darker, thicker."
"It’s as though he’s running blind—the setting sun flicker-flashing through the trees overhead."
"It feels like he’s done this before—a weird déjà vu, as if in a dream."
"The air feels sticky like gum, catching in her eyes, hair."
"The past few weeks, an escalation—earlier runs, longer runs, secret runs. Self-flagellation."
"All she can see is blue—the sea a darker, inkier shade than the chalky pastel of the morning sky."
"It’s tempting to keep going until the thoughts stop, and she doesn’t have to try to hold on anymore."
"The raw physicality is always the first thing Elin notices about Steed."
"Nothing else comes close, but what if it’s too much for her now?"
"The world full of color, and without him it is now dark."
"Everything they’d lost. Because that’s what grief is: loss."
"He made the world full of color, and without him it is now dark."
"A broad grin spreads across Jo’s face. Seth, back at the table, is also smiling."
"Sometimes I wish we could roll back twenty years, have a meal the old-fashioned way."
"If you’re truly intellectual, you don’t feel the need to ram it down people’s throats, what you read or watch worn like some bloody badge to prove how intelligent you are."
"Sometimes, the small talk is what keeps us going."
"The golden rule in an unexplained death: treat as suspicious until proven otherwise."
"It’s funny, isn’t it? When you’re young, you’re convinced you’ll make it, that you’ve got all the time in the world."
"If she can survive Liam’s death, then she can survive anything."
"Dreams. You need time, the concentration, enough cash. The reality is I’m good, but I’ll never be brilliant."
"The silence was a canvas, waiting to be filled with the details of her day."
"In that moment, she was a universe of thoughts, spinning silently in the vastness of her own making."
"When the truth is buried, it grows roots that tangle and twist, making every step a possible misstep."
"Crappy move, I know, but she was going to check in first thing, and as she’d booked in originally, I knew there was space."
"Pretty hard for me to judge. We don’t know each other well, not anymore. Uni was a long time ago. We only kept in touch occasionally, through social media."
"She said she was going to head to the villa, surprise them."
"Just before she left, she got a message on her phone. She said she needed to call someone."
"It’s hard to place Bea here after what Elin’s seen of her; imagine her wheeling this case in, anticipating surprising her family, full of life."
"Something’s jarring, not the fall itself, but why she was out here."
"We all have a game face, a defense mechanism to pull us through the shitty bits."
"This is mine. I was a skinny kid, used to run a lot with my mum."
"Not many people admit stuff like that, especially in this job."
"He’s proven right: as the boat speeds away a few minutes later, Rachel doesn’t even give them a backward glance."
"Amazing how Bea’s death has barely made a dent on the world."
"Being nice doesn't always mean being honest. But being honest is always being nice."
"The truth is often uncomfortable. It wriggles and squirms, and we squirm with it."
"Our deepest fears are like stars in the night sky. They're always there, but only in darkness do they reveal their true brilliance."
"Guilt is a shadow that changes its shape with the light. It's always there, just sometimes harder to see."
"Regret is a silent predator. It lurks in the corners of our decisions, waiting to pounce with the power of hindsight."
"Courage isn't the absence of fear. It's the determination to walk through the fear, to challenge it, even when every step feels like a battle."
"Memories are the architecture of our identity. They build us up, tear us down, and shape the spaces in which we live our lives."
"Trust is like a mirror. Once shattered, no matter how you try to piece it back together, the cracks will always show."
"A lie is like a spark in a dry forest. It doesn't take much for it to ignite a fire that can consume everything in its path."
"Forgiveness is the fragrance the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it."
"Just because someone’s dead doesn’t mean they’re suddenly perfect."
"You start thinking of everything before that moment as a different place somehow."
"When the people that are meant to always have your back over anyone, don’t."
"It’s like torture, isn’t it? Someone’s idea of a sick joke."
"People thought Maya coped well, but I can tell she’s struggling, even now."
"The world after… it’s as if it’s shifted on its axis."
"When you’re faced with something like that, you can’t help but read into it…"
"It’s as if this trip has stripped a layer from her, revealed someone new."
"The miracle of hope—even when your brain is telling you one thing, your heart’s able to stretch beyond that."
"You get a feeling sometimes, whether someone’s right for it, and I didn’t get it with him."
"Most people assumed it was the booze talking, possibly hallucinogens. Yet he was adamant."
"If the wind’s blowing one way, you know what it’s like."
"That’s my sister. Doesn’t run from a fight, but toward it. Ballsy."
"I’m not sure. All I know is that the running away theory... it’s what they rolled with at the time."
"It’s not really the done thing to give yourself homework, as you know."
"I knew he was dead, I did. I wouldn’t have left him if I wasn’t certain."
"It would take significant force to do that. These radios are built to last, withstand heavy contact."
"They always say, don’t they, that a lie comes out in the end."
"Don't understand it. We searched this right at the beginning. Nothing was here."
"A wide expanse of gray blue, getting angrier by the minute."
"At this stage, she can't discount the idea that Farrah might be involved in some capacity."
"Fear prickles the back of her neck as she remembers him watching her."
"But it’s not the contents that catch her attention, it’s the bag itself."
"It’s possible that the attacker dumped it, but why this location?"
"She was right: Farrah had written down the name of Rock House School."
"A room. Like Will mentioned. Could this be somewhere they’ve taken Farrah?"
"I’m afraid I have to tell you that Jo is dead."
"I just kept doing it, squeezing and squeezing."
"I thought Jo was lying, you know, that she might have actually had something to do with this..."
"It’s not possible," Maya stutters. "She was with us not long ago."
"I think it’s best if we talk, Elin. Decide how we best move forward."
"You didn’t think it was about anything important like this."
"Finding me like you did, it more than makes up for it."
"I promise you. You’ve got me. And this time, Han, I won’t leave you."
"We haven’t even talked about what’s happened yet, have we?"
"How do you ever get inside someone else’s head?"
"The storm and the island, the rock itself, won’t be sated until it’s swept the place clean."
"Think about what Caleb told Hana about how his father was getting his life back on track just before he died."
"The anomalies we picked up on between the cases is a result of the fact they were committed by two different people."
"The truth doesn’t always set you free; sometimes it chains you to the ground."
"It's what's happening here, right now, the reaper taking the souls of people who deserve to die." - Caleb
"Revenge. Revenge for the fact that your father lost money to Ronan." - Elin
"It was supposed to be a fresh start for my father." - Caleb
"People like you, you think that because you’ve got money and power, the rules don’t apply." - Caleb
"It’s a projection; they’re putting the darkest parts of themselves into something else." - Caleb
"Family is all you have, but it isn’t found only in a blood connection." - Elin
"I want to be sure that when I come back, I’ll do what I did up on that rock every time. Make decisions that are mine, no one else’s." - Elin
"The only really cowardly thing I’ve done is not be true to myself." - Elin