Lazarus Quotes
"On Swedish fire extinguishers it says they have to be tested three days before any fire."
"Dead bodies have been found here twice in the past forty years, one in the car park and the other inside one of the flats."
"The air is thick with the smell of excrement and cadaver, strong enough to make their eyes water."
"People take different paths, that’s just how it is."
"Young people want us to care, but not too much ... they want us to have faith in them."
"I refuse to get bogged down in technicalities, seeing as digging a grave and filling it in are basically the same thing."
"The darkness outside is thick now, as Joona thanks her for the meal and starts to clear the table."
"Jurek Walter would never bother with trophies."
"He wasn’t alone at the grave when we got there."
"That was one of my first operations with the Stockholm Rapid Response Unit."
"She’s done for the day, and pulls her gloves off as she heads up towards the house."
"The water laps softly as she puts one foot up on the edge of the bath."
"He’s got no other defensive injuries either."
"Everyone did what they had to – and more."
"He was locked up, medicated, just ticking over ... and all the while waiting for a chance to pick up where he left off."
"Jurek’s body had been carried on the current and washed ashore during the storms we had at the end of that winter."
"Jurek Walter had appeared from time to time, opening the coffin and giving her water and food."
"He didn’t get anything out of the act of killing itself, there was no sexual motive, it wasn’t even about domination, just his own personal sense of justice … he wanted the first category, the primary victims, to be broken down to the point they would choose death over life."
"‘But these murders don’t fit Jurek Walter’s persona.’"
"‘I can afford it,’ he replies, and puts the bowl down on the floor below the kitchen window."
"‘It’s complicated,’ the large man says after a while."
"‘It’s just … we can’t use the Internet any more.’"
"‘You shouldn’t have done that,’ he wrote. ‘The only way you can regain my trust is by filming yourself slicing through your Achilles tendons.’"
"‘He’s not using the Dark Web any more, from now on he’ll make do with a bit of online gaming.’"
"‘But I want to stress that we’re far from finished with our inquiries,’ Nathan says, taking an apple from the bowl in the middle of the table."
"Obviously he says it’s impossible to protect yourself against Jurek … but that you can destroy a spider’s web with a stick."
"I saw the body, the decayed torso, the bullet holes exactly where I shot him."
"The chapel on the island is the only way into Jurek’s world that we’ve found so far … that’s the crack he crawled out of, that’s where you …"
"In theory there’s an infinitesimal possibility that Jurek Walter is still alive."
"I’m sure I killed Jurek Walter, but I still think Joona’s doing the right thing seeing as he personally isn’t convinced Jurek is dead."
"Joona left Carlos a message saying that Jurek Walter had whipped the man at the campsite the same way he used to whip his twin brother."
"We’re not going to drop this, absolutely not."
"The killer is someone – or possibly more than one person – who’s taken upon themselves the task of cleaning things up around Europe."
"Joona believes that Jurek Walter has recruited an accomplice."
"We can’t go outside the country if no one’s requested our help … people are only too relieved to get shot of some of their worst criminals."
"The plan is to stay alive until the police catch Jurek."
"It’s clear that what unbalanced Joona was the fact that two of the victims had connections to him."
"If Jurek’s alive and has an accomplice, then surely the accomplice ought to do what Jurek wants, and bury people alive – not clean up society."
"It isn’t Jurek, it’s a serial killer … and we’ve got one week to find him."
"I’m starting to get used to disappearing."
"The streets are almost deserted when Saga goes home."
"It occurs to Saga that Joona is bound to get in touch at some point to ask about the investigation."
"Up in her apartment Saga locks her pistol in the gun-cabinet."
"‘You mustn’t forget to turn it off,’ her sister replies."
"‘I heard giggling outside,’ Pellerina whispers, almost inaudibly."
"‘They’re not real – you know that, don’t you?’"
"‘I’ll be with you as soon as I can – how does that sound?’"
"Saga realises that her hands are shaking."
"‘I remember once when Mum and I … We’d been watching a large fire,’ Lumi said."
"‘Do you remember anything about life in Sweden?’ Joona asks."
"‘You drew a—’ ‘Let’s forget all about that, shall we?’ Joona interrupts."
"‘I went and hid when I got scared,’ Pellerina says as she puts her nightdress on."
"‘But there’s nothing to be scared of – you know that, don’t you?’"
"Saga drives past the open ambulance entrance at Södermalm Hospital."
"‘I want my own phone,’ Pellerina said when Saga gave her the used one."
"‘We’re going to solve this,’ Nathan says."
"‘So this was where Jurek ended up after you shot him,’ Nathan says."
"The acrid smell of disinfectant hits her as she opens the cabinet."
"Pain doesn’t frighten me, it’s part of life."
"I live to restore order ... and I’m inexhaustible, I was robbed, and that created a hole that needs to be filled."
"The only thing that counts is killing him. That’s worth all the losses, all the potential consequences you could possibly imagine."
"The truth is that I have an ability, I know who’s going to die first almost every time I enter a room."
"You have a darkness inside you that’s almost a match for mine."
"This isn’t a fairy tale about Beauty and the Beast."
"Every conversation with Jurek is a precarious balancing act."
"All that matters to us is how good a shot you are."
"But now I’ve got way too much going on in my life to tolerate any more shit."
"There’s no way back now, she thinks. She’s just lied to Jurek, and it’s going to be very hard to maintain that lie if anything goes wrong."
"There’s a chance she might be able to put everything right."
"If she doesn’t move the laptop, it will look like she’s sitting at home in her flat."
"Jurek takes nourishment from their conversations, the feeling that he’s dissecting her soul."
"It’s almost as if she’s got opiates in her system."
"People flatter themselves by claiming there are accepted norms for human behaviour … but everyone is basically jealous, cowardly, full of hate."
"The only light comes from the screen and the standard lamp she’s brought from her flat."
"She controls her breathing, feels the gentle movements of her stomach, and breathes out more slowly."
"Everything is a luminous green, and looks oddly plastic."
"The shadows make the ground look like the surface of water in a pool."
"He’s thin, and can move with remarkable speed."
"The rapid response team had even drilled into the reinforced cement floor of the bunker, but there was nothing but sand beneath it."
"Her dad is looking in surprise at Jurek, who turns his back on him and returns to the computer."
"The wind seems to be getting stronger, whistling through the forest behind them."
"Saga checks that her pistol is still in its holster, and glances quickly at Jennifer."
"Her grey camouflage clothing is dark with blood on the arms and chest."
"‘Then that’s just the way it is,’ she says, meeting his gaze."
"‘Dad, I’m sorry I’ve been so awful,’ she says."
"The door of the third barrack has swung open, possibly because of the wind."
"‘We haven’t got time to be sad, that can wait,’ Joona says."
"‘It’s time to rethink this, we need to ask the public for help.’"
"‘I’m so sorry for what I did, I swear—’"
"‘I can’t deal with any more of this shit right now.’"
"‘Come on, we need to think,’ Saga says, wiping her mouth with her hand again."
"‘The constellation of the Twins,’ Nathan says slowly."
"Maybe you don’t know it, but this is exactly the kind of thing we’ve spent years training for: going in and incapacitating someone who’s taken hostages."
"I respect your team. From everything I’ve seen, you’re good… but Jurek is far more dangerous than you imagine."
"If he is in that house, most of you are going to die."
"We’ve already said goodbye to our families."
"Jurek is an elderly man now, but he has more experience of combat than any of you comes anywhere close to… He’s been a soldier for years, he’s killed hundreds… and before that he was a child soldier. It’s all he knows."
"It isn’t right, they’ve ruined everything…"
"It’s really cold, I can’t feel my legs any more… I don’t think I can survive another night…"
"I don’t want to do bad things, but withdrawal terrifies you, it’s like being in hell."