Third Degree

Third Degree by Greg Iles

The tension and suspense start right at the beginning with an adulterous wife and a husband being pushed over the edge. I'm not really sure why I didn't like this one better. Maybe because the more sympathetic character of the wife was an adulteress? But I couldn't manage to scrape up much sympathy for the cuckolded husband either. I suppose it's true that one never knows what one will do in any given situation until one is in that situation, still many of the characters actions seemed unlikely at best.
That all being said there were a few quotes I wanted to keep, the first on page 79. The italics are the authors own.

Once somebody begins to doubt your honesty, wiping away suspicion is almost
impossible. That's why people never survive public investigations.
Some of the mud always sticks, justified or not.

There is a lot more of this quote relating to the wife's guilt since after all, she is cheating on her husband. But what I thought this part was the most interesting because it pertains to any relationship of any type and also to those in the public eye, which of course is why rumours and gossip are so destructive.

The actual monologue from which this quote is taken begins on page 358, I am just going to save the ending from page 359.

And don't tell me it's all made right in the afterlife, because you know what?
The agony of one infant dying senselessly mocks all the golden trumpets of
heaven. I don't want to sit at the right hand of a God who can torture
children, or even one who sits by and allows them to be tortured. Free
will, my ass. I made no choice to die at thirty-seven. This one's on
God's account, Major. We look for meaning where there is none, because
we're too afraid to accept randomness. Well, I've accepted it.
Embraced it, even. And once you do that, the world just doesn't look the
same anymore."

I must've been depressed or upset about the course of my life the day I read that page because it really resounded with me.
The next one also really hit me. I have a difficult time letting people get close to me.

"I've always loved you, Warren! I just wanted you to really let me
in, to let me love you, and you couldn't. I dok't think it's your
fault. It's just...I think your father wanted to make you tough, and he
did such a good job that you can't be soft, you can't be vulnerable at
all. And when you armor yourself like that, there's no way love can gtet
in."
"Or out. Right?"
She nodded sadly.

That quote reminds me of one from Metallica's DVD 'Some kind of Monster'. James Hetfield is speaking.

"I'm afraid to get close to people because I don't know how to do it. I
don't know how you're supposed to do it."

Too much introspection and personal honesty today.