"Ron says to Harry, 'This guy inherits an island from some benign son-of-a-bitch.' Harry presses his palms on the cement, adjusting his butt against a piece of insulation, his daybed. He watches forms passing in the street, the dusky light slanting. 'Must be six by now.'”   Two stories in one: a cold alley, a tropical island... is either more real than the other? A death wish can be expressed in many ways.

"There was another table by a door, in another place at a different time. Along with the letters there was a newspaper. The headline glared at him: MAN KILLED IN A CROWD WITH POISONED UMBRELLA."   Can effects precede causes? Maybe, but what does that have to do with spies in London, a Zapotec witch, and a secret basement room?

"The moon cast eerie shadows over the body. Moonlight filtering through the shifting sycamore branches created the illusion that he was moving. Father Daniele knelt next to the man, who was lying in a pool of blood. 'Can your hear me, my son?'"   A murder in an Italian village... did the priest do it? Or is this mystery novel really about something else entirely?

"The initial sight of the living room was always a shock, as if she’d forgotten how she’d left it.... Years’ worth of ephemera and objects were stacked in overflowing boxes that lined the perimeter of the room...."    What changes inside you when a loved one disappears? Do you become a different person? Maybe this novel is all a metaphor.

"Living half a century is no great accomplishment; I’ve done it and more. Living through tomorrow may be something much bigger...."   What thoughts would you have as you face open heart surgery? Can someone be obsessed with empty space?

"Neal reached into his jeans pocket and touched the screw cap on the little glass vial he’d brought back from that old Cajun witchee-woman.... Okay. Almost showtime."   What steps would you take to protect your family pride? Down in the Irish Channel, things get a little rough.

"I knew him when we were young. We were friends of sorts for a few months. Then we lost touch..."   What if your old pal became President? He must live on a different plane of reality, that overlays yours like etched glass. But is your barber really a KGB agent?

"A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A rope closely encircled his neck."   If you were facing imminent death, what would go through your head? This classic Civil War story explores that moment in exquisite detail.

"He'd been working quietly on a memoir of his own, but suddenly saw that memoir, once the noblest of genres, would be forever tainted by the mendacity of fraudsters...."   If fiction is unbelievable, maybe that means it's actually true! But what would Oprah Winfrey say?