"Life in the workplace: so many signs of the hidden world of meanings elude me in a day, bumps on the surface, shadows, like creatures darting by" (Spring, Chapter 1, pg. 20.)

"Analyzing politics or witnesses or cops, she showed you just how firm a purchase she had on what was going on. And that was very exciting to me, to meet a woman who seemed to really have the lowdown, who was moving through the world at Carolyn's speed, and who was so many different things to different people" (Spring, Chapter 2, pg. 34.)

"Lip has his customary OPV—official police vehicle-a gold Aries, unmarked but for the blackwall tires and the license plates, which, like those on every other OPV, begin with ZF, thus forming a code recognized by every minor hoodlum in the city" (Spring, Chapter 8, pg. 74.)

"In a big-city police department, at least in Kindle County, there...