Top 160 Holly Jackson Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “She wanted to go back. SHe wanted to run to him, fall into him, be Team Ravi and Pip and nothing more. Tell him she loved him in all the secret ways they had, hear him speak all those names he had for her in his butter-soft voice.”

— Holly Jackson

2. “But justice doesn’t exist, and the truth doesn’t matter, not in the real world.”

— Holly Jackson

3. “I found these statistics: 80% of missing people are found in the first twenty-four hours. 97% are found in the first week, and 99% of cases are resolved in the first year. That leaves just 1%. 1% of people who disappear are never found. And just 0.25% of all missing persons cases have a fatal outcome.”

— Holly Jackson

4. “And, finally, to all the girls who’ve ever been doubted or not believed. I know how that feels. These books are for all of you.”

— Holly Jackson

5. “Pit bull,” Pip said. “It’s pit bulls that don’t let things go.”

— Holly Jackson

6. “But sometimes remembering isn’t for yourself, sometimes you do it just to make someone else smile. Those lies were allowed.”

— Holly Jackson

7. “Real men wear floral when trespassing.”

— Holly Jackson

8. “I’m not sure I’m the good girl i once thought i was. I’ve lost her along the way.”

— Holly Jackson

9. “The people you love weren’t algebra: to be calculated, subtracted, or held at arm’s length across a decimal point.”

— Holly Jackson

10. “Pip looked back, over her shoulder, through the trees. Ravi was on his knees in the leaves, face hidden, bawling into his hands. It hurt more than anything, to see him that way, and her chest opened up, reaching out to him, trying to drive her back. Hold him, take the hurt away and let him take hers.”

— Holly Jackson

11. “But if a villain can be made, then they can be unmade.”

— Holly Jackson

12. “But sometimes my mouth starts saying words without checking with my brain first.”

— Holly Jackson

13. “Are we squad goals?” Ravi whispered to Pip. Cara heard and snorted.”

— Holly Jackson

14. “She still spoke to Ravi every day. Not the real one, the one who lived in her head. She spoke to him when she was scared or unsure, asked him what he would do if he were there. He sat beside her when she was lonely, and she was always lonely, looking at old photos on her phone. He told her goodnight and kept her company in the dark while she learned how to sleep again.”

— Holly Jackson

15. “Pip wished she was strong enough, but she’d learned that she wasn’t invincible; she too could break.”

— Holly Jackson

16. “I’ve already learned my lesson here: when you catch someone lying about a murdered girl, you go ask them why.”

— Holly Jackson

17. “They were each other’s crutch to lean on when life got too much to carry alone.”

— Holly Jackson

18. “Some people are pretty good at hiding who they really are.”

— Holly Jackson

19. “I’m irrationally serious.” Pip smiled, holding the Tupperware out to him. “And I made muffins.” “Like bribery muffins?” “That’s what the recipe said, yeah.”

— Holly Jackson

20. “He smiled, put his hands on the back of her neck, fingers in her hair, and leaned in to press his forehead against hers. He’d told her before that he did it to take away half her sadness, half her headache, half her nerves before her Columbia interview. Because half less of a bad thing meant there was room for half good.”

— Holly Jackson

21. “I think we all get to decide what good and bad and right and wrong mean to us, not what we’re told to accept.”

— Holly Jackson

22. “As if they think I don’t already know. I came out of the womb knowing how to do academic references.”

— Holly Jackson

23. “Who will look for you when you’re the one who disappears?”

— Holly Jackson

24. “Or, even worse, calling Sal a monster. It’s interesting to compare your reporting about Sal to your recent articles on the Stratford Strangler. He murdered five people and pleaded guilty, yet in your headline you referred to him as a “lovesick young man.” Is that because he’s white?”

— Holly Jackson

25. “Her judgement day would come, but for now, Pip walked and she promised. That’s all. One foot in front of the other, even if she had to drag them, even when the hole in her heart felt too big to keep standing. She walked and she promised and he was with her, Ravi’s fingers slotting in between hers in the way they used to fit, fingertips in the dips of her knuckles.”

— Holly Jackson

26. “You’re my person. My little one. My Sarge. And I’m supposed to protect you.”

— Holly Jackson

27. “What do you do when the things that are supposed to protect you, fail you like that.”

— Holly Jackson

28. “It was in nightmares, and crashing pans, and heavy breaths, and dropped pencils, and thunderstorms, and closing doors, and too loud, and too quiet, and alone and not, and the ruffle of pages, and the tapping of keys and every click and every creak. The gun was always there. It lived inside her now.”

— Holly Jackson

29. “I’ve been thinking’, Pip said, turning to face him. ‘All Stanley wanted was a quiet life, to learn to be better, to try do some good with it. And he doesn’t get to do that any more. But we’re still here, we’re alive.’ She paused, meeting Jamie’s eyes. ‘Can you promise me something? Can you promise me you’ll live a good life? A full life, a happy one. Live well, and do it for him, because he can’t any more.”

— Holly Jackson

30. “Because half less of a bad thing meant there was room for half good.”

— Holly Jackson

31. “It’s just... ’ he drew off, his voice guttering out. ‘It’s scary, to know that someone might want to hurt you, or make you scared. You’re my person. My little one. My Sarge. And I’m supposed to protect you.’ ‘You do protect me,’ she said, holding his eyes. ‘Even when you’re not here.’ He was her life raft, her cornerstone for what good truly meant. Didn’t he know that?”

— Holly Jackson

32. “A good leader motivates his team. Delegation. Motivation. Would Oliver say good job to her when she finished butchering her mom’s old suitcase?”

— Holly Jackson

33. “Our dad killed your boyfriend’s older brother and kept a girl in his loft for five years. You have yourself two experts at acting normal.”

— Holly Jackson

34. “The people you love weren’t calculated, subtracted, or held at arm’s length across a decimal point. Victor was her dad, who’d raised her since she was four years old, and Josh was her annoying little brother.”

— Holly Jackson

35. “And in the dead silence of the night, Pip whispered, “Who’s taking the picture?”

— Holly Jackson

36. “One sniper. One gun. One red dot. And one liar.”

— Holly Jackson

37. “We’re a team, remember. You and me.”

— Holly Jackson

38. “Real shame was killing your mom and having to live with it, knowing that she died and the last thing you ever said to her was that you hated her. If Red survived that, she could survive this.”

— Holly Jackson

39. “We’re a team, remember. You and me. And no one’s taking you away from me, not even you.”

— Holly Jackson

40. “His fingers stalled. ‘I’m –’ ‘Please.’ Her throat clenched like it did before she cried, breaking her voice into a million little pieces. ‘Don’t make me do this again. Please. I can’t do this again.”

— Holly Jackson

41. “You go around asking dangerous questions, girl, you’re going to find some dangerous answers.”

— Holly Jackson

42. “She was going to die.”

— Holly Jackson

43. “I still think this is reckless and I’m crapping myself, but –’ he paused, flashing her a small smile – ’we’re partners in crime after all. That means partners no matter what.”

— Holly Jackson

44. “Or maybe Ravi Singh’s itchy head was the equivalent of Pip’s useless facts: armour and shield when the knight inside was squirming.”

— Holly Jackson

45. “She was on a high cliff edge somewhere between laughing and crying and screaming.”

— Holly Jackson

46. “Cara’s wasn’t the face of a best friend; it was the face of a sister. It was home.”

— Holly Jackson

47. “She should have been used to it by now, the lingering looks while people tried to work out the logistics of her family. Victor, the tall Nigerian man, was evidently her stepfather; and Josh, her half brother. But Pip didn’t like those words, those cold technicalities. The people you love weren’t calculated, subtracted, or held at arm’s length across a decimal point.”

— Holly Jackson

48. “Your efficiency offends me.”

— Holly Jackson

49. “Hey Sarge, remember me?”

— Holly Jackson

50. “They found Lauren fully submerged in a duvet fort on the bed, the only sign of her existence a splay of ginger hair poking out from the bottom.”

— Holly Jackson