I see that,’ I said. I thought I did. ‘But every case is different. And anyway, you can’t learn from other people’s mistakes.”Not unless you’re very clever,’ said Dexter sadly.

What I didn’t know then was that you can’t make people different, whatever you do. They have to do it themselves.

You see? That’s the point. It’s all a big guess. They hope, they pray, they cook and garden and get a better job to pay the mortgage and read dirty books to keep bedtime interesting,...