Night Watch, by Terry Pratchett

I guess I read these in the wrong order, but I still love the role model that Sam Vimes is. He is The Man. He's got most things in life figured out pretty well, and his gut is the best I've ever seen for decision making. Pratchett will make you laugh and cry and laugh. I highly recommend this one.

Here's my favorite passage, and an example of how clear-thinking and valiant Sam is.

            “Who knew what lurked in the hearts of men? A copper, that’s who. After ten years, you thought you’d seen it all, but the shadows always dished up more. You saw how close men lived to The Beast. You found that people like Carcer were not mad. They were incredibly sane. They were just men without a shield. They’d looked at the world and realized that all the rules didn’t have to apply to them, not if they didn’t want them to. They weren’t fooled by all the little stories. They shook hands with The Beast.”

           “The Beast was howling. It wanted to shut that mouth up…

Vimes reached up and tore his badge off…

Vimes was only a step or two away now… The Beast screamed inside Vimes. It screamed that no one would blame him… the man deserved it…

…but young Sam was watching him, across thirty years.

When we break down, it all breaks down. That’s just how it works. You can bend it, and if you make it hot enough you can bend it in a circle, but you can’t break it. When you break it, it all breaks down until there’s nothing unbroken…

Vimes felt his hand begin to move of its own accord—

And stopped. Red rage froze.

There was The Beast, all around him. And that’s all it was. A beast. Useful, but still a beast. You could hold it on a chain, and make it dance, and juggle balls. It didn’t think. It was dumb. What you were, what you were, was not The Beast.

You didn’t have to do what it wanted. If you did, Carcer won.

He dropped the sword.