Yep, despite all the horror and despair in this book there's still a few moments that will touch your heart.
- One moment that stands out is near the end of the book when Will Graham talks with Reba. Reba has been through a traumatic experience and is scared. She's worried that there must be something wrong with her if a serial killer was so attracted to her. Our unsociable protagonist then tries to assuage her fears and tells her:Will Graham: Look here. There was plenty wrong with Dolarhyde, but there's nothing wrong with you. You said he was kind and thoughtful to you. I believe it. That's what you brought out in him. At the end, he couldn't kill you and he couldn't watch you die. People who study this kind of thing say he was trying to stop. Why? Because you helped him. That probably saved some lives. You didn't draw a freak. You drew a man with a freak on his back. Nothing wrong with you, kid. If you let yourself believe there is, you're a sap.
- The second film has an equally charming variant. Again, he assures Reba, and teases her a bit to make her laugh.
Graham: Listen to me. There was plenty wrong with Dolarhyde, but there's nothing wrong with you. Except your hair. Your hair is a train wreck.[Reba bursts into giggles]Graham: Can we please do something about that? For next time, maybe? Please? That would be nice. - Also, the part where Dolarhyde is in bed with Reba and is listening to her heart. Even he has some humanity left.
- Graham letting Wendy, Freddy's lover, in to see Freddy before he dies. Graham hates Freddy. Even after Freddy's horrible death Graham cannot bring himself to feel that badly for Freddy's death. However, he still knows how important it is for Wendy to see Freddy just one last time.
- Then later Wendy and Graham share another heartwarming moment at Freddy's funeral. Graham compliments how Wendy stayed with Freddy to the end and in return Wendy assures Graham that she doesn't blame him for Freddy's death. Despite barely knowing each other and never meeting again, the two reach an understanding that would be difficult for many in such stressful events.Graham: I'm sorry you had this. You did...I thought you were fine at the hospital. I admired that.Wendy: Freddy was a sport. He shouldn't have to go out that hard...Look, the Tattler's giving me some money, you figured that, right? For an interview and the dive at the graveside. I don't think Freddy would mind.Graham: He'd have been mad if you passed it up.Wendy: That's what I thought. They're jerks, but they pay. What it is, they tried to get me to say that I think you deliberately turned this freak on to Freddy, chumming with him in that picture. I didn't say it. If they print that I did say it, well that's bullshit. You didn't like him, maybe-it doesn't matter. But if you thought this could happen, you wouldn't have missed the shot at the Fairy, right?Graham: Yeah, Wendy. I'd have staked him out.
- Dolarhyde uses his job connections to take Reba to the zoo and allow her to pet and interact with a sedated tiger, knowing that her favorite childhood memory was seeing a cougar at the zoo shortly before losing her eyesight. It's an incredibly caring and thoughtful gesture.
- The film adds one at the final fight. Dolarhyde takes Josh prisoner, but Graham is able to free him by playing on Dolarhyde's humanity — using on Josh the same threats Grandma Dolarhyde used on Francis. In mere moments, Dolarhyde has turned from holding Josh at knifepoint to protecting him from Graham, proving — once and for all — that despite everything, he does have a heart.
