I want my readers to feel, to think, sometimes to laugh. But most of all I want them to enjoy a good read.

Now give me a kiss, say you love me and off you go." "Sure, Aunt Lu," I said, and I gave her the kiss she wanted. Then I ran out and caught my bus. I didn't say I loved her. I guess I did. But asking someone to say they love you--and she always asked--is like buying yourself a birthday present. It's more than likely exactly what you want. But it must make you feel awfully sad to get it.

I try to write about complex issues--young people in an adult world-- full of irony and contradiction in a narrative style that relies heavily on suspense with a texture rich in emotion and imagery. I take a great deal of satisfaction in using popular forms-- the adventure, the mystery, the thriller-- so as to hold my reader with the sheer pleasure of a good story. At the same time I try to resolve my books with an ambiguity that compels engagement. In short, I want my readers to feel, to think, sometimes to laugh. But most of all I want them to enjoy a good read.

There are those who'd rob a blind man of his eyelashes if they could.

It all depends on you. If you want it to be different,it will be different. Don't look at the world with your eyes but with your heart.

All I can think is that when you torment a person...the soul dies. When the soul dies, I suppose mercy dies, too.

It seems to me that you won't have had a proper series of adventures, unless you've gone through thick and thin.