Shaw, we're going to die, aren't we?" Probably. Why?" Just wanted confirmation.

I look for material that both interest me and challenges me. If I am drawn to the material and I have to work hard at it, the characters and the plots reflect the hours and hours of research.

I'd read a lot of thrillers about politicians and presidents, but never one where you flip the stereotypes and make good people bad and bad people good.

That's what civilization sometimes did to threats, real or perceived. They walled them off. Us against them. Survival of the fittest. You die so I can live.

Today might not be so good. But tomorrow, you got another chance to get it right.

When a poor man gives something, that is a sacrifice indeed. When a rich man gives something, it hardly rises to the same level.

In every thriller written about Washington, particularly after 9/11, there are good guys and there are bad guys, and there's no gray area at all.