I respond very well to rules. If there are certain parameters it's much easier to do something really good. Especially when readers know what those are. They know what to expect and then you have to wrong-foot them. That is the trick of crime fiction. And readers come to crime and graphic novels wanting to be entertained, or disgusted.

People are interested in crime fiction when they're quite distanced from crime. People in Darfur are not reading murder mysteries.

I think the negative traits are what makes us love other human beings, the foibles and the flaws.

Usually when I'm trying to establish character, I try and find out where they live.

A man who thinks he has a higher purpose can do terrible things, even to those he professes to love.

I grew up in London under Thatcher and that really was disgusting. A feeding frenzy.

My upbringing was middle-class but my parents' families were both working-class so I had this odd combination of working-class background but in a privileged position.