You can't have an up without a down, a right without a left, a back without a front - or a happy without a sad.

I once worked as a tour guide in the Costa del Sol of Spain.

I always think the insecurity is going to go away, but it's always there. Only bad writers think they're good.

The muse is not an angelic voice that sits on your shoulder and sings sweetly. The muse is the most annoying whine. The muse isn't hard to find, just hard to like - she follows you everywhere, tapping you on the shoulder, demanding that you stop doing whatever else you might be doing and pay attention to her.

And I love the twist. I love to fool you once, I love to fool you twice, and on the very last page, quite often - very last paragraph sometimes - I like to just play with your perception one more time in a way that makes everything that came before just a little bit different.

The book I always say that influenced me, subconsciously, because at the time I didn't know I wanted to be a writer, was William Goldman's 'Marathon Man.' That was the first adult thriller that I loved. I read it when I was 15 or so, when my father gave it to me.

I still try to make the "next" book my "best" book. I want to grip and move you in unexpected ways.