In real life, coincidences happen all the time. In novels, they are leapt upon with fury.

I love to make even villains people you can relate to. When you find out who did it, I think you almost like the person, which is not easy to do.

I'm the Jerry Lewis of crime fiction.

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

There are three things that make a person a writer: inspiration, perspiration and desperation.

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 remember one time I heard this English professor asking the class what the world's scariest noise is. Is it a man crying out in pain? A woman's scream of terror? A gunshot? A baby crying? And the professor shakes his head and says, 'No, the scariest noise is, you're all alone in your dark house, you know you're all alone, you know that there is no chance anyone else is home or within miles—and then, suddenly, from upstairs, you hear the toilet flush.