Evil is not a thing. It cannot take possession of you. It's the opposite; it's a void, an absence of goodness. The only thing you can be frightened of here is yourself.

I wasn't that into crime novels at all, but a friend introduced me to the work of Jim Thompson - I loved all his books.

It was a sudden inspiration. But inspiration never came without a reason.

You can't visit readers where you think they are. You have to invite them home to where you are and try to lure them into your universe. That's the art of storytelling.

Harry looked at Bellman. He could not help but admire him. The way you admire a cockroach you flush down the toilet and it comes creeping back again and again and in the end it inherits the world.

Everything you do leaves traces, doesn't it. The life you've lived is written all over you, for those who can read.

All my friends who wanted to write had got nowhere trying to write the great European novel. So I deliberately steered clear of that and set out to write something story-led.