Those golden minutes before you are completely awake, when your mind is just drifting, you have no censorship; you are ready to develop any kind of idea. That's when I come up with the best and worst ideas. That is the privilege of being a writer - that you can stay in bed for an hour in the morning and it's work time.

To have the chance of being loved we have to take a chance on being destroyed inside

When you're an established name, you know that a children's book will have a pretty good chance of getting picked up. Like Madonna. It's not that I had this great idea. Actually, in my case, it was a great idea.

There’s only one thing worse than not satisfying a desire. And that is not to feel any desire.

What is worse? Taking the life of a person who wants to live or taking death from a person who wants to die.

Ever since the '70s, Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo were the godfathers of Scandinavian crime. They broke the crime novel in Scandinavia from the kiosks and into the serious bookstores.

When I finish a book, I'm so exhausted that I'm sort of letting myself think that this could be the end.