An awful lot of thriller writers write women rather badly. So just doing it OK gets a lot of credit.

I have quite a few different Bibles. Having rejected my parents' religion, I still think the King James Bible is the most important work of literature in English. None of us can help being influenced by it.

Culture clash is terrific drama.

When I'm writing a woman character, I don't think, 'What would a woman do?' I just think, 'What would this character do in this situation?

Most of my stories have some basis in fact.

In both cases, weakness and scruples had defeated strength and ruthlessness.

Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically.