The key to thrillers is vicarious pleasure.

She's a reflection of my fascination with the diversity of America she's totally normal in New York, but a freak in Texas. There are dozens of such clashes in America.

I was fired from my television job, simple as that. Well, downsized, really, a classic 1990s situation.

Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

I'd been a thriller reader all my life.

So, how to stay inside the world of entertainment without actually getting another job? I felt the only logical answer was to become a novelist. So I wrote the first book - driven by some very real feelings of desperation - and it worked.

So long as readers keep reading and my publishers keep publishing, I plan to keep on writing. I'd have to be an idiot to be burnt-out in this job.