Everything you could want - action, suspense, character and setting, all floating on the easy lyricism of a fine writer at the top of his game.

Anecdotally his fitness reports rated him well above average in the classroom, excellent in the field, fluently bilingual in English and French, passable in Spanish, outstanding on all man-portable weaponry, and beyond outstanding at hand-to-hand combat. Susan knew what that last rating meant. Like having a running chainsaw thrown at you

I love visiting LA. It's an endlessly fascinating city, and is, of course, America's entertainment capital. Each time I go, I fall in love with it all over again. That said, it's not the sort of place I'd want to live.

I grew up in Birmingham, where they made useful things and made them well.

A handgun at two hundred feet is the same thing as crossing your fingers and making a wish.

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'd never believed in luck. Never had any cause to. Never relied on it, because I never could.