I'd been a thriller reader all my life.

For men, as they get bogged down with responsibilities, commitments, bureaucracy, it is a fantasy just to think of shedding everything literally, walking away with nothing at all, and just hitting the road.

The key to thrillers is vicarious pleasure.

I had a brief theater background and loved the backstage world there's more backstage work in television, so I saw a job advertised and applied, and got it. That was back in 1977, when getting jobs was easy.

I was in the machine. My whole life. Then the machine coughed and spat me out. So I thought, OK, if I'm out, I'm out. All the way out. I was a little angry and it was probably an immature reaction. But I got used to it.

I don't know what the secret is when I am writing it - it really is a surprise to me.

No, I'm a man with a rule. People leave me alone, I leave them alone. If they don't, I don't.