I used the pen name because I knew I wanted to write better novels under my own name someday.

The meaning of life has not much to do with good and evil, right and wrong, duty, honor, country, or any of that. It has to do with cutting the right deal.

There are Mafia families that have bought magnificent houses on the North Shore, although not yet the great estates because they don't want that kind of high profile.

I read 'Time', 'Newsweek' and 'The Economist'.

Panic---a deep abiding, free-floating anxiety, often without any reason or logical basis.

I had a very strong desire to be successful at something.

I think it's more difficult now to write a spy thriller with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Many authors have tried, but few have succeeded in capturing the interest of readers.