There's a really classic cliche every time you switch the TV on - you see cops arguing. I have spent a day a week for many years in the presence of police and I have never seen them argue. It's a military hierarchy. They do what they're told. There's no bickering.

The crime genre's always been regarded very well by the literary end of the book world, whereas horror, although it had that spell in the late eighties, by and large, it's sort of ghetto-ized, and considered to be exploited literature.

I think the police are a major part of the glue that holds civilised life together. They're not highly paid.

I've always been much more scared of the living than I am of the dead.

Every novel starts with a theme, and I am constantly looking for big ideas.

...I don't have concrete plans for the future. I just think of success and keep a successful attitude. Success is 99 percent preparation. If you set yourself up for winning, rarely will you fail.

Brighton is a beautiful seaside city, but it's got a dark underbelly.