I take real people and put them in extraordinary situations.

I'm always telling myself as I write that I'm not really writing a novel; I'm just going to fool around with a character or an idea.

A terrific sadness swept over Jerry. As if somebody had died. The way he felt standing in the cemetry that day they buried his mother. And nothing you could do about it.

And he did see--that life was rotten, that there were no heroes, really, and that you couldn't trust anybody, not even yourself.

You bring up your children to be self-reliant and independent and they double-cross you and become self-reliant and independent.

It doesn't matter how big the body, it's what you do with it.

You hope that people read your book and say "Yes, this is the way it is or could be." But then you have no way of knowing until the reader reads the book. Actually, the critical response doesn't worry me. I've had very few reviews that have upset me.