Privacy and loneliness were the traditional luxuries accorded to a skipper.

Two questions form the foundation of all novels: "What if?" and "What next?" (A third question, "What now?", is one the author asks himself every 10 minutes or so; but it's more a cry than a question.) Every novel begins with the speculative question, What if "X" happened? That's how you start.

Surviving is much more painful than death.

I haven't got any fan mail from Osama bin Laden. I have no reason to believe he reads my stuff I'll never decide for commercial reasons to put something in that endangers our national security. You just can't do that.

A lawyer is just like an attack dog, only without a conscience.

Collaboration on a book is the ultimate unnatural act.

What do I know about sex? I’m a married man.