The Preparation For Building A Series Of

This Was A Place Where Tattoos Outnumbered Teeth.

No Characters In 'stay Close,' Including The Leads, Are Black And White. I Want Them To Be Grey. I Think That Makes For A Much More Interesting Reading Experience, Something That Will Stay With You A Little Bit Longer.

What I Love About The Thriller Form Is That It Makes You Write A Story. You Can't Get Lost In Your Own Genius, Which Is A Dangerous Place For Writers. You Don't Want To Ever Get Complacent. If A Book Starts Going Too Well, I Usually Know There's A Problem. I Need To Struggle. I Need That Self-doubt. I Need To Think It's Not The Best Thing Ever.

That's What A Good Crime Novelist - Any Good Novelist - Should Do With You: Play With Your Perceptions While Showing You Everything In Plain Sight.

I Love Stories. When I'm Writing, What I Pretend Subconsciously Is That We're Cavemen, We're Sitting Around The Fire, And I'm Telling You Stories. If I Bore You, You're Probably Going To Pick Up A Big Club And Hit Me Over The Head.