Quotes from Lee Child

I'd been a thriller reader all my life.

For me the end of a book is just as exciting as it is for a reader.

So long as readers keep reading and my publishers keep publishing, I plan to keep on writing. I'd have to be an idiot to be burnt-out in this job.

I've discovered writers by reading books left in airplane seats and weird hotels.

The thriller is not a recent invention. It probably goes back to the dawn of storytelling.

The way to write a thriller is to ask a question at the beginning, and answer it at the end.

The key to thrillers is vicarious pleasure.

You mustn't fall in love with your own hero.

In principle if I could not have a home I wouldn't. But not having a home would be too difficult procedurally, going from hotel to hotel, the gap of three hours where you're hungry and tired.

I have to warn you. I promised my mother, a long time ago. She said I had to give folks a chance to walk away.

Spread love and understanding," Reacher said. "Use force if necessary.

She's a reflection of my fascination with the diversity of America she's totally normal in New York, but a freak in Texas. There are dozens of such clashes in America.

He had fallen out of the ugly tree, and hit every branch.

I was in television drama, which is a first cousin to the movies, and I trust myself to make the right decisions.

Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

So, how to stay inside the world of entertainment without actually getting another job? I felt the only logical answer was to become a novelist. So I wrote the first book - driven by some very real feelings of desperation - and it worked.

Yeah, I am pretty sure of myself.

I was fired from my television job, simple as that. Well, downsized, really, a classic 1990s situation.

I always wanted to be in the world of entertainment. I just love the idea of an audience being happy with what I am doing. Writing is showbusiness for shy people. That's how I see it.

I love Italian food but that's too generic a term for what's available now: you have to narrow it down to Tuscan, Sicilian, and so on.

My mother still calls me Jim and that is about it. Everyone else calls me Lee. My wife calls me whatever.

Sometimes if you want to know for sure whether the stove is hot, the only way to find out is to touch it.

Plan A is to hitch a ride out of here. But if they want a war, then plan B is to win it.

The British regulatory system was revised, so that bigger profits were encouraged, which removed the option of big spending on programming. Quality just fell off a cliff, and all the old hands either left or were fired for being too expensive.