33 Quotes by Jeff Abbott

You just have to sit down and write the next book. I mean, it's not all uncommon for a writer to get a ton of publicity for one book and then not get as much for the next one. I don't worry about that because I try to worry about the one single part of the job I can control: the writing of the book.

We do something like this every year. Then this catastrophe hit, and it seemed like the obvious choice to help.

I travel, a lot, to research the locales for the books. I have professional contacts that I can ask questions of or show them scenes to vet.

I want the reader to be in the shoes of everyday people who are facing incredible dangers and wonder if they would make the same choices.

I had started writing the fourth Whit Mosley book, ... I was 40 pages into it, and then Dutton asked me if I would consider writing a standalone. The series novel can do a lot to build a loyal readership, but the standalone is sometimes easier for the publisher to market to a broader audience.

I outline in some detail, but even after the outline is done I often get a new idea that is an improvement, so the outline is a living, breathing thing as well. I also re-outline when I'm two-thirds done, to be sure that there is an emotional payoff from all the plot lines and to be sure the story is as tight as it can be.

There is a time on every job where you say, screw caution. I'm not foolhardy. I'm not stupid. But sometimes you have to be the battering ram.

An astonishing debut. Brilliantly conceived, masterfully written, Stuart Neville’s THE TWELVE is both a heart-pounding thriller and a stunning examination of responsibility and revenge. He is going to be a major new voice in suspense fiction.

I believe the most intricate plot won't matter much to readers if they don't care about the characters, especially in a series. So I try to focus hard on making each character, whether villain or hero, have an interesting flaw that readers can relate to.