Lisa Gardner

“There are things that once done can’t be undone, things that once said can’t be unsaid.”

“What I learned is that it's arrogant to be certain of anything. The world is a complex place and only idiots or assholes think they know it all.”

“It is difficult to get men to pick up a female author. Women will read men, but men won't read women.”

“You try as a parent. You love beyond reason. You fight beyond endurance. You hope beyond despair.You never think, until the very last moment, that it still might not be enough.”

“I like to believe my suspense novels marry the strong characters from my romance writing past, with the twisty, clever plots of my mystery writing present.”

“When I got my very first phone call that I'd hit the 'New York Times' list, I had a small rush of 'I've made it!' But the next morning, it occurred to me I didn't know what it was, so I called my agent and asked what being a 'New York Times' bestselling author really meant. He informed me that I was now a thousand pound gorilla.”

“It's kind of the yin and yang that fascinate me. That for all the evil men do, there are also people who work obnoxiously long hours and sacrifice their personal lives because it is a calling - if they don't keep our streets safe, if they aren't there to advocate for and save beaten women and children and murder victims, who will?”

“I don't know much about international policing and I would love to learn more. Especially in this day and age when the Internet is rapidly reducing borders and crime can happen on a larger scale than ever before. These things intrigue me.”

“My secret vice is Sudoku puzzles. Can't stop playing them. My parents are accountants. I blame them entirely.”

“Post-apocalyptic novels tell you that in the future there is some great war. I would tell you that most cops say that it's going on right now.”

“I loved ghost stories, creaky staircases, stormy nights. If it guaranteed nightmares I read it by flashlight, after midnight.”

“I think one of the appeals of suspense is to safely explore our innermost fears.”

“I'm very intrigued by e-books, the topic du jour in the industry today. As a number one bestselling Kindle author, I love the way e-books make an author's backlist accessible to new readers. Of course, price point remains a source of concern. Personally, I don't have any of the answers, but I'm intrigued by the questions.”

“I still like the relationship part of any story. You don't want your character to figure everything out and then at the end of the day, go home and eat soup from a can by herself.”

“All I've really ever done is write since I was 17, so I don't know anything about anything. For me to do a novel, I have to talk to people who know things. And what keeps me in suspense is that I am a crime aficionado.”

“I'm not the most detailed writer. I have a tendency to be more action-oriented vs. descriptive.”

“When you're on book tours, you definitely need chocolate. At all times.”

“Before I became a suspense novelist, I wrote romantic suspense as Alicia Scott.”

“I have a huge author crush on Stephen King. Have never met him. Would probably embarrass myself. But it would be worth it.”

“Mental illness is a disease and organic mental illness of young kids is becoming more and more of a disease... we do need to talk about it.”