Harlan Coben Quotes
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You know, people call mystery novels or thrillers 'puzzles.' I never understood that, because when I buy a puzzle, I already know what it is. It's on the box. And even if I don't, if it's a 5,000-piece puzzle of the 'Mona Lisa', it's not like I put the last piece in and go, 'I had no idea it's the 'Mona Lisa'!'
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The muse is not an angelic voice that sits on your shoulder and sings sweetly. The muse is the most annoying whine. The muse isn't hard to find, just hard to like - she follows you everywhere, tapping you on the shoulder, demanding that you stop doing whatever else you might be doing and pay attention to her.
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I live in the suburbs, the final battleground of the American dream, where people get married and have kids and try to scratch out a happy life for themselves.
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I've never chased the dollar, I've always chased the reader's heart. I love having more readers. The more people who read it, the more thrilled I am.
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I can write pretty much anywhere if you give me time and some quiet. The home is not usually the best place because I have four children. It's usually pandemonium around here!
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Tragedy is a hell of a teacher. It's much too strict, but it's a hell of a teacher.
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I once worked as a tour guide in the Costa del Sol of Spain.
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Life may not always fall into neat chapters, and you may not always get the satisfying ending you're looking for, but sometimes a good explanation is all the rewrite you need.
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Make no mistake, adolescence is a war. No one gets out unscathed.
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I am very lucky that I get to tell stories for a living. I love being able to grab people's attention, to keep them turning the pages, to make them stay awake all night.
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I'm a little bit of a control freak.
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I'd never had money growing up, and it's never been that important to me, except maybe to take our kids on a nice vacation or something like that.
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A novel is like a sausage. You might like the final taste but you don't want to see how it was made.
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In real life, coincidences happen all the time. In novels, they are leapt upon with fury.
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This is the price you pay for having a great father. You get the wonder, the joy, the tender moments - and you get the tears at the end, too.
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We're called New Jersey but we're actually the suburbs of New York.
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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.
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I would never write a memoir, because it would be too boring.
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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.
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I love to make even villains people you can relate to. When you find out who did it, I think you almost like the person, which is not easy to do.
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I'm not very happy idle.
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I'm not a fan of self-help books - how can something be 'self-help' if the book itself is purportedly helping you?
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I remember the days of sitting at book signings, playing with my pen when no one would come, and still I even then thought I was living the dream, because I had a book out.
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I am, after all, a thriller writer. I routinely delve into the darkest chambers of the human heart. I've written about murder, kidnapping, depravity, horror, violence, and disfigurement.