About the Author

I'm often fascinated by how and why things happen—and how chance meetings and random occurrences, years later, can have an enormous impact on one's life. There are many such examples in my life to choose from, but I'll share two with you because of the impact they had on my writing career.

Years ago, when I was attending junior high school in New York, I was part of a "forced integration" experiment in which teens from one ethnicity were bused into schools in predominantly other ethnic neighborhoods. It was a volatile situation. Police cars were often parked out front. There were riots, hallway incidents, threats, and beatings. Violence was, it seemed, a daily occurrence. So my junior high experience was not filled with youthful exuberance. While it unquestionably taught me valuable life lessons, among the most important were those I learned from one of my teachers. I was in an accelerated academic program, in which I skipped 8th grade—half the 8th grade curriculum was folded into 7th grade and the other half into 9th grade. As a result, I had Louis Brill, my English teacher, the entire time I was in junior high. It was a transformative experience—he was a great teacher who opened my eyes to English and made it (including grammar) fun. I still remember some of his lessons, all these years later. Looking back, had I not been bused to that school, I never would have had Mr. Brill as my teacher. The busing experiment failed miserably. But without it, it's possible I never would've discovered my love for English.

Fast forward 15+ years later: I was practicing chiropractic when an injury forced my hand (no pun intended) and I had to retire and sell my practice. But during the transition period to the new owner, I took a phone call from someone requesting a reference on a part-time employee, who was studying to be a criminalist. The person calling was head of the Department of Justice's Criminalists Institute. After giving him information on my employee, I asked him about a character in a novel I'd just started writing. To make a long story short (hey, I write novels for a living), he was enormously helpful in providing information. I asked if I could tour the crime lab—which met with an emphatic "No"—but he did arrange for me to audit one of their classes on blood spatter pattern analysis. There, I met an FBI agent who not only answered a lot of my questions about the Bureau, but who remained in touch with me over the subsequent months, when he was promoted to the Behavioral Analysis (profiling) Unit in Quantico. We continued having hours upon hours of conversations about serial offenders, profiling, and Bureau procedure. He invited me out to tour the Academy and profiling unit—he didn't have to ask twice—a visit that would serve as the first of many trips, FBI seminars and the like that provided valuable insights that helped me immeasurably in  my writing career.

Speaking of my writing career, my first novel, False Accusations, was a national bestseller. It was sold to seven foreign countries and generated tremendous interest because of its shocker ending. My follow-up novel, The Hunted, also a bestseller and also sold to several foreign countries, likewise met with rave reviews from critics, booksellers, and readers.

Next in line is The 7th Victim. At the time of its release, I refused to say it was my favorite, because, like children, my books each have their special characteristics. But Hollywood made its choice, as the film rights to The 7th Victim were sold to an A-list Hollywood producer (of Tom Cruise's recent film, Valkyrie). But I suspect my new novel, Crush, will give The 7th Victim a ride for its money. Crush brings back Karen Vail in a new adventure that picks up only two months after The 7th Victim left off. And the reviews, I'm happy to say, have been terrific.

One thing is certain: when I look back to that phone call in 1994, when I asked if I could visit the crime lab, it led to a chance meeting and a random occurrence. And that has made all the difference.