American writer (1963- )
Criminals are dumb as stumps. If they were smart they could go be investment bankers. Or judges.
JEFF ABBOTT
Black Jack Point
I'd spent five minutes looking at Twitter once and felt I'd wandered into a poker game where everyone immediately displayed their hands against the cool green of the felt.
JEFF ABBOTT
The Last Minute
She spoke with the air of the artist, playing out each nuance until it wasn't a nuance anymore.
JEFF ABBOTT
Black Jack Point
Read heavily in the area where you want to write. Be aware of what's selling and what's doing well but don't try to write to market trends; they are fleeting.
JEFF ABBOTT
Book Browse interview
I don't need this, I was thinking. But I'm weak. I'll be the first to admit it. If a chick presses her face against mine, all soft perfume and whispers, what am I going to do? Say no?
JEFF ABBOTT
No Rest for the Dead
I'm sympathetic with new writers who focus so much on the beginning. That's what you show friends or beta readers to see if you are just wasting your time or if there's something there. But you won't really know until you finish the whole book.
JEFF ABBOTT
"Rules of Fiction with Jeff Abbott", Suspense Magazine, January 19, 2017
Emma, okay, enough with the singing. Mommy's getting a three-pill headache.
JEFF ABBOTT
Trust Me
She had to treat it like a tactical error, not a human tragedy, because she was not sure that his unfinished jigsaw of a brain understood sadness and loss.
JEFF ABBOTT
Panic
I believe in writing somewhat quickly, getting the story down; it can be bad, it can be a mess, but the key thing is to get it down.
JEFF ABBOTT
"Rules of Fiction with Jeff Abbott", Suspense Magazine, January 19, 2017
Life is a series of abandonings.
JEFF ABBOTT
The Last Minute
The perfection of her face created a sense of emptiness--like a house with no curtains in the window.
JEFF ABBOTT
Black Jack Point
Life is getting what you want, and I'm better at life than you are.
JEFF ABBOTT
Adrenaline
I don't drink a lot but I like the air of a good bar--the ripe wisdom of animated conversation, the cutting smell of fine liquor, the sound of laughter among friends.
JEFF ABBOTT
Adrenaline
It's your call. You want to go back home, go ahead. But if I were you, I wouldn't. Home is death.
JEFF ABBOTT
Panic
The woman offered her hand, and I shook it. She had a confident grip. She didn't tell me her name, though, and I couldn't tell if she simply forgot or she didn't want me to know.
JEFF ABBOTT
A Kiss Gone Bad
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.
JEFF ABBOTT
Adrenaline
I want to be a writer you can always depend on for a good read during your vacation, during your flight, during a time in your life when you want to forget the world around you. The nicest notes I've received from readers are those that tell me I've gotten them back into reading for entertainment. For me, there is no greater compliment.
JEFF ABBOTT
Publisher's Weekly, May 30, 2011
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.
JEFF ABBOTT
Publisher's Weekly, May 30, 2011
The death for the driver was egregiously bad: being impaled is never anyone's exit of choice.
JEFF ABBOTT
The Last Minute
Keep your head down, avoid all the distractions of being a writer today--all the shifts in the business, all the drama, all the debating about where publishing is going--and write the best story that you can. It sounds a bit glib, but I think this is advice a lot of people are having trouble following right now. It is so hard to focus. But that is the single key to success.
JEFF ABBOTT
The Big Thrill, Jun. 30, 2013