Brad Thor

Some of the best fan mail I get are from our men and women in the military and intelligence communities. They say, 'Boy you do your homework, this is exactly how we're doing it.'

We have an incredible warrior class in this country - people in law enforcement, intelligence - and I thank God every night we have them standing fast to protect us from the tremendous amount of evil that exists in the world.

My first novel, 'The Lions of Lucerne,' just poured out of me. It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment. My biggest fear and therefore my biggest obstacle to becoming an author had been, 'What if I spend all that time and the book is no good?'

My number one goal as a thriller writer is to entertain you. But I've got a chance to not only entertain people, but have them close my book and be smarter having read it.

There is no justice in social justice, and there is no equality in social equality.

I always have a different way of looking at things.

Someone putting down $25 of his or her hard-earned money to buy my product, then doing it again because they felt the payoff was worth it. That's as good as it gets for an author.

I live in America. I have the right to write whatever I want. And it's equaled by another right just as powerful: the right not to read it. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend people.

The Last Patriot' is set in the present day but is based upon the premise that the Prophet Mohammed had a final revelation, he shared it with his disciples, and they killed him to keep it hidden and out of the Qur'an. If this missing revelation can be found, its impact on the world will be incredible.

Making the best-seller list is a big deal; it's like being nominated for an Oscar. Hitting No. 1 is like actually winning the award. It's very gratifying.

Let me make this very clear: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, our digital exhaust is being sucked up by the government. It is being compiled on big server farms and it's being analyzed by different computer programs, looking for any hint that you and I are up to no good.

In the wake of 9/11, my wife Trish and I were stranded on the East Coast. We had planned a vacation to Greece, but flights had been halted. Instead, we ended up on a tiny island off the coast of Georgia.