As well as being one of the most talented writers working today, Sean Chercover is quite simply one of the best guys out there. His debut novel, Big City, Bad Blood, which introduced PI Ray Dudgeon, has won more awards than I can count, and is topped only by its sequel, Trigger City, which hits stores October 14...

What do you think is the most important influence on a writer?

Reading.  By a mile.  It saddens me to meet aspiring writers who say they don't read much.  They will never make it.  You've got to read, every day.  There's no substitute for reading good books.  Reading is how we first learn the craft of writing.

Life experience is also important, and I gained enormously from my time working as a PI ... but it didn't teach me how to write.

Trigger City is simply impossible to put down. How do you write like this?

First of all, thank you.  I'm thrilled that you enjoyed it.

I think my inability to outline may be a blessing in disguise.  Sometimes you read a thriller, and you can't avoid "seeing" the writer's bag-of-tricks.  You "see" the writer thinking, "I must end every chapter (better, ever scene!) with a question or revelation or new peril or startling plot twist."  But because you see the man behind the curtain, it all feels formulaic and you don't buy into it emotionally.  The tension is lost.

But I'm not good at outlining in detail.  I know how I want the story to end, and I know some major scenes that have to happen in order to get there, but most of the stuff that happens along the way comes to me as I write. So in many ways, I'm like the reader; as I'm writing the book, I want to know how it all turns out.  Since I'm surprised by it, I assume the reader will be too.  I actually have a piece of paper taped to my wall that says, "Just write the story that you would want to read."  That advice has gotten my past many stumbling blocks, and I think it helps keep the tension high.