Ken was born in Cardiff, Wales on 5 June 1949, the first of Martin and Veenie Follett's three children. In post-war Britain, not only were toys a scarcity for the Follett children, but their devoutly religious parents did not permit them to watch television, go to the cinema or even listen to the radio. The young Ken's sources of entertainment were the many stories told to him by his mother -- and the fantasy and adventure he created in his own imagination. He began reading at an early age; books became his greatest pleasure and the local library his favourite place. "I didn't have many books of my own and I've always been grateful for the public library. Without free books I would not have become a voracious reader, and if you are not a reader you are not a writer."

When he was ten his family moved to London, where he completed his schooling. He then studied philosophy at University College; a seemingly surprising choice for the son of a tax inspector, but an obvious one for Ken given his religious upbringing and the many questions he had as a result. He believes the choice shaped his future as a writer. "There is a real connection between philosophy and fiction. In philosophy you deal with questions like: We're sitting at this table, but is the table real?' A daft question, but in studying philosophy, you need to take that sort of thing seriously and have an off-the-wall imagination. Writing fiction is the same."

Questioning what was real within a lecture hall was one thing; quite another reality for Ken was becoming a husband and father. When his girlfriend Mary fell pregnant, the young couple married at the end of Ken's first term at university and their son, Emanuele, was born in July 1968. "It's not the kind of thing that you plan to do when you are 18 but once it had happened it was very thrilling. I felt doubly rich because I was having a great time at university and it was also tremendously exciting to have a little baby and take care of him. We loved him and he was very endearing. He still is."

It was also at university, in the heady atmosphere of the late 60s when the war with Vietnam was underway, that Ken began developing a passion for politics: "Politics was discussed all the time. It seemed as if student protest was a world-wide movement. Although we were young and had the arrogance of youth, nevertheless when you look at the issues that we fought over, I think by and large we were right."

In September 1970, fresh out of university, a three-month graduate journalism course set him on a writer's path. He began as a reporter for the South Wales Echo in Cardiff, and then, following the birth of daughter Marie-Claire in 1973, as a columnist for the Evening News in London. When he did not "make the grade as the hot-shot investigative reporter" he'd imagined he might be, Ken started writing fiction at night and on weekends. In 1974 he left newspapers and joined a small London publisher, Everest Books.His after-hours writing led to the publication of several books, none of which sold very well, but throughout those years he was encouraged and advised by an American literary agent, Al Zuckerman. Then came the time came when they both knew that Ken had a winner and Zuckerman said: "This novel is going to be huge, and you are going to have tax problems."

It was Eye of the Needle that catapulted Ken to best-seller status. Published in 1978, it won the Edgar award, and has sold more than 10 million copies. The book's success enabled Ken to quit his day job, rent a villa in the South of France and devote himself full-time to writing his next novel, Triple. "I was very worried that I might not be able to do it again. It happens to quite a lot of writers. They write one terrific book and then the next one is not so good and doesn't sell quite so well, the third one is not very good and they never write a fourth. I was conscious that might easily happen to me, and so I worked very hard on Triple to try to make it as exciting as Eye of the Needle."

The Folletts returned to England three years later because Ken missed the films and theatre and all the stimulation that London offered, and he wanted to vote. They settled in Surrey where Ken became involved with fundraising and campaigning for the Labour Party. It was then that he met and fell in love with the Party's local branch secretary, Barbara Broer, whom he married in 1985. The couple now live in Hertfordshire in an old rectory, which is also home-from home for Ken's son and daughter, Barbara's son and two daughters and their partners and children. Barbara is Member of Parliament for Stevenage - a seat she won in 1997 and to which she was returned in the 2001 and 2005 elections - and is now Minister for Equality in Gordon Brown's government. Ken helps her campaign and works with her on other Party activities. In spite of his political commitment, Ken has never allowed politics to take precedence over writing. He begins writing after breakfast and continues until about 4 pm: "I am a morning person. As soon as I'm up, I want to get to my desk. In the evening I want to relax and eat and drink and do all that sort of low-tension stuff."

Ken has written 16 novels in the past 25 years: the first five best-sellers were spy thrillers: Eye of the Needle (1978), Triple (1979), The Key to Rebecca (1980), The Man from St Petersburg (1982) and Lie Down with Lions (1986).

On Wings of Eagles (1983), was the true story of how two of Ross Perot's employees were rescued from Iran during the revolution of 1979. He then surprised readers by radically changing course with The Pillars of the Earth (1989), a novel about building a cathedral in the Middle Ages. It received rave reviews and was on the New York Times best-seller list for 18 weeks. It also topped best-seller lists in Canada, Britain and Italy, and was on the German best-seller list for six years. The next three novels, Night Over Water (1991), A Dangerous Fortune (1993) and A Place Called Freedom (1995) were more suspense than thriller, but he returned to the thriller genre with The Third Twin (1996) which in the Publishing Trends annual survey of international fiction best-sellers for 1997 was ranked No. 2 worldwide, after John Grisham's The Partner. His next work, The Hammer of Eden (1998) was another contemporary suspense story followed by a Cold War thriller, Code to Zero (2000).

Ken returned to the WWII era with his next two novels: Jackdaws (2001), a World War II thriller about a group of women parachuted into France to destroy a vital telephone exchange - which won the Corine Prize for 2003 - and Hornet Flight (2002), about a daring young Danish couple who escape to Britain from occupied Denmark in a rebuilt Hornet Moth biplane with vital information about German radar. Whiteout (2004), is a contemporary thriller about the theft of a deadly virus from a research lab. Set in the remote Scottish Highlands over a stormy, snow-bound Christmas, Whiteout crackles with jealousies, distrust, sexual attraction, rivalries, hidden traitors and unexpected heroes.

His latest novel, World Without End (2007) is the long-awaited sequel to the hugely popular The Pillars of the Earth. The new book returns to Kingsbridge two hundred years later, and features the descendants of the characters in 'Pillars'. Broad in sweep, and massive in scope, it focuses on the destinies of a handful of people as their lives are devastated by the Black Death, the plague that inundated Europe in the middle of the fourteenth century.

Eye of the Needle was made into a film and four novels have been made into television mini-series: The Key to Rebecca, Lie Down with Lions, On Wings of Eagles and The Third Twin - the rights for which were sold to CBS for $1,400,000, a record price at the time.

The great pleasures in Ken's life, other than the people he loves, are good food and wine, Shakespearian drama and even more importantly, music. Music has always featured largely in his life - both his parents play the piano. Ken plays bass guitar in a band called "Damn right I've got the Blues" and has recorded on the "Don't Quit Your Day Job" label - appropriate for a man who makes no exaggerated claims about his musical talents: "I've always played the guitar quite badly. I think it's quite important to have something that you do badly, especially if you are the over-achiever type of personality. Playing in a band is very sensory and writing is completely cerebral. My books are closely plotted, like all popular fiction, so I am always thinking about the mechanics of the story. Playing in a band is completely sensory. There's a connection from the ears to the fingertips that does not pass through the conscious brain."

In a busy life focused on work, family and politics, Ken also manages to find time for involvement in his community. He is President of Dyslexia Action, a Trustee of the National Literacy Trust, Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a Governor of Roebuck Primary School and Nursery, Patron of Stevenage Home-Start and Chair of Stevenage Community Trust. He holds an honorary D. Litt. degree (Doctor of Literature) from the University of Glamorgan in his native Wales.

2009 ThrillerMaster David Morrell

David Morrell is the award-winning author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was created. He was born in 1943 in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. In 1960, at the age of seventeen, he became a fan of the classic television series, Route 66, about two young men in a Corvette convertible traveling the United States in search of America and themselves. The scripts by Stirling Silliphant so impressed Morrell that he decided to become a writer.

In 1966, the work of another writer (Hemingway Scholar Philip Young) prompted Morrell to move to the United States, where he studied with Young at the Pennsylvania State University and received his M.A. and Ph. D. in American literature. There, he also met the esteemed science-fiction writer William Tenn (real name Philip Klass), who taught Morrell the basics of fiction writing. The result was First Blood, a ground-breaking novel about a returned Vietnam veteran suffering from post-trauma stress disorder who comes into conflict with a small-town police chief and fights his own version of the Vietnam War.

That "father" of modern action novels was published in 1972 while Morrell was a professor in the English department at the University of Iowa. He taught there from 1970 to 1986, simultaneously writing other novels, many of them international bestsellers, including the influential spy trilogy, The Brotherhood of the Rose (the basis for a top-rated NBC miniseries broadcast after the Super Bowl), The Fraternity of the Stone, and The League of Night and Fog. 

Eventually wearying of two professions, Morrell gave up his academic tenure in order to write full time. Shortly afterward, his fifteen-year-old son Matthew was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and died in 1987, a loss that haunts not only Morrell's life but his work, as in his memoir about Matthew, Fireflies, and his novel Desperate Measures, whose main character has lost a son.

"The mild-mannered professor with the bloody-minded visions," as one reviewer called him, Morrell is the author of thirty-one books, including such high-action thrillers as The Fifth Profession, Assumed Identity, and Extreme Denial (set in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he lives). Always interested in different ways to tell a story, he wrote the six-part comic-book series, Captain America: The Chosen. His The Successful Novelist:  A Lifetime of Lessons about Writing and Publishing analyzes what he has learned during his almost four decades as an author.

Morrell is a co-founder of the International Thriller Writers organization. Noted for his research, he is a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School for wilderness survival as well as the G. Gordon Liddy Academy of Corporate Security. He is also an honorary lifetime member of the Special Operations Association and the Association of Intelligence Officers. Comic-Con International honored him with its legendary Inkpot Award for his contributions to popular culture.
 
His latest novel is The Shimmer.

Spotlight Guest Harlan Coben

With 47 millions books in print worldwide, Harlan Coben's latest novels Long Lost and Hold Tight both debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and lists around the world. His next thriller Caught will be out in early spring 2010. His books are published in 39 languages and have been number one bestsellers in over a dozen countries.

Winner of the Edgar Award, Shamus Award, and Anthony Award - the first author to win all three - international bestselling author Harlan Coben's critically-acclaimed novels have been called "ingenious" (New York Times), "poignant and insightful" (Los Angeles Times), "consistently entertaining" (Houston Chronicle), "superb" (Chicago Tribune) and "must reading" (Philadelphia Inquirer). His most recent novels, The Woods, Promise Me, The Innocent, Just One Look, No Second Chance, Tell No One, and Gone for Good have appeared on the top of all the major bestseller lists including the New York Times, London Times, Le Monde, Publishers Weekly, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and USA TODAY -- and many others throughout the world. His books are published in thirty-seven languages around the globe and have been number one bestsellers in in nearly a dozen countries.

Harlan's novel Tell No One has been turned into the commercial and critical smash hit French film of the same name, starring Francois Cluzet and Kristin Scott Thomas. The movie was the top box office foreign-language film of the year in USA, won the Lumiere (French Golden Globe) for best picture and was nominated for nine Cesars (French Oscar) and won four, including best actor, best director and best music. The movie is now available in DVD and Blu-Ray. An American/Hollywood remake is in the works.

In his first books, Coben immersed himself in the exploits of sports agent Myron Bolitar. Critics loved the series, saying, "You race to turn pages...both suspenseful and often surprisingly funny" (People). After seven books Coben wanted to try something different. "I came up with a great idea that simply would not work for Myron," says Coben. The result was the critically acclaimed New York Times bestseller Tell No One, which became the most decorated thriller of 2001 - nominated for an Edgar, an Anthony, a Macavity, a Nero, and a Barry; winner of the Audie Award for Best Audio Mystery/Suspense Book (read by Steven Weber); and a #1 hardcover book on the Book Sense 76 list. Coben followed the success of Tell No One with the blockbuster New York Times bestsellers Gone for Good (2002), No Second Chance (2003), Just One Look (2004) and The Innocent (2005). Bookspan, recognizing Coben's broad international appeal, named No Second Chance its first ever International Book of the Month in 2003 - the Main Selection in 15 different countries.

Coben was the first writer in more than a decade to be invited to write fiction for the New York Times op-ed page. His Father's Day short story, "The Key to My Father", appeared June 15, 2003.

Since his critically-acclaimed Myron Bolitar series debuted in 1995, Harlan Coben has won the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award and was nominated for the Edgar two other times. Harlan also won the Anthony Award at the World Mystery Conference, was nominated for another Anthony Award, won the Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America, was nominated for another Shamus, and was twice nominated for the Dilys Award by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association.

In the United Kingdom, his novel One False Move earned him the prestigious "Fresh Talent Award", given annually by Great Britain's largest bookstore chain, W. H. Smith, and Gone for Good won the W. H. SMITH "Thumping Good Read" Award. In France, Tell No One (Ne Le Dis a Persone) won Le Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle for fiction. His novels have been People magazine Page-Turners of the Week and a Publishers Weekly Best of the Year pick.
 
Harlan was born in Newark, New Jersey. After graduating from Amherst College a political science major, Harlan worked in the travel industry. He now lives in New Jersey with his wife, Anne Armstrong-Coben MD, a pediatrician, and their four children.

Spotlight Guest Lisa Scottoline

Lisa Scottoline is the New York Times bestselling author of 16 novels, including her recent release Look Again. She also writes a column for the Philadelphia Inquirer titled "Chick Wit" which is her witty and fun take on life from a woman's perspective. In her spare time, she teaches a course she developed, "Justice and Fiction" at The University of Pennsylvania Law School, her alma mater. Lisa is a regular and much sought after speaker at library and corporate events. Lisa has over 25 million copies of her books in print and is published in over 25 countries. She lives in the Philadelphia area with an array of disobedient pets, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

2010 True Thriller Award Recipient Mark Bowden

Mark Bowden is the author of eight books, including Black Hawk Down, The Best Game Ever, and Killing Pablo. He reported at The Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for Vanity Fair, The Atlantic, and other magazines. He teaches journalism and creative writing at Loyola University of Maryland. His other books are: Finders Keepers (The Atlantic Monthly Press, 2002), Doctor Dealer (Warner Books, 1987), Bringing the Heat (Knopf, 1994), Our Finest Day (Chronicle, 2002) and Guests of the Ayatollah (Grove, 2006). He has also written for The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, and The New York Times, among other publications. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1951, and grew up in Glen Ellyn, Ill., Port Washington, N.Y. and Timonium, Md. He graduated from Loyola in 1973 with a B.A. in English Literature. From that year until 1979 he wrote for the now defunct Baltimore News-American. Bowden lives in southeastern Pennsylvania. He is married and has five children and a granddaughter.

2009 Silver Bullet Award Recipient Brad Meltzer

Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Fate, as well as the bestsellers The Tenth Justice, Dead Even, The First Counsel, The Millionaires and The Zero Game. He is also one of the co-creators of the TV show, Jack & Bobby--and is the number one selling author of the critically acclaimed comic books, Identity Crisis and Justice League of America, for which he won the pretigious Eisner Award. His newest thriller, The Book of Lies, was just released in paperback.

Raised in Brooklyn and Miami, Brad is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Columbia Law School. The Tenth Justice was his first published work and became an instant New York Times bestseller. Dead Even followed a year later and also hit the New York Times bestseller list, as have all six of his novels. The First Counsel came next, which was about a White House lawyer dating the President's daughter, then The Millionaires, which was about two brothers who steal money and go on the run. The Zero Game is about two Congressional staffers who are--literally--gambling on Congress. The Book of Fate, is about a young presidential aide, a crazed assassin, and the 200 year-old code created by Thomas Jefferson that ties them together. For authenticity, The Book of Fate was researched with the help of former Presidents Clinton and Bush.

The Book of Lies is about the missing murder weapon that Cain used to kill Abel, as well as the unsolved murder of Superman creator Jerry Siegel's father. Brad is one of the only people to interview Jerry Siegel's family about the murder and, with his charitable site www.OrdinaryPeopleChangeTheWorld.com, has been the driving force behind the movement to repair the house where Superman was created.

His books have spent over ten months on the bestseller lists, and have been translated into over 25 languages, from Hebrew to Bulgarian. In The Tenth Justice, the opening lines are: "Ben Addison was sweating. Like a pig." In the Hebrew translation, it became: "Ben Addison was sweating. Like a horse." We're not sure if it's a kosher thing or what!

Brad has played himself as an extra in Woody Allen's Celebrity, co-wrote the swearing in oath for AmeriCorps, the national service program, and earned credit from Columbia Law School for writing his first book, which became The Tenth Justice. Before all of that, he got 24 rejection letters for his true first novel, which still sits on his shelf, published by Kinko's.

Brad currently lives in Florida with his wife, who's also an attorney.