Brad Meltzer
Brad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Inner Circle, The Book of Fate, and nine other bestselling thrillers including The Tenth Justice, The First Counsel, The Millionaires, and The President’s Shadow. His newest book, The Escape Artist, debuted at #1 on the bestseller list.
In addition to his fiction, Brad is one of the only authors to ever have books on the bestseller list for Non-Fiction (History Decoded), Advice (Heroes for My Son and Heroes for My Daughter), Children’s Books (I Am Amelia Earhart and I Am Abraham Lincoln) and even comic books (Justice League of America), for which he won the prestigious Eisner Award.
His newest thriller, The Escape Artist, introduces Nola and Zig, brand new characters in a setting that will blow your mind (you won't believe where the government let Brad go). For now, we'll say this: Nola is dead. Everyone says she's dead. But Jim "Zig" Zigarowski just found out the truth: Nola is alive. And on the run. Together, Nola and Zig will reveal a centuries old secret that traces back the greatest escape artist of all: Harry Houdini.
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 eight 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 book The Inner Circle (and its sequels, The Fifth Assassin and The President’s Shadow) is based the idea that George Washington’s personal spy ring still exists today. A young archivist in the National Archives finds out the spy ring is still around. He doesn’t know who they work for — but the greatest secret of the Presidency is about to be revealed. While researching the book, former President George HW Bush also gave Brad, for the very first time, the secret letter he left for Bill Clinton in the Oval Office desk. Oh, and yes, Brad was recruited by the Department of Homeland Security to brainstorm different ways that terrorists might attack the US.
His books have spent over a year on the bestseller lists, and have been translated into over 25 languages, from Hebrew to Bulgarian.
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.
“they can also be as manipulative as a James Taylor song. Sure, they're calming and bring you to a good place-but at their core, the whole goal of the damn thing is to undo you.”
“Not every President is a great speaker. Not every President is a great thinker. But in the modern era, every single President is a master of one thing: eye contact.”
“I need the kind of help that comes with a side order of help.”
“The past may not hurt you, but it won't challenge you, either.”
“Most archivists don't like surprises. That's why we work in the past.”
“...as your father, my instinct is to protect you ... Other people will want to protect you too. But remember that you are not a damsel in distress, waiting for some prince to rescue you. Forget the prince. With your brain and your resourcefulness, you can rescue yourself.”
“Some dreams linger for years.And some last forever.”
“So much harm comes into this world when the wrong thing is said. But that's nothing compared to the pain from what goes unsaid.”
“Tell your story.That's the secret of immortality. The one true way to live forever.”
“There's nothing wrong with wanting someone to save us - or admitting we can't do it all ourselves.”
“Life delivers far less disappointment when your expectations are low.”
“I understand pain. I've lived with pain my entire life. But pain is nothing compared to betrayal. And betrayal is nothing compared to knowing that the javelin in your back was rammed there by the one person in your life you actually trusted.”
“The point is, as death gets closer - what's so wrong with wanting someone you love to live forever?”
“That was the problem with being desperate. It always made you sloppy.”
“People are more twisted than people think.”
“Life is a monster, Calvin. Especially when it doesn't turn out the way you hoped. But that doesn't mean you can hide from it.”
“All writers steal from their own lives.”
“We all live best in our imaginations.”
“Take it from the former pastor: The true believers are the ones who'll burn you the worst.”
“A little threat of evil is always the far better way to fill the seats. But sometimes the monsters aren't who we think they are.”
“Do you not see that? That's what being family is - that's the best part - it's not tit for tat or who owes more, it's simply - when one hurts, so does the other; when one finds good, you share in that, too. That's family.”
“Every life has forks in the road. And sometimes, the tines of that fork stab deep.”
“It's rotten, okay? And once something's rotten, it can never be good again.”
“Sometimes a speech can make things better. This isn't one of those times.”
“It's so damn easy to judge. But as Paolo knows from his niece, no matter how much you want someone back in your life, sometimes it's the letting-them-back-in part that hurts the most”
“Life is filled with trapdoors.”
“We all hate something from our past, Cal. That's why we run from it, or compensate for it, or even fill our van with homeless people. But when something like this happens-when your dad shows up-maybe there is a bigger purpose. 'What you intended for evil, God intended for good.' Genesis 50:20”
“Haven't you ever played Uno?... Sometimes you have to lose all your cards to win.”
“For me, Superman's greatest contribution has never been the superhero part: it's the Clark Kent part - the idea that any of us, in all our ordinariness, can change the world.”
“Stories aren’t the beauty of what did happen. They’re the beauty of what could happen.”
“Don't you know me by now, Angel? I never do what I'm meant for.”
“In this life, y'ever notice that you face the same challenges again and again? We all do. They're challenges to your soul. We repeat them until we face them and master them. Yes we all have free will, but there're divine patterns out there, and the battle is to see them.”
“From ancient to modern times, the human animal knows how to find fighting.”
“History doesn't choose individual people. History chooses everyone. Every day. The only question is: How long will you ignore the call?”
“...history is a selection process - it chooses moments and events, and even people - it hands them a situation that they shouldn't be able to overcome, and it's in those moments, in that fight, that people find out who they are.”
“...there are certain traits that God puts in each of us. There's no escaping them.”
“You tell them - you tell them there's a cost.....Every decision we make in life, there's always a cost.”
“The worst lies in life are the ones we tell ourselves.”
“We're all being tested...That's what life is.”
“...I'm not saying I needed my life to be a symphony - I just never thought it'd turn out to be a country song.”
“there's nothing more intimate in life than simply being understood. And understanding someone else.”
“History isn't written by the winners - it's written by everyone - it's a jigsaw of facts from contradictory sources. But every once in a while, you unearth that one original document that no one can argue with...”
“She wasn't tracking down her father to learn more about him. She was tracking him down to learn more about herself.”
“...but ever since she returned to my life...life doesn't make complete sense. But it definitely makes more sense than it used to.”
“...can I tell you something...? I don't think you're in love with the past. I think you're scared of the future.”
“She dumped me for the worst reason of all. For absolutely no reason at all...I mean, if she fell in love with someone else, or I did something wrong, or I let her down in some unforgivable way...That, I'd understand, right? But instead, she said...it wasn't anything. Not a single thing. It was just me. I was nice. I was kind. We just...she didn't see the connection anymore. I think she thought I was boring. And the cruelest part is, when someone says something mean about you, you know when they're right.”
“Don't go to eighth grade...don't talk about something old...don't bring up old memories that have nothing to do with who we are now. THIS is all that matters! TODAY.”
“It's the worst part of seeing old friends: when your rose-colored memories become undone by reality.”
“No matter how far we come, our parents are always in us.”
“Our fathers never leave us. Ever.”