BIOGRAPHY:

The name of writer James Patterson is well known not only to book lovers, but also to film fans around the world. Based on his works, such film hits as “Kissing the Girls,” “And Came a Spider,” and “I Am Alex Cross” were made.

Working in the genres of thriller and psychological detective, Patterson keeps the reader in suspense from the beginning to the final scene, sometimes presenting unexpected surprises at the end. For this skill he is adored by millions of fans around the world. The writer has repeatedly become the best-selling author on the planet and even entered the Guinness Book of Records.

Childhood and youth:

James B. Patterson was born on March 21, 1947 in Newburgh, USA. Father Charles Patterson worked as an insurance agent. Isabel Morris’s mother is a schoolteacher and housewife. The writer’s biographers report that James studied well at school, but did not like to read. And only after starting to study English language and literature at the prestigious Manhattan College in New York, I began to read voraciously: Gabriel Garcia Marquez, James Joyce, Gunter Grass.

Patterson continued his education at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, receiving a Master of Arts degree. While studying, he worked at a psychiatric center to pay for his studies. The guy graduated from the university with honors and in 1971 began working in the advertising business as a simple copywriter.

Books:

Patterson worked in advertising for over 20 years, eventually heading the J. Walter Thompson agency, where he began his career. But along with business, James became interested in literary creativity. His first novel was The Thomas Berryman Number, written, as he later admitted, under the influence of the books of Evan Connell.

The debut turned out to be successful, the book was a commercial success and received the Oscar of detective fiction – the Edgar Award. In subsequent years (1977–1980), the author wrote a number of works: “Season of the Machete”, “See How They Run”, “Virgin”.

In 1993, the first novel in the series about Alex Cross was published. Cross is a forensic psychologist who previously worked for the Washington Metropolitan Police and the FBI. After leaving the service, he became a private psychologist and government consultant.

The series about Alex Cross became the most popular in Patterson’s work. The first books became bestsellers: “And Came a Spider” (1993), “Kissing the Girls” (1995), “The Weasel Leap” (1999), “Roses Are Red” (2000). These and other novels topped the famous New York Times rankings and sold millions. Hollywood film adaptations of the writer’s novels also fueled the success. In the films, the role of detective Alex Cross was played by the brilliant Morgan Freeman.

In 1996, the writer left the business and began writing books. Continues the series about Alex Cross: as if by tradition, the author writes one novel about a private detective a year (today there are already more than 25 of them).

With the advent of the new millennium, Patterson begins a new detective series, The Women’s Homicide Club. In 2001, the first novel, First to Die, was published. In the mid-2000s, a series about detective Michael Bennett, created in collaboration with Michael Ledwidge, appeared in the writer’s bibliography, and after another 10 years – a series about female detective Harriet Blue. In addition, there is another favorite series of the author – private. In it, James Patterson collects books co-authored with other writers. His creative partners include Maxine Paetro, Andrew Gross, Peter Dehonge and others. In 2010, he worked with Swedish writer Lisa Marklund on the book A Killer’s Postcard.

Over time, the prose writer realized that he needed to diversify his activities and create children’s books – science fiction and fantasy. Since 2005, the writer has been writing a series of books about Maximum Ride, who rescues young phenoms with superpowers from those who want to use them as secret weapons. The first book in the “Angel Experiment” series was published in 2005.

Patterson is a big proponent of book reading. In 2005, he founded the J. Patterson Prize for those who offer the most original and effective way to attract readers to books. He also donates money to libraries and shares his experience with young authors by creating a course for them called “Lessons in Writing.”

He himself also does not stay away from creativity and still proves that his advertising genius is still capable of coming up with simple moves. In 2015, the writer released a thousand copies of the new thriller “Private Vegas” in the form of self-destructing e-books. And in 2018 he presented the interactive novel “Chef”. In order to read it, social network users need to send messages in a special group.

In 2018, Patterson began working on the series “Murder is Forever,” and almost immediately filmmakers began filming the series “The Nature of Murder” based on it.

Personal life:

James Patterson married Sue Solie at the dawn of his success as a writer – in 1997. The following year, the couple had a son, Jack. That’s all that is known about the personal life of the bestselling author.

He doesn’t like to talk about his family in interviews, but he often posts pictures with his family and friends on social networks. The Pattersons now live in their cozy home in Palm Beach, Florida.

James Patterson nowToday, Patterson is included in the Guinness Book of Records as a writer with a record number of books that have become bestsellers.

In 2018, he entered the list of “Highest Paid Writers” according to Forbes, displacing JK Rowling, the leader in 2017. In general, the American rose to the top of the list for the 10th time in 20 years.

Since 2017, the writer began working on a project for a science fiction novel, co-written with former US President Bill Clinton. A novel called “The President is Missing” was published in 2018.

Interesting Facts:

James Patterson designs the books himself, otherwise “why did I go to business school,” he says. Sometimes he “first comes up with the cover design, and then the plot of the book, all the twists and turns and intricacies of the crime and its solution, but sometimes…. it’s the other way around.” Thus, during the publishing preparation of the first book about Alex Gross, Along Came a Spider (1992), James Patterson himself took on its design and marketing. The publisher refused to pay for advertising on TV, and this was not provided for in the contract. Patterson, being the manager of the advertising agency J. Walter Thompson, made such a book cover for his own money that, according to him, everyone wanted to buy it: he “inflated” the letters of the title to a size that thriller readers had never seen before. In addition, Patterson organized a noisy advertising campaign on TV and in magazines. As a result, the book sold a record number of copies. According to Forbes magazine, at the end of 2008, James Patterson earned $50 million, which puts him in 2nd place after D. Rowling in the ranking of the highest paid writers. At the end of 2009, the total number of his books sold for the year was more than that of Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined. At the same time, a significant share is made up of royalties for films. James Patterson is the most in-demand author in British libraries, with readers checking out his books 1.5 million times in 2008, according to The Guardian newspaper.

In 1996, Patterson retired from advertising and devoted all his free time to writing novels. The protagonist of most of his works is Alex Cross, a former forensic psychologist for the Washington Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, currently working as a private psychologist and government consultant. Cross first appeared in the 1993 novel Along Came a Spider. Cross is Patterson’s favorite character among readers. Over the past 10 years, the Alex Cross series has been the best-selling series in the United States.

Over 33 years of writing, Patterson wrote 65 novels. To date, he has hit the first line of the New York Times Best Sellers 19 times, and also holds the record for the most best-selling books by a single author (56), for which he also entered the Guinness Book of Records. In recent years, his novels have sold more copies than those of Stephen King, John Grisham and Dan Brown combined.

Among his awards are the Edgar Allan Poe Award, International Thriller of the Year, and Children’s Choice: Best Book of the Year. He appeared on the hit show The Simpsons in the episode “Yokel Chords” and in several episodes of Castle as himself.

Patterson enjoys collaborating with other authors including Maxine Paetro, Andrew Gross, and Peter Dehonge. According to him, such collaboration brings new and interesting ideas to his stories. In 2010, he worked with Swedish writer Lisa Marklund on the book A Killer’s Postcard. The book takes place in Stockholm, where the murders of young couples across Europe are being investigated. The book first appeared on the shelves in Sweden, and only then in the USA and around the world. In September 2009, Patterson signed a contract until 2012 to write 11 books for adults and 6 for children. Forbes reports the deal is worth at least $150 million, but Patterson says the price is under discussion.

In 2005, Patterson founded the J. Patterson Prize to personally give away approximately $850,000 as a reward for finding original and effective ways to spread interest in books and reading. However, the awards ceased in 2008, and Patterson decided to focus on his new project, ReadKiddoRead.com, which helps parents, teachers and librarians find the best books for their children.

Patterson received a bachelor’s degree from Manhattan College and a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University.

He lives in Palm Beach, Florida with his wife Susan and son Jack.

In 2019, the writer’s fans are expecting new exciting literary novelties from him.

Modern Conan Doyle, Mine Reed and Jules Verne:

James Patterson is a modern-day Conan Doyle, Mine Reid and Jules Verne combined. He is a psychological, detective, action-packed writer. Millions of readers have been reading his books for decades. James writes a variety of texts – detective stories, adventures, thrillers. He writes for adults and, more recently, for children. He writes himself and gives work to a whole team of co-authors. He designs the covers for his books and does all the marketing himself. He has behind him several major humanitarian initiatives aimed at developing bookstores and promoting children’s reading. Many of Patterson’s books have been filmed. James Patterson also entered the Guinness Book of Records – as many as 114 times his books became New York Times bestsellers), among them 67 first places. His books have sold more copies worldwide than Dan Brown, Stephen King and John Grisham combined (305 million). James Patterson was the first author to sell a million of his e-books. Since 2010, he has held the title of the highest paid writer in the world for three years in a row according to Forbes. And in 2015 it was number one in this ranking.

Patterson has more books for children that have become New York Times bestsellers than any other living author. The first book to be translated into Russian was the film filmed this year – “High School: The Worst Years of My Life.” James Patterson co-wrote it with Chris Tebbetts.

Rafe Katchadorian, illustration from the book “High School: The Last Years of My Life”

The story begins on the day Rafe Katchadorian enters high school. Like any child, this is a lot of stress for him – many new unfamiliar classmates, different teachers, different rules. Immediately the local bully begins to pester him. All this also coincided with a difficult family situation. Now a man lives in Rafe’s house, with whom his mother is dating. He does not make a good family man – he is unemployed, lazy, spends all his free time in front of the TV, and constantly starts quarrels. The situation with Rafe’s best friend is also quite confusing. But it is with him that he starts a game during the school year – to break as many school rules as possible. Rafe invents tasks, Leo draws comics for them and awards points.

The plot is dynamic and the book is easy to read. I wonder what exactly the boys will come up with, how adults will understand that hooliganism is always a cry for help, and how this year will end.

Some other Facts:

James Patterson gravitates towards the detective and thriller genres. Most of his books were created within these areas, including the famous series about Alex Cross, a former forensic psychologist who advises the government and conducts his own investigations. According to reviews of James Patterson’s books, it is the novels about Alex Cross that arouse the greatest love among readers. It is no coincidence that they are released in record numbers, even for America, and are successfully filmed. The writer personally produces films based on his books and does advertising. He is recognized as one of the highest paid authors of our time, and royalties from films make a significant contribution to his well-being.

Authorship and co-authorship:

The lion’s share of books published in recent years have been written by James Patterson in collaboration with other writers, famous and not so famous. We can say that he has a whole series of authors working for him, producing up to 14 novels a year. Perhaps this is why critics call the writer “a factory churning out bestsellers.”

Among the independent works, it is worth noting the series about detective Michael Bennett and the series of novels “Women’s Murder Investigation Club”, on which a popular series was based.

Since 2005, books included in the Maximum Ride series have been published. These are thrillers, the plots of which combine conspiracy theories with the now fashionable eco-problems. Comics are produced based on them.

The latest novels to date, “Woman of God” and “Never, Never” (created in collaboration with Candy Fox) repeated the success of previous works and instantly became bestsellers.You can buy James Patterson’s creations with delivery throughout Kyiv and Ukraine in the Yakaboo online store.

Bibliography:

1993 – “And Came the Spider”
1995 – “Kissing the Girls”
1999 – “Weasel Leap”
2001 – “First to Die”
2005 – “Experiment “Angel”
2006 – “The Fifth Horseman”
2009 – “I, Alex Cross”
2015 – “Cross Justice”
2017 – “The People vs. Alex Cross”
2018 – “The President is Missing”