James Patterson et al

I have read James Patterson in the past but not for a number of years. I felt his novels became formulaic and I lost interest. If I remember correctly, he wrote Along came a spider which was an early one and I enjoyed it. The Alex Cross books were best, in my opinion

I think his earlier books were much better than the more recent ones.
I agree that the Alex Cross books are some of the best.I still like the Women’s Murder Club and the Private series also the Michael Bennett books as they follow the same key characters in each series.
I have given up on some of his books which aren’t in these series as I agree with GrandmaBatty that they have become quite formulaic.

Prolific doesn’t even come close does it?

www.bookseriesinorder.com/james-patterson/

However, I see from the Wiki page that:

In 2017, digital humanities scholars Simon Fuller and James O'Sullivan published research showing that Patterson does not do much actual writing when collaborating with other authors.

In that case, perhaps start with those he wrote alone, the Alex Cross series which began in 1992 with Along Came a Spider as Grandmabatty mentions.

I haven’t read any as I’m not keen on thrillers so I can’t vouch for how good they are, which would only be my subjective opinion anyway.

Maybe nobody admits to reading Janes Patterson. I used to run a small English Library here in France and his books were popular, however I did notice that people moved on to other authors after a few Patterson books. Like Susan56 I still read the Women's Murder Club series but they are definitely not as good now as they were.

I too liked the early Alex Cross books but I now avoid Patterson's formulaic word-mill offerings.

try this site, I use it all the time

www.fantasticfiction.com/p/james-patterson/

It goes back to 1993 for J Patterson in order and series

Aely

I too liked the early Alex Cross books but I now avoid Patterson's formulaic word-mill offerings.

I popped onto this thread to say exactly that. The earlier ones were great, but they've been formulaic for some time now.

Thanks for all the information, very useful.

I think I’ll try the Alex Cross series and then the Women’s Murder Club although I often find it very difficult to get older books from the library.

I can see some charity shop visiting on the horizon. Love it when I have a particular reason to browse in a charity shop, the only problem being that I can’t walk past the jigsaw section without buying one 😂

Alex Cross and Women’s Murder Club series are the best . I do like him . He wrote all his early to mid tome books by himself. Many of his later books are co-authored and are not nearly so good I find .

I liked his collaboration with Dolly Parton, Run Rose Run

I used to love James Pattison but got fed up with them in the end. I found his very short chapters really annoying! I haven't read many of his collaborations but from what I have read, some of been good, some of them not. As you are not buying them, try one from the library and see what you think.

James Patterson is certainly a very prolific author. However, his later books are actually written by others. He just seems to endorse them. This means that you don't get continuity. Most avid readers get to know the style of each author and get used to their format.
Personally, I found his earlier books too sentimental. The stories were good and the detective work, but I was put off by the family stuff.

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He even partnered with Dolly Parton on one book!
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I loved the Alex Cross series and the women's murder club, but gave up reading those with another author. So many being released, I'm sure he's not writing those. I like the short chapters as it moves the story along quickly.

The books are not consistent now, with the new co-authors.
Must try the Dolly Parton one, thanks.

I read somewhere that the newer novels are his own ideas but with different writers, so with varying skills and styles.

Along cane a spider was made into a film and as often happens the film didn't do the book justice. Like others, I enjoyed his Alex Cross detective series but then lost interest for the same reasons above. Moved onto Karen Slaughter's books which are worth reading but can't seem to find hers in my local library.

James Patterson is one of the only authors I read I think he’s brilliant. But start from his first ones as they are the best.

My daughter is a Dolly Parton addict so I bought Run Rose Run a couple of Christmases ago. While helping her move house last week I picked it up when waiting for her to arrive in the removal van. I enjoyed what I have read so far and will continue it when I go back to her house.

I suggest you start with the Woman’s Murder Club too. They are in order by number in their titles. I buy them from charity shops.

Im with the majority in having enjoyed the early Alex Cross novels.
I was impressed that Patterson and another neighbour observed endless streams of young teenage girls to Epstein’s house in their Florida neighbourhood. A log was kept, the sheriff informed. The sheriffs department surveilled. Epstein was arrested and sentenced for an offence against a 14 year old girl. As we know, there were hundreds of others but difficulties with prosecuting these kind of offences existed. Epstein admitted one offence and spent his sentence leaving his cell throughout the day.
There’s a tv drama written by Patterson that has a millionaire with his private island as the plot

Loved his books but Morgan Freeman as Alex Cross was so wrong, he was quite frankly too old and gnarly to be alex! Same with To Cruise as Jack Reacher. Jack is 6ft 5 so just not right. The books were thoroughly entertaining though. I liked the short chapters as it was easy to finish a chapter before lights out!

reacher the series is great alan ritcher is 6.3 230lb so a reacher
pretty the show has 3 seasons and thereis a 4th coming too

Later books were very "written by rote". Alex Cross is great, the Womens Murder club is worth a try however.

I much prefer David Balducci. anyone tried him as well? He wrote/writes on offs but some great series, like the Camel Club and, the woman Agent Atlee Pine, and I like the will Robie Series, and King and Maxwell.