James Patterson

Career overview

James Brendan Patterson is an American author born on March 22, 1947, in Newburgh, New York, USA. He studied English at Manhattan College in New York and Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Active primarily in writing, his known credits in this field are documented on the Movie Database. Among his notable works are the Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women's Murder Club, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, NYPD Red, Witch and Wizard, Private, and Middle School series. In addition to these book series, he has written many stand-alone thrillers, non-fiction works, and romance novels. His written work also includes the book Kill Alex Cross, which served as an inspiration for the original television series Cross on Prime Video.

Patterson has achieved significant commercial success as an author, with his books having sold hundreds of millions of copies. Estimates of his sales include figures of more than 300 million and more than 425 million copies sold. Furthermore, he was the first person to sell one million e-books. His earnings have also placed him at the top of financial rankings, including Forbes's list of highest-paid authors, where he topped the list for the third consecutive year in 2016 with an income of $95 million, and an estimated total income over a decade of $700 million. In November 2015, Patterson received the Literarian Award from the National Book Foundation.