# James Patterson



## Small-town_Wright (Mar 1, 2006)

I love what i've read by him. I read "When the Wind Blows" and "Maximum Ride". Any one else like this guy?


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## Dephere (Mar 1, 2006)

I don't know him, but I seem to remember you talking about him in the "I am..." thread, I may just have to check him out.

What kind of books?


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## Wilderness (Mar 2, 2006)

Ohhh. I have read Honeymoon, 4th of July and Lifeguard. 
I love his stuff. Its a good quick read cos the chapters are short. 

Lani


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## Lorlie (Mar 2, 2006)

James Patterson can write, I think I may have read everything he has written.
I enjoyed it all immensely, it is quick and easy reading.
I can not honestly say it is the stuff that stays with you forever in the style of 'my favorite author' style but his work is enjoyable.
When I go on holidays I like to have some of his books with me, you do not lose interest and the pages keep turning and turning.

Another great, for me, is Jeffery Deaver, the coffin dancer, the bone collector, and lots more.

Lorlie


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## Stewart (Mar 2, 2006)

Not for me, I'm afraid. I read _Along Came A Spider_ and I've tried to read _Kiss The Girls_ and _When The Wind Blows_ but they just weren't that interesting enough at the start to care beyond the first few pages. I suppose it's down to the fact that I'm not really interested in action and the shallow depth of bestselling fiction.

But, what irks me most about Patterson is the fact that he is flooding the market with his name. I thought Stephen King was bad when I saw two books were being released by him this year; Patterson has eight. Of course, Patterson's name just appears on half of them as he can't be bothered to write much these days, it seems. He just comes up with a plot and tells it to some unknown hack who goes and writes the story for him. Sad, really.


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## Mike C (Mar 2, 2006)

Patterson is a hack - a 'brand'. To him books are a commodity to be promoted like coca-cola, nothing more.

http://workingknowledge.hbs.edu/item.jhtml?id=5188&t=entrepreneurship


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## beautifulempress (Mar 2, 2006)

He's been accused of being too commercial and a "hack" I know, but I personally like his books. I agree that he's not one of those authors that come to your mind when you think of your favourite author, but I find his books really enjoyable to read. I liked "Cradle and All" and the series with the Women's Murder Club. And I love my favourite character, Alex Cross. I think Patterson wrote the character of an African American really well


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## Mike C (Mar 3, 2006)

Of course, with Patterson it's always hard to know if he actually wrote it or if it was one of his stable.


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## Aleks (Mar 11, 2006)

I think Patterson's plots get a little bit tiresome. There's pretty much no variation if you strip it down. 
Maybe ok for a quick enjoyable read but I'd hardly call it gripping.


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## Avarice (Mar 11, 2006)

I havent read any of his work so I wont attack that but he truly does look like an old Shylock, on his main site my ear drums nearly blew out when that airplane sound kicked off. It's not like a real writers site like Ellis or King, it all screams " buy buy buy" and if you go to " about patterson" the clown he got to write it didnt even bother to re-read it:

With a body of work gorssing over 1.5 billion dollars 

I wouldnt mind if he wasnt a writer but just looks like an avaricious idiot.

[thats my hatred for the day, next stop, mother theresas secret casinos]


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## Lucifiel (Mar 11, 2006)

Bah. I've read "Along came a spider" and it was so long-winded in some scenes, the romance really boring, that I skimmed through the last 50 or so pages of the book! In some pages, I actually found myself mentally editing his sentences(I do that sometimes when I find sentences which are completely unreadable.)! By the way, the romance scenes were pain-inducing.


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## Small-town_Wright (Jul 6, 2006)

Thanks for a lenthy ... discussion. I think.


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## Scarecrow's Arrow (Jul 14, 2006)

I like his books for when I want a quick read- good for on the beach.


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## Firewriter23 (Jul 14, 2006)

I heard my radio station talking about him one morning about the new book Lifeguard.  I wanted to read it but never got a chance to get to the store and get a copy...Does anyone know if its good or not?


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## Amour (Jul 14, 2006)

uker: 


I (unfortunately) got Maximum Ride for a Christmas gift this year. I tossed it on my bookshelf, uninterested. A few months ago, I ran out of books, and picked it up. I read the first 3 chapters, slammed the cover, and drove down to the bookstore to return it. 

I know this isn't 'supposed' to be his best "book", and it seemed like it was geared towards 10 - 14 year olds, but from what I can tell, he is a formula brand name, looking for the easiest way to make a fortune. I haven't read anything else by James Patterson (nor do I plan to), so I can't rip him apart to hard. 

I too found myself editing the writing on the first page. The best part of the book was the 20$ store credit I got for returning it.  Horrible stuff, in my opinion.


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## Stewart (Jul 14, 2006)

Amour said:
			
		

> It [_Maximum Ride_] seemed like it was geared towards 10 - 14 year olds, but from what I can tell, he is a formula brand name, looking for the easiest way to make a fortune.



It was written for a younger market. Patterson polls book groups to find out what sort of books they want to read and then, typically, he jots down a storyline and passes it along to someone else to write.


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## Amour (Jul 14, 2006)

--Double post :-\
       Deleted--

Sorry,
-Amour


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## Amour (Jul 14, 2006)

Stewart said:
			
		

> It was written for a younger market. Patterson polls book groups to find out what sort of books they want to read and then, typically, he jots down a storyline and passes it along to someone else to write.



Good to know that I'm not going crazy. 

Sounds fairly accurate. Patterson is a hack. But, alas, how could he possibly be expected to write something... He is far to busy spending his hard earned cash, and drinking with his publishers. 

It's sad to see this trash flooding our bookstores when there are thousands of very talented writers that would kill to be published _once_, and will never even be considered, due to "writers" like this.


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## Bob Loblaw (Jul 18, 2006)

*My Lil' Patterson Roast*

My sister and me share the same shelf, and she has a lot of James Patterson's books among other things. As a rule of thumb, I try not to let my books touch hers, it might turn into crap too. I call it the Midas Effect. :lol: 

But really, I love James Patterson...as much as I love staring at oatmeal.



			
				Amour said:
			
		

> It's sad to see this trash flooding our bookstores when there are thousands of very talented writers that would kill to be published _once_, and will never even be considered, due to "writers" like this.


 
Amen!


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## DragonTheif (Jan 10, 2008)

he's amazing he's go a different style all he's a chapters are really short i'm reading the first in the maximum ride series at the moment got it as a xmas present


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## FMK (Jan 10, 2008)

Amour said:


> uker:
> 
> 
> I (unfortunately) got Maximum Ride for a Christmas gift this year. I tossed it on my bookshelf, uninterested. A few months ago, I ran out of books, and picked it up. I read the first 3 chapters, slammed the cover, and drove down to the bookstore to return it.
> ...


You only read the first three chapters? Pity. The beginning is easily the worst part of the book.


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## jesterscourt (Jan 11, 2008)

I met him at an event where he took Q&A for over an hour, and many of my questions were answered, as well as getting the latest Alex Cross novel signed.

Now, from what I understand, up until 2006/2007, he wrote all the books that had his name on them, unless it stated someone else in the byline.  In a more recent interview, he said that he has too many ideas, and not enough time in the world to push them all out, so he has whored the plotlines out for others to finish.  As long as HE continues with the Cross novels (and shutup I'm still like 2 behind)  I'll be fine.  I didn't like the Maximum Ride books or the book that spawned them, Where The Wind Blows or whatever.  The only non-Cross book of his that I liked was The Jester, which admitedly I listened to on tape while driving.  And his first book, about the Munich olympics (that was him, wasn't it?)

Oh getting back to the Q&A, it was fascinating to hear him explain how he came up with Cross, how he nailed the whole African American slant, being a middle-aged rich white man, and how he felt about the movies (he wanted Denzel not Morgan Freeman, if memory serves, and it makes sense because Alex Cross is in his late 30s to mid 40s I think for most of the series.)

Oh yeah, and my favorite part of the Q&A is when someone asked him what it's like to see your work being made into a movie, and he told this story of how when Kiss the Girls was being filmed, and he was flown in to watch the dailies, and he asked "Who is that?" In a scene when Cross was speaking to a younger woman, because at that specific point he didn't have a love interest.  "Oh, that's Cross's sister" the director explained.  "Oh," Patterson said, "I didn't know Alex had a sister."

heh.

But yeah, I can see why people both love and hate him, I liked the Cross novels, for whatever reason, and he does have an uncanny ability to pull off the whole 4 page or less chapters.


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## smilinghelps (Jan 11, 2008)

I love James Patterson books for a quick get-away read.  I can sink right into Alex Cross' shoes and hunt down whoever the bad guy of the day is.  My trouble is that the formula becomes predictable and I get bored.  I have to mix it up.  Overall I love his character development and the depth he takes Cross to.  Denzel IS Cross as far as I'm concerned--and Michael Clark Duncan is Sampson, for that matter.

I can't get into his non-Cross books, although I did read a few of the Women's Murder Club - or whatever they were called and they were OK.


Great for flights, the beach or Sunday-nap book.


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## Jebus (Jan 11, 2008)

I've only read the Maximum Ride series by Patterson. I enjoyed reading maybe the first chapter, I finished the book, and eventually the series, because I have to finish anything I start, book series included. 

I don't believe I'll read anything else by him though. I wasn't impressed with his writing.


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## grartx (Jan 16, 2008)

i haven't read him yet, though i plan to. he's actually pretty popular. his books get checked out at the library a lot, and i have heard people say they liked his works. i'm interested in reading his Mary Mary.


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## kidstaple (Jan 16, 2008)

The only book that I've read by him is 'The Jester'. Amazing. That'll probably be the last book that I ever read by him, now that I know he whores his books out. Cheap, lazy bastard. Anyways, I bought the book for a dollar in hardback a few years back at one of those wharehouse-book-sale-thingies. It was worth it.


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## Small-town_Wright (Jan 31, 2008)

I only read the Maximum Ride ones, and the other ones he wrote about birdkids... I lost interest in anything else by him after I realized just how much he stole the plot from his own *&#% books!


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## jesterscourt (Jan 31, 2008)

To be clear, I am not trying to down Mr. Patterson.  As I stated before, I rather like the Cross series.  and the Jester book, which after looking at my name, teehee.  Totally unrelated though.

As for him "whoring out his books"... From what I understand, he write the Cross books still, he writes the Women's mystery books, and most likely the Maximum Ride. Anything that has someone else's name on it with his as a byline though... yeah, he just provided the basic in the way of plot and characters.


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## LordValuemart (Feb 1, 2008)

I quite like the Maximum Ride series


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## Small-town_Wright (Feb 2, 2008)

Max and they others are awesome, and I'll try not to let thisget in the way of my enjoyment of the 3rd Maximum Ride book...

It might prove hard to do...


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