Line #30 Creator/JamesPatterson


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patterson_james-250_tcm7-72906_1459.jpg]]
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3	James Brendan Patterson (born March 22, 1947) is a prolific American thriller writer. By "prolific", we mean he releases [[https://www.jamespatterson.com/landing-page/james-patterson-books/ at least two books a month]], ranging from children's comics to adult non-fiction. Patterson's work is partly known for really short chapters, which are supposed to keep the plot moving. He credits shortening the chapters and [[FocusGroupEnding focus-testing]] his books with leading to his big rise to fame.
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5	As for his prolific output, he pulls it off by maintaining a stable of writers to 'help' with most of the books. Patterson comes up with an idea, [[http://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/380231/James-Patterson-the-best-seller-who-doesn-t-write-his-own-books writes a treatment of 60 to 80 pages]] containing all the key plot points, focus-tests it, makes some changes, and then hands the treatment off to a co-author who writes the actual book with Patterson's review and feedback. This practice is often criticized in literary circles, but Patterson defends it by saying that collaboration is common in practically all media. It also doesn't hurt that he [[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/james-patterson--scholastic-reading-club-award-first-round-of-grants-to-school-libraries-due-to-high-demand-for-funding-patterson-announces-an-additional-250000--bringing-total-to-175-million-to-help-libraries-across-the-u-300106642.html donates millions of dollars]] to school libraries and independent bookshops.
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7	Apart from his massive bibliography, he is notable for writing two books with ''ex-president UsefulNotes/BillClinton'', both of which feature a [[ActionPolitician badass fictional president]] foiling a plot against America. (A little wish fulfillment there maybe, Bill?) They are ''The President is Missing'' (2018) and ''The President's Daughter'' (2021). Patterson also wrote his memoirs, ''James Patterson by James Patterson'', in 2022.
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9	[[folder:Works]]
10	Patterson's main series of novels are:
11	* ''Alex Cross'' - A detective in UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC. Three novels have been adapted for the big screen: ''Film/AlongCameASpider'', ''Film/KissTheGirls'' (where the character was played by Creator/MorganFreeman) and ''Film/AlexCross'' (based on ''Cross'' where he is played by Creator/TylerPerry).
12	* ''Women's Murder Club'' - A detective, an ME, a DA and crime reporter. They fight crime in UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco. Was adapted as a [[Series/WomensMurderClub TV series]] in 2007, it lasted one season.
13	* ''Michael Bennett'' - A widowed detective in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity. With ten adopted kids.
14	* ''Maximum Ride'' - A teen science-fiction series with human-avian hybrids.
15	* ''Witch & Wizard'' - A teen fantasy series about fugitive magic users.
16	* ''Daniel X'' - A teen science-fiction series about a teenage alien bounty hunter.
17	* ''Middle School'' - SliceOfLife illustrated novels about a troubled middle-school kid. They were popular enough to get some spinoffs, one is called ''I Funny'' and stars a [[DisabledSnarker wheelchair-bound comedian]] classmate, and the other is ''Middle School: My Brother Is A Big Fat Liar'' from the perspective of the protagonist's sister.
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20	Also played poker with [[Series/Castle2009 a fictional crime writer]].
21	----
22	!!Works by this author with their own pages:
23	[[index]]
24	* ''Literature/AlexCross'' series
25	* ''Literature/DanielX'' series
26	* ''Literature/HouseOfRobots''
27	** ''Literature/HouseOfRobotsRobotsGoWild''
28	** ''Literature/HouseOfRobotsRobotRevolution''
29	* ''Literature/IFunny''
30	* ''Literature/JackyHaHa''
31	* ''Literature/KattVsDogg''
32	** ''Literature/KattLovesDogg''
33	* ''Literature/MaximumRide'' series
34	* ''Literature/MiddleSchool''
35	* ''Literature/PublicSchoolSuperhero''
36	* ''Literature/SantaKid''
37	* ''Literature/UnbelievablyBoringBart''
38	* ''Literature/WitchAndWizard'' series
39	* ''Literature/WordOfMouse''
40	[[/index]]
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42	!!Other works by this author provide examples of:
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44	* AlphaBitch: [[GirlPosse Three of them]] in ''My Brother Is A Big Fat Liar'', collectively known as the Princess Patrol.
45	* AnimalsHateHim: In ''Zoo'', the mysterious animal attacks are found to be a result of [[spoiler:pollution-induced pheromones emitted by human beings which are similar to the attack-pheromones of insects]]. Thus, this trope applies to ''everyone on the planet''.
46	* BlackWidow: Nora Roberts, the main character in ''Honeymoon''. She kills two rich guys a short while after they propose to her with her two-piece signature dish: an omelet laced with one poison, and sparkle water mixed with a second poison.
47	* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: ''The Perfect Assassin'' revolves around a guy getting trained in this method. At the end he has 20/10 vision (i.e. twice as good as a normal person), can swim for miles in ice-cold water and ''survive getting shot with only a welt''. Meanwhile, the bad guys are running an AcademyOfEvil using a less-powerful version of the same training.
48	* {{Expy}}: In ''Private: London'', the lead character is '''Daniel C'''arter, a blonde, blue-eyed ladykiller with a military background and dry wit, even in crisis situations. The bad guy even turns out to [[spoiler:be a lunatic out to destabilize a region of the world who kidnaps a scientist to that end]]. In short, he's essentially Film/JamesBond as a private detective, though a lot less sanguine about killing.
49	* FreeRangeChildren: In ''I Funny'', then-sixth-grader Jamie Grimm goes to another town by himself for a comedy contest on his own -- did we mention he's paraplegic? -- and it's strongly implied he wheeled himself home in the middle of the night. (Overlaps with HandicappedBadass in that case.)
50	* HappilyAdopted:
51	** Micheal Bennett's ten children.
52	** In ''My Brother Is A Big Fat Liar'' [[spoiler:Rafe's sister, Georgia.]]
53	* HatePlague: Played with in ''Zoo'', in which a Hate Plague that affects all mammals except humans appears to be triggering an escalating global epidemic of animal attacks. [[spoiler:It turns out that, while animals' behavior is indeed being altered, it's more of a ''Hate Me'' Plague: thanks to pollution plus radiation from cell phones, humans have begun emitting pheromones which incite other mammals to attack them.]]
54	* HighClassCallGirl: In ''Sail''.
55	* {{Imprinting}}: The bird kids do this to the heroine of ''The Lake House''.
56	* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: Each of the ''Womens Murder Club'' series incorporates its corresponding number into its title (''First To Die'', ''Second Chance'', ''Third Degree'', ''Fourth of July'' etc).
57	* IncongruouslyDressedZombie: In ''Zoo 2'', Jackson's group in Las Vegas is attacked by feral humans, whose clothes clearly peg them as casino employees, tourists, and (inevitably) an ElvisImpersonator.
58	* IrishPriest: Mike Bennett's grandfather Seamus (he became a priest after he was widowed).
59	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The celebrities taken hostage in ''Step on a Crack'', particularly the Britney Spears-clone.
60	* {{Pheromones}}: A major plot point in ''Zoo'' involves pheromone signals influencing animal behavior.
61	* PostRapeTaunt: In ''The Jester'', one of the antagonists pulls this on the hero, whose wife was kidnapped while he was participating in the crusades.
62	* RidiculouslyHumanRobots: The Hubots in ''Humans, Bow Down''.
63	* RoboticSpouse: In ''The Lake House'', Dr. Ethan Kane, the head of the hospital where Max and the other children were kept, has a robotic wife that is "honored" to perform oral sex on him at any time and any place and even has a perfectly measured vagina.
64	* RuleOfCool: His action series -- especially the ones for teens like ''Literature/MaximumRide'', and ''Literature/DanielX'' -- have a tendency to run on this at the expense of logic.
65	* ShownTheirWork: In ''London'', Dan Carter narrates that an actress, whose name he can't recall, in the restaurant he's in is rumoured to be the next Companion on ''Series/DoctorWho'' and was "wearing a skirt even shorter than that worn by the current one" (Amy Pond).
66	* StealthPun: At no point in ''Sail'' is the phrase [[spoiler: "Dunne In"]] used.
67	* TooDumbToLive: ''Judge and Jury'' is about the trial of a powerful mob leader who is also a sociopath. The judge lets him hear the jury's names during selection. Even after he gets someone to break into her alarmed house, leave the evening paper under her pillow, and all but openly threatens her, she does nothing. By the end of the day, all but one of the jurors is dead. The retrial is locked down like Fort Knox.
68	* YouHaveFailedMe: [[spoiler:Jiang Lijun]] is killed by his boss for this reason in ''The President's Daughter''.

Context Creator / JamesPatterson