History YMMV / JamesPatterson

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: James is one of those authors who writes for all the demographics: Adults, teenagers, and children. While his Middle School, I Funny, and Jacky Ha Ha series are made for child audiences, thus kid-friendly, most of his other books, such as the Alex Cross and Maximum Ride series, aren't really. This is probably why his children's books have the "Jimmy Patterson" label to differentiate.

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:The death of Mike's wife, Maeve, from cancer, in ''Step on a Crack'', made worse because it's been set up for much of the book)]].

** In ''Zoo'', female dogs seem to disappear entirely after turning feral and running away, but are later discovered to be whelping vast hordes of equally-feral puppies in concealed canine "hives", fed by the human-hunting males. This overlooks the fact that the ''majority'' of domestic female dogs are spayed, so would be useless as "hive queen"-style breeders.

* ValuesDissonance: Some of his earlier work is distressingly unquestioning of the idea that cops should be able to shoot anyone they want. ''The 5th Horseman'' even says outright that people shouldn't be worried at all about it.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Vida Gomez in ''Gone''. [[spoiler:She was built up as Manuel Perrine's top assassin, a highly competent and skilled killer who stops at nothing to get a job done. When she survives Perrine and looks as if she may become the main antagonist of the next book, she anticlimactically dies the very next chapter after horribly botching the assassination of the Bennett clan, murdered by ''Mary Catherine'', of all people.]]

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Vida Gomez in ''Gone''. [[spoiler:She was built up as Manuel Perrine's top assassin, a highly competent and skilled killer who stops at nothing to get a job done. When she survives Perrine and looks as if she may become the main antagonist of the next book, she anticlimactically dies the very next chapter after horribly botching the assassination of the Bennett clan, murdered by ''Mary Catherine'', of all people.]]
* TheScrappy: Jared McCall from the Middle School novel series qualifies as one, for being a love rival, and doing anything to hang out with Jeanne, including locking Rafe in a bathroom and separating him from the class.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: The 2012 children's novel ''I Funny'' is set on Long Beach, Long Island and was written well before but hit the shelves a month after Superstorm Sandy.

* OneSceneWonder: Jill has a single brief playable scene in the HiddenObjectGame ''Women's Murder Club: Twice in a Blue Moon'': [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Riding around the archives on a segway, trying to not hit law clerks]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Vida Gomez in ''Gone''. [[spoiler:She was built up as Manuel Perrine's top assassin, a highly competent and skilled killer who stops at nothing to get a job done. When she survives Perrine and looks as if she may become the main antagonist of the next book, she anticlimactically dies the very next chapter after horribly botching the assassination of the Bennett clan, murdered by ''Mary Catherine'', of all people.]]

* NightmareFuel: Thriller fiction runs on it.

* ParanoiaFuel: His works portray the personal weaknesses of the police that citizens trust with their lives, as well as how difficult and unpredictable the monstrous criminals can be.

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: The final showdown between Cross and Soneji in ''Cat and Mouse''
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: In ''Along Came a Spider'' the rescue of Maggie Rose Dunne. Truthfully any time a kidnapping victim is reunited with their family.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Some interpretations of the Mastermind.

* MoralEventHorizon: Almost all of the villains start out as somewhat [[MagnificentBastard likable in an evil way]] until a certain point, but a particularly good example is Gary Schaefer and [[spoiler:the murder of Patsy Hampton.]]

* {{Squick}}: Given the nature of his work, this was a given. However, it runs rampant in ''Kiss the Girls''. One scene in particular involves Casanova using warm milk to lead a live snake into the rectum of one of his victims. Many reviews cite this scene as so disturbing it ruins the entire novel. (Note: Snakes don't actually drink milk. Blame Creator/ArthurConanDoyle for this one.)
** The latest book also has Zeus, who possibly tops Casanova in terms of being a disgusting murderous sex fiend.
** Also the lovingly detailed description of The Mastermind having sex with a corpse in ''Roses Are Red'', thanks James.
** ''Four Blind Mice'' has three contract killers (hence the title), and one of them is described as getting hard at the memory of murder.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Vida Gomez in ''Gone''. [[spoiler:She was built up as Manuel Perrine's top assassin, a highly competent and skilled killer who stops at nothing to get a job done. When she survives Perrine and looks as if she may become the main antagonist of the next book, she anticlimactically dies the very next chapter after horribly botching the assassination of the Bennett clan, murdered by ''Mary Catherine'', of all people.]]

* FetishFuel: The snake scene in ''Kiss the Girls'' could possibly qualify.

* OneSceneWonder: Jill has a single brief playable scene in the HiddenObject game ''Women's Murder Club: Twice in a Blue Moon'': [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Riding around the archives on a segway, trying to not hit law clerks]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment: ''I Funny'' is set on Long Beach, Long Island and was written well before but hit the shelves a month after Superstorm Sandy.

** Anything and everything involving [[spoiler:Jill]] in ''3rd Degree''.