Best James Patterson Books To Start With (2024 Updated)

Four crime-solving friends face off against a killer in San Francisco in the Women’s Murder Club novel that launched James Patterson’s thrilling series. Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D.

A. , and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle. But the usual procedures aren’t bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women’s Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand.

The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered-before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.

Full of the breathtaking drama and unforgettable emotions for which James Patterson is famous, 1st to Die is the start of the #1 New York Times bestselling series of crime thrillers.

Imagine a killer who thinks, What’s the worst thing anyone has ever done?–and then goes far beyond it. Now imagine four women–a police detective, an assistant D. A. , a reporter, and a medical examiner –who get things done by helping each other–and ignoring the rules.

Welcome to the world of the Women’s Murder Club. Four crime-solving friends face off against a killer in San Francisco in the Women’s Murder Club novel that started James Patterson’s thrilling series.

Each one holds a piece of the puzzle: Lindsay Boxer is a homicide inspector in the San Francisco Police Department, Claire Washburn is a medical examiner, Jill Bernhardt is an assistant D. A. , and Cindy Thomas just started working the crime desk of the San Francisco Chronicle.

But the usual procedures aren’t bringing them any closer to stopping the killings. So these women form a Women’s Murder Club to collaborate outside the box and pursue the case by sidestepping their bosses and giving each other a hand.

The four women develop intense bonds as they pursue a killer whose crimes have stunned an entire city. Working together, they track down the most terrifying and unexpected killer they have ever encountered–before a shocking conclusion in which everything they knew turns out to be devastatingly wrong.

Full of the breathtaking drama and unforgettable emotions for which James Patterson is famous, 1st to Die is the start of the #1 New York Times bestselling series of crime thrillers.

Detective Billy Harney’s reputation as a dirty cop may be the only thing keeping Chicago clean in James Patterson’s most critically-acclaimed thriller since The Black Book. ​ For Detective Billy Harney, getting shot in the head, stalked by a state’s attorney, and accused of murder by his fellow cops is a normal week on the job.

So when a drive-by shooting on the Chicago’s west side turns political, he leads the way to a quick solve. But Harney’s instincts–his father was once chief of detectives and his twin sister, Patti, is also on the force–run deep.

As a population hungry for justice threatens to riot, he realizes that the three known victims are hardly the only casualties. When Harney starts asking questions about who’s to blame, the easy answers prove to be the wrong ones.

On the flip side, the less he seems to know, the longer he can keep his clandestine investigation going. until Harney’s quest to expose the evil that’s rotting the city from the inside out takes him to the one place he vowed never to return: his own troubled past.

For every secret – Detective Lindsay Boxer’s long-awaited wedding celebration becomes a distant memory when she is called to investigate a horrendous crime: a badly injured teenage girl is left for dead, and her newborn baby is nowhere to be found.

Lindsay discovers that not only is there no trace of the criminals–but that the victim may be keeping secrets as well. – For every lie – At the same time, Assistant District Attorney Yuki Castellano is prosecuting the biggest case of her life–a woman who has been accused of murdering her husband in front of her two young children.

Yuki’s career rests on a guilty verdict, so when Lindsay finds evidence that could save the defendant, she is forced to choose. Should she trust her best friend or follow her instinct? There’s a different way to die – Lindsay’s every move is watched by her new boss, Lieutenant Jackson Brady, and when the pressure to find the baby begins interfering with her new marriage to Joe, she wonders if she’ll ever be able to start a family.

With James Patterson’s white-hot speed and unquenchable action, 10th Anniversary is the most deliciously chilling Women’s Murder Club book ever.

Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge and Angel are six extraordinary avian hybrids. They are the result of a cruel biotech experiment which manipulated their DNA and turned them into recombinant life forms with wings.

This flock has endured a turbulent upbringing and they have been continually faced with evil. Evading capture on a daily basis, they have endured torture and been pushed to the very brink of sanity. Hunted all their lives, they’ve had to fight life-threatening and belief-defying battles pitting their strength against the fearsome force of their shadowy enemies.

But as their predators evolved, their unique ability to fly is no longer enough to save them. With their genes mutating to astonishing effect, the flock establishes a new set of skills to unleash as they strive for survival.

But just as they struggle to get to grips with these physical changes, emotionally they face new challenges too: life on the fringe of society can be a lonely existence. Driven to the wastelands of Antarctica, each day brings a new threat for the flock.

Danger is never far away and while fighting to save their own skin, they have a new mission to undertake – one with devastating global consequences.

This used book is in Good condition. This book is missing its CD. In the #1 bestselling series, Jack Morgan teams up with the head of Private India to solve a high-stakes case: one by one, people are missing-and they have to find them before they’re dead.

Santosh Wagh quit his job as head of Private India after harrowing events in Mumbai almost got him killed. But Jack Morgan, global head of the world’s finest investigation agency, needs him back. Jack is setting up a new office in Delhi, and Santosh is the only person he can trust.

Still battling his demons, Santosh accepts, and it’s not long before the agency takes on a case that could make or break them. Plastic barrels containing dissolved human remains have been found in the basement of a house in an upmarket area of South Delhi.

But this isn’t just any house, this property belongs to the state government. With the crime scene in lockdown and information suppressed by the authorities, delving too deep could make Santosh a target to be eliminated.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author James Patterson comes a brilliantly original adventure series, jam-packed with action, humor, and heart! The Kidd siblings have grown up diving down to shipwrecks and traveling the world, helping their famous parents recover everything from swords to gold doubloons from the bottom of the ocean.

But after their parents disappear on the job, the kids are suddenly thrust into the biggest treasure hunt of their lives. They’ll have to work together to defeat dangerous pirates and dodge the hot pursuit of an evil treasure hunting rival, all while following cryptic clues to unravel the mystery of what really happened to their parents-and find out if they’re still alive.

Detective Lindsay Boxer’s investigation into the disappearance of three teachers quickly escalates from missing persons to murder in the newest Women’s Murder Club thriller. For a trio of colleagues, an innocent night out after class ends in a deadly torture session.

They vanish without a clue — until a body turns up. With the safety of San Francisco’s entire school system at stake, Lindsay has never been under more pressure. As the chief of police and the press clamor for an arrest in the “school night” case, Lindsay turns to her best friend, investigative journalist Cindy Thomas.

Together, Lindsay and Cindy take a new approach to the case, and unexpected facts about the victims leave them stunned. While Lindsay is engrossed in her investigation, her husband, Joe Molinari, meets an Eastern European woman who claims to have seen a notorious war criminal — long presumed dead — from her home country.

Before Lindsay can verify the woman’s statement, Joe’s mystery informant joins the ranks of the missing women. Lindsay, Joe, and the entire Women’s Murder Club must pull together to protect their city, and one another — not from a ghost, but from a true monster.

As San Francisco’s most glamorous millionaires mingle at the party of the year, someone is watching–waiting for a chance to take vengeance on Isa and Ethan Bailey, the city’s most celebrated couple. Finally, the killer pinpoints the ideal moment, and it’s the perfect murder.

Not a trace of evidence is left behind in their glamorous home. As Detective Lindsay Boxer investigates the high-profile murder, someone else is found brutally executed–a preacher with a message of hope for the homeless.

His death nearly falls through the cracks, but when reporter Cindy Thomas hears about it, she knows the story could be huge. Probing deeper into the victim’s history, she discovers he may not have been quite as saintly as everyone thought.

As the hunt for two criminals tests the limits of the Women’s Murder Club, Lindsay sees sparks fly between Cindy and her partner, Detective Rich Conklin. The Women’s Murder Club now faces its toughest challenge: will love destroy all that four friends have built? The exhilarating new chapter in the Women’s Murder Club series, The 8th Confession serves up a double dose of speed-charged twists and shocking revelations as only James Patterson can.

And remember, this is the only Murder Club episode of the year.

In James Patterson’s dazzling thriller, two secret agents hunt down a serial killer targeting honeymoon couples in Rome. A newlywed couple steps into the sauna in their deluxe honeymoon suite-and never steps out again.

When another couple is killed while boarding their honeymoon flight to Rome, it becomes clear that someone is targeting honeymooners, and it’s anyone’s guess which happy couple is next on the list. FBI Agent John O’Hara is deep into solving the case, while Special Agent Sarah Brubaker is hunting another ingenious serial killer, whose victims all have one chilling thing in common.

As wedding hysteria rises to a frightening new level, John and Sarah work ever more closely together in a frantic attempt to decipher the logic behind two rampages. From “The Man Who Can’t Miss,” Second Honeymoon is the most mesmerizing, most exciting, and most surprising thriller ever (Time).

“As the holidays approach, Detective Lindsay Boxer and her friends in the Women’s Murder Club have much to celebrate. Crime is down. The medical examiner’s office is quiet. Even the courts are showing some Christmas spirit.

And the news cycle is so slow that journalist Cindy Thomas is on assignment to tell a story about the true meaning of the season for San Francisco. Then a fearsome criminal known only as ‘Loman’ seizes control of the headlines.

He is planning a deadly surprise for Christmas morning. And he has commissioned dozens of criminal colleagues to take actions that will mask his plans. All that Lindsay and the SFPD can figure out is that Loman’s greed — for riches, for bloodshed, for attention — is limitless.

Solving crimes never happens on schedule, but as this criminal mastermind unleashes credible threats by the hour, the month of December is upended for the Women’s Murder Club. Avoiding tragedy is the only holiday miracle they seek.

“–Provided by publisher.

Fans of James Patterson’s resourceful cop Alex Cross will be relieved to find that he’s back on familiar territory with Violets Are Blue–and, more importantly, that this is one of the best Alex Cross thrillers yet.

The malign criminal genius of Roses Are Red is fixing to give Alex a hard time once again. The FBI joins Patterson’s dogged cop in a particularly unsettling investigation: two San Francisco joggers have been viciously murdered and are found suspended by their feet, with all the blood drained from their corpses.

And when further brutal deaths follow in California and on the East Coast, Alex is forced to contemplate the bizarre possibility of modern-day vampires, although his instincts point him to one of the many sinister religious cults that flourish on the West Coast.

Aided by Jamilla Hughes, a streetwise young woman detective from San Francisco, Alex finds that he has to crack not one but two impenetrable mysteries to stop further bloodletting. Patterson fans expect the extremely concise, page-turning chapters (116 of them here!), along with a reluctance to dawdle over details of his hero’s personal life, and both characteristics are firmly back in place.

If you can resist reading this one in just a few sittings, you deserve some kind of a thriller reader’s medal.

Detective Alex Cross is back in this bestselling follow-up to Roses Are Red. Two joggers are brutally slain in San Francisco in a macabre ritual reminiscent of a case in Washington, D. C. that Cross has been unable to solve.

As the carnage leaves a trail of bodies across America, a vicious criminal from Cross’s past known as the Mastermind once again taunts him.

James Patterson returns to the genre that made him famous with a #1 New York Times bestselling teen detective novel about the mysterious Angel family. and the dark secrets they’re keeping from one another.

On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: 1) She was the last person to see her parents alive. 2) The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings.

3) She can’t trust anyone-maybe not even herself. As Tandy sets out to clear the family name, she begins to recall flashes of experiences long buried in her vulnerable psyche. These memories shed light on her family’s dark secrets, and digging deeper into her powerful parents’ affairs proves to be a disturbing and dangerous game.

Who knows what any of the Angels are truly capable of?.

Instant #1 New York Times bestsellerIn James Patterson’s white-hot Western thriller, a Texas Ranger fights for his life, his freedom, and the town he loves as he investigates his ex-wife’s murder. Across the ranchlands and cities of his home state, Rory Yates’s discipline and law-enforcement skills have carried him far: from local highway patrolman to the honorable rank of Texas Ranger.

He arrives in his hometown to find a horrifying crime scene and a scathing accusation: he is named a suspect in the murder of his ex-wife, Anne, a devoted teacher whose only controversial act was ending her marriage to a Ranger.

In search of the killer, Yates plunges into the inferno of the most twisted and violent minds he’s ever encountered, vowing to never surrender. That code just might bring him out alive.

In james patterson’s blockbuster series, fourteen-year-old maximum ride, better known as max, knows what it’s like to soar above the world. She and all the members of the “flock”–fang, iggy, nudge, gasman and angel are just like ordinary kids only they have wings and can fly.

It may seem like a dream come true to some, but their lives can morph into a living nightmare at any time. like when angel, the youngest member of the flock, is kidnapped and taken back to the “school” where she and the others were experimented on by a crew of wack jobs.

Her friends brave a journey to blazing hot death valley, ca, to save.

Live large with James Patterson’s winning follow-up to the #1 New York Times bestseller Middle School, The Worst Years of My Life. After sixth grade, the very worst year of his life, Rafe Khatchadorian thinks he has it made in seventh grade.

He’s been accepted to art school in the big city and imagines a math-and-history-free fun zone. Wrong! It’s more competitive than Rafe ever expected, and to score big in class, he needs to find a way to turn his boring life into the inspiration for a work of art.

His method? Operation: Get a Life! Anything he’s never done before, he’s going to do it, from learning to play poker to going to a modern art museum. But when his newest mission uncovers secrets about the family Rafe’s never known, he has to decide if he’s ready to have his world turned upside down.

James Patterson’s blockbuster Alex Cross series has sold over 100 million copies – and now he’s bringing those thrills to a new generation! Alex’s son Ali is eager to follow in his father’s footsteps as a detective, but when his best friend goes missing, what price will he have to pay to solve the mystery? Ali Cross has always looked up to his father, former detective and FBI agent Alex Cross.

While solving some of the nation’s most challenging crimes, his father always kept his head and did the right thing. Can Ali have the same strength and resolve? When Ali’s best friend Gabe is reported missing, Ali is desperate to find him.

At the same time, a string of burglaries targets his neighborhood — and even his own house. With his father on trial for a crime he didn’t commit, it’s up to Ali to search for clues and find his friend.

But being a kid sleuth isn’t easy — especially when your father warns you not to get involved! — and Ali soon learns that clues aren’t always what they seem. Will his detective work lead to a break in Gabe’s case or cause even more trouble for the Cross family?.

From the best-selling, Edgar Award-winning author James Patterson comes a classic thriller. Cool and glamorous, they could be a successful couple on a holiday. But Damian and Carrie Rose are psychopathic murderers for hire.

Their new venue is a picture-perfect vacation island. Their adversary will be Peter Macdonald, the dashing young American who forsakes a life of leisure for a confrontation with cold-blooded terror. And risks everything only to discover that he alone suspects the hideous truth about the Season of the Machete.

Meet James Patterson’s most compelling hero yet: Detective Michael Bennett, as he pursues the most diabolical criminal ever to terrify New York City. During a state funeral for a former First Lady in New York City’s largest cathedral, the unthinkable occurs.

The captives include world leaders, actors, TV stars, athletes, and politicians. The kidnappers are armed with enough explosives to blow a crater in the middle of Manhattan. NYPD officer Michael Bennett is pulled into the standoff as lead negotiator.

Despite the escalating danger, Michael faces an even more terrifying crisis at home.