Behind all the noise and the numbers, we shouldn't forget that no one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent – which is what Jim has, in spades. The Alex Cross series proves it. It just rolls along, irresistibly. Here's to the next twenty years.

It's no mystery why James Patterson is the world's most popular thriller writer ... Simply put: Nobody does it better.

James Patterson is The Boss. End of.

Twenty years ago, I wrote, "Along Came a Spider is the best thriller I've come across in many a year. It deserves to be this season's no. 1 bestseller and should instantly make James Patterson a household name." A household name, indeed. Congratulations, Jim, on twenty years of Alex Cross and on Cross My Heart, which I am loving. You the man.

Alex Cross is one of the best-written heroes in American fiction, and each Cross novel further defines what it means to be a professional, a husband, a father, and above all, a man. Congratulations to James Patterson on twenty years of Alex Cross – both of you only get better and better.

Alex Cross is a legend. He has thrilled us and kept us on the edge of our seat for twenty years now.

Patterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves a plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind.

Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried... there's no stopping his imagination.

Patterson is in a class by himself.