If there were really superheroes, Alex Cross would be at the head of the class.

Cross is such a lovable hero . . . whose compassion warmly balances the icy cruelty of Patterson's villains.

It's no mystery why James Patterson is the world's most popular thriller writer: his uncanny skill in creating living, breathing characters we truly feel for and seamless, lightning-fast plots. I do this for a living, and he still manages to keep me guessing from the first to last page ... Simply put: Nobody does it better.

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.

James Patterson is The Boss. End of.

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.

Every once in a while a writer comes along and fundamentally changes the way people read. He or she is so bright, so innovative, so industrious that what they envision and create becomes the measure by which all others are judged. In 1993 one such writer - James Patterson - began to do just that ... James Patterson is the gold standard by which all others are judged.

[Alex Cross] has become one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time, a character for the ages.

Alex Cross is a legend.

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

Patterson is in a class by himself.

Sharp, sassy and guaranteed to send shivers down your spine, this is a tense thriller

Cross is one of the best and most likeable characters in the modern thriller.