I've just discovered James Patterson and found his books unputdownable but downright scary.e.g. Jack and Jill , Kiss the Girls and Make Them Cry.
His books have been made into films starring Morgan Freeman as, I am assuming , Dr. Alex Cross. I'm assuming because I haven't seen the films(don't get out much) but have only read the blurbs on the books.
I've just finished a book by the author called Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas.It is sentimental in the extreme but again I found it unputdownable. I loved it!
How can an author be so adept in completely different genres of writing?
I'm just about to start reading Miracle on the Seventeenth Green which Patterson co-wrote.It's about a golfer
What a versatile writer. I am now a fan.
Does anyone else read and admire this talented American author?

Oh, yes! I've loved James Patterson for years now. I believe the Alex Cross mysteries were what he started out with, but he's really branched out. Some are so far out there that I don't know what to think! Read the one about the flying children yet? I can't remember the name---I'm terrible about that---but it's just a little TOO far out for my taste.
The Alex Cross movies are good, too, although of course not as complex as the books themselves. Have you read any Jeffery Deaver? I read his "The Bone Collector" after seeing the movie, and of course his stock IMMEDIATELY went up with me. (Reading the book before the movie almost always leaves me disappointed with the movie. This time, having seen the movie first, I was disappointed by the movie when I read the book because I realized just how good the movie COULD have been!)

I haven't read Jeffrey Deaver but I will now. Thanks for the recommendation.