Among his works are the Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, Women's Murder Club, Maximum Ride, Daniel X, NYPD Red, Witch & Wizard, Private and Middle School series, as well as many stand-alone thrillers, non-fiction, and romance novels.

[2][3] In 2016, Patterson topped Forbes's list of highest-paid authors for the third consecutive year, with an income of $95 million.

[11] Patterson was a PhD candidate at Vanderbilt[12] when he took a job as an advertising executive at J. Walter Thompson.

The novels featuring his character Alex Cross, a forensic psychologist formerly of the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation who now works as a private psychologist and government consultant, are his most popular and the top-selling U.S. detective series of the 2010s.

Barker, Candice Fox, Maxine Paetro, Andrew Gross, Mark Sullivan, Ashwin Sanghi, Michael Ledwidge, and Peter de Jonge.

[21] In May 2017, it was announced that Patterson would also co-author a crime fiction book with former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

Forbes reported the deal was worth at least $150 million, but according to Patterson, the estimate was inaccurate.

[25] Patterson founded the James Patterson PageTurner Awards in 2005 to donate over $100,000 that year to people, companies, schools, and other institutions that find original and effective ways to spread the excitement of books and reading.

[26] The PageTurner Awards were put on hold in 2008 to focus on Patterson's new initiative, ReadKiddoRead.com, which assists parents, teachers, and librarians in finding books for their children.

[32] In June 2022, Patterson apologized on Facebook for his accusations of racism after saying in an interview that older white males find it difficult to find work in film, theater, television and publishing, and that the problem is "just another form of racism."

[36] In an interview for USA Weekend, Stephen King said Patterson was "a terrible writer but he's very successful.

"[39] Legal thriller writer Lisa Scottoline said in a review of Patterson's Kill Alex Cross, "They used to say that 50 million Elvis Presley fans couldn't be wrong, and James Patterson makes 50 million fans look like a good start.

"[43] Maureen Sullivan, president of the American Library Association, told the Tampa Bay Times she was writing Patterson a thank-you letter.

[44] In 2017, digital humanities scholars Simon Fuller and James O'Sullivan published research showing that Patterson does not do much actual writing when collaborating with other authors.

He encouraged readers to "send a polite note" to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in response to legislation passed to seek community input on school library materials.