An accomplished advertising executive and best-selling writer, James Patterson has proven again and again that he understands how to please his audience. Concentrating on thrillers and suspense stories, he has fostered a loyal following of avid readers, particularly for his several books that feature Alex Cross, a psychologist-turned-detective who is African American, though Patterson himself is not. His books combine grisly detail with complicated plots and sell in the hundreds of thousands of copies all over the world. While balancing two successful careers is not easy, as Patterson told People's Maria Speidel, "I like to go inside myself, but I also need to go outside and meet other people, and I like the ad work." The contrasts--he is boss to more than a thousand employees and a disciplined writer--seem to fuel Patterson's fundamental need to communicate with people at many levels.

Patterson was born in 1947 in Newburgh...