James Patterson was born in Newburgh, New York, on March 22, 1947. He graduated from Manhattan College in 1969 and received a M. A. from Vanderbilt University in 1970. His first novel, The Thomas Berryman Number, was written while he was working in a mental institution and was rejected by 26 publishers before being published and winning the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery. He is best known as the creator of Alex Cross, the police psychologist hero of such novels as Along Came a Spider and Kiss the Girls. Cross has been portrayed on the silver screen by Morgan Freeman. He has had eleven on his books made into movies and ranks as number 3 on the Hollywood Reporter's '25 Most Powerful Authors' 2016 list. He also writes the Women's Murder Club series, the Michael Bennett series, the Maximum Ride series, Daniel X series, the Witch and Wizard series, BookShots series, Private series, NYPD Red series, and the Middle School series for children. He has won numerous awards including the BCA Mystery Guild's Thriller of the Year, the International Thriller of the Year award, and the Reader's Digest Reader's Choice Award. James Patterson introduced the Bookshots Series in 2016 which is advertised as All Thriller No Filler. The first book in the series, Cross Kill, made the New York Times Bestseller list in June 2016. The third and fourth books, The Trial, and Little Black Dress, made the New York Times Bestseller list in July 2016. The next books in the series include, $10,000,000 Marriage Proposal, French Kiss, Hidden: A Mitchum Story (co-authored with James O. Born). and The House Husband (co-authored Duane Swierczynski). Patterson's novel, co-authored with Maxine Paetro, Woman of God, became a New York Times bestseller in 2016. Patterson co-authored with John Connoly and Tim Malloy the true crime expose Filthy Rich about billionaire convicted sex offender Jeffrey Eppstein. In January 2017, he co-authored with Ashwin Sanghi the bestseller Private Delhi. And in August 2017, he co-authored with Richard Dilallo, The Store. The Black Book is a stand-alone thriller, co-authored by James Patterson and David Ellis. In April 2018, he co-authored Texas Ranger with Andrew Bourelle. In May 2018, he co-authored Private Princess with Rees Jones. In August 2018 he co-authored Fifty Fifty with Candice Fox.
Andrew Gross was born in 1952 in New York City. He grew up in Manhattan and attended the Barnard School for Boys. Both his father and grandfather were successful clothing manufacturers; they ran the Leslie Fay Companies. Gross received a degree in English from Middlebury College in 1974. In 1982, he received a Masters in Business from Columbia University. He attended the Writers Program at the University of Iowa. The draft of his first book Hydra, a political thriller, was completed in 1998. After dozens of rejections from agents and ultimately publishers he received a phone call from James Patterson. Gross met with Patterson and discussed the early concepts for what ultimately became the Women's Murder Club series. Gross worked with Patterson on several books in this series, including Second Chance and Third Degree, both of which were bestsellers. Then, they branched out on different themes together, co-authoring the bestsellers, The Jester, Lifeguard, and Judge and Jury. In pursuing his solo career, Gross wrote such works as The Blue Zone, which debuted on the New York Times bestseller list in the United States. A year later, It was followed up by The Dark Tide ( 2007), which was nominated for Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association. The Dark Tide featured the Gross fictional detective Ty Hauck of Greenwich, Connecticut, who became the lead character in his corruption and political conspiracy-based bestsellers Don't Look Twice and Reckless. His titles 12 Seconds and Everything to Lose also made the New York Times bestseller list. The One Man was published in August 2016. His latest bestseller is The Saboteur.
