James Patterson Books in Order

Washington detective and psychologist Alex Cross investigates the kidnapping of two private-school children. Their captor, teacher Gary Soneji, wants to commit a crime no one will forget, and Cross must catch him before the case destroys more lives.

Alex Cross searches for his missing niece while two serial predators terrorize women from opposite sides of the country. A survivor who escaped one captor becomes his key ally in a case built on fear, control, and deception.

A pair of killers called Jack and Jill begins murdering powerful figures in Washington, DC. While Cross follows their trail, he is also drawn into another brutal case, leaving him to untangle two dangerous investigations at once.

Gary Soneji escapes prison with revenge on Alex Cross in mind. At the same time, a brilliant European killer arrives in America, forcing Cross into a deadly contest with two enemies who both want him to lose.

As Alex Cross plans a future with his fiancée, a ruthless killer known as the Weasel begins a calculated murder spree. The case puts Cross’s professional instincts and his chance at a peaceful home life under pressure.

A string of highly organized bank robberies shakes Washington, DC, and Alex Cross sees the hand of a criminal called the Mastermind. Each clue points toward a larger final crime, even as trouble gathers around Cross’s family.

Alex Cross investigates a horrifying series of murders linked to a secretive group with vampire-like rituals. The case pushes him into a shadowy world of obsession and violence, while an old adversary continues to threaten his life.

Alex Cross and John Sampson look into a lethal team known as the Four Blind Mice after three soldiers are convicted of murder. Their search leads behind military lines, where witnesses, secrets, and loyalties are all hard to trust.

On his first major case with the FBI, Alex Cross hunts the Wolf, a criminal mastermind connected to an international trafficking network. The closer Cross gets, the clearer it becomes that this enemy has influence far beyond one crime scene.

Explosions in America and Britain signal a terrifying new campaign by the Wolf and another notorious killer. Alex Cross races across borders to stop attacks designed to spread panic, while the people closest to him remain vulnerable.

A family trip is interrupted when Alex Cross is called to Los Angeles to investigate a string of celebrity murders. The killer, who calls herself Mary Smith, turns the case into a cruel public game with Cross at its center.

Alex Cross faces a present-day killer while revisiting the murder of his wife years earlier. As the cases close in on each other, he is forced to confront painful memories and the possibility that the truth has been hidden in plain sight.

Edited by James Patterson, this anthology gathers original thriller stories from more than 30 writers, including Michael and Daniel Palmer. Its varied tales range across crime, suspense, and psychological danger, with brief introductions that frame the contributors’ approaches to the genre.

Alex Cross is pulled from his quiet work as a psychologist when elaborate murders grip Washington, DC. Two dangerous killers appear to be competing for attention, and Cross must work out whether their crimes are part of one larger design.

The murder of Alex Cross’s oldest friend turns into the worst crime scene he has ever faced. His search for the killer takes him from Washington, DC, to Africa, where violence and corruption make justice far harder to reach.

Alex Cross tells his children a family story about his great-uncle Abraham in the early twentieth-century South. Lawyer Ben Corbett returns to Mississippi to investigate racist terror and finds allies in Abraham Cross and his granddaughter Moody.

A beloved relative’s murder sends Alex Cross into Washington’s most guarded circles. With Bree Stone beside him, he follows the evidence toward a private world of privilege, dangerous secrets, and people determined to stay beyond the law.

Alex Cross and Bree’s wedding plans are interrupted by a sniper killing corrupt Washington insiders. As the murders multiply, a fight over jurisdiction and an old enemy’s shadow turn the investigation into a direct threat to Cross’s family.

When the president’s children are kidnapped, Alex Cross is kept away from the case by powerful forces. A deadly threat to Washington’s water supply soon raises the stakes, leaving him to confront a crisis bigger than any one abduction.

On Christmas Eve, Alex Cross expects a quiet celebration with Bree, Nana Mama, and the children. Instead, a small theft leads to a violent hostage crisis, forcing him to risk everything to save another family.

Four friends leave their strained marriages behind for a lavish long weekend in Monte Carlo, only to wake on a yacht surrounded by police. Accused of murdering a powerful leader, they are thrust into a harsh foreign prison and a conspiracy they barely understand.

After Alex Cross arrests disgraced surgeon Elijah Creem, revenge comes quickly and violently. With several killers moving against him and his loved ones, Cross must stay ahead of threats that seem to be closing in from every side.

A calculating criminal studies Alex Cross’s family and begins turning their ordinary routines into weapons. Cross knows the danger is personal, but identifying the stalker and keeping everyone safe become two very different problems.

Ben Casper is a hyperactive Washington reporter whose mind never stops racing with movie trivia and political facts. When the woman he secretly loves falls from her balcony, Ben refuses to accept suicide and digs into a conspiracy that quickly makes him a target.

In this short Alex Cross story, a late-night 911 call reports that a woman and child have been kidnapped. Cross races against time, using his investigative instincts to find the missing family before the situation turns fatal.

With his family taken by a psychotic adversary, Alex Cross is forced into the most desperate search of his life. Every move is controlled by the kidnapper, and Cross must decide what he is willing to sacrifice to save them.

Alex Cross returns to his North Carolina hometown when a cousin is accused of a terrible crime. The investigation exposes old wounds and buried family history, making this case as much about Cross’s past as the charge before him.

Guest editor James Patterson selects twenty mystery stories shaped by crime, suspense, and morally pressured characters. The volume includes Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly’s collaboration, which brings Harry Bosch and Patrick Kenzie together in a missing-child case.

In the Hamptons, former NYPD detective Jenna Murphy returns to a seaside town scarred by an infamous mansion where multiple murders occurred. When a Hollywood power broker and his lover are found dead there, Jenna must confront both the house’s history and her own buried past.

A beautiful student is found dead on a Sydney riverbank, and Detective Harriet Blue is sure she’s the latest victim of a terrifying serial killer. As she digs deeper on the university campus, new clues suggest a different predator—and pull Harriet into the case in a dangerously personal way.

Alex Cross sees Gary Soneji, long believed dead, gun down his partner. The shocking sight sends him after an explanation that could involve a ghost, an impostor, or a carefully planned revenge from the past.

A murder in Rock Creek Park draws Alex Cross and Bree Stone into a Washington, DC, crime wave. To stop a ruthless criminal operation, the couple must follow leads through a city where danger is spreading in unexpected places.

A children's picture book co-authored with James Patterson that celebrates the power of the word "please." vivid illustrations show how a simple act of politeness can help in all sorts of situations.

Disgraced and exiled after her brother is arrested as a serial killer, sex-crimes detective Harriet Blue is sent deep into the Western Australian desert. At a remote mining camp, she and a wary new partner must find three missing workers before the killer turns on them.

An anonymous caller promises deadly bombings across Washington, DC, and panic spreads fast. Alex Cross and Bree Stone must determine whether it is a cruel hoax or a real attack before the caller’s deadline runs out.

Determined to clear her brother of a string of murders, Harriet Blue accepts a punishing reassignment to the dying town of Last Chance Valley. As a killer’s diary predicts a massacre, she races to decode the threat while allies in Sydney fight to save Sam.

After three people are gunned down in a Chicago apartment, detective Billy Harney barely survives and wakes with no memory of the night. Accused of murder, he must trace the missing black book tied to a secret brothel and clear his own name.

Alex Cross finds himself on the wrong side of the law, charged after a deadly confrontation with violent criminals. With his career, reputation, and freedom at stake, he must uncover what really happened before a courtroom decides his future.

Haunted by her brother’s death, Harriet Blue drops off the grid to hunt Regan Banks, the sadistic killer who destroyed her family. Their lethal cat-and-mouse chase down Australia’s south coast leaves Harriet wanted by the police and unsure she’ll survive her own revenge.

A coordinated ring of elite assassins strikes at the heart of Washington, DC. Alex Cross joins the FBI and Secret Service to identify the next target, but the conspiracy reaches beyond one attack and threatens the country itself.

A serial killer known as M turns murder into a warped investigation, leaving Alex Cross and John Sampson clues tied to old secrets. To survive the game, they must understand what the killer wants before another victim is chosen.

Now known only as inmate 3329, Harriet Blue is fighting to survive inside prison when the deputy police commissioner who put her there offers a deal. If she can find his missing daughter and toddler grandson, Harriet might finally win back her freedom.

Seeking a quiet life on the Massachusetts coast, ex–Boston cop Bill Robinson takes over a crumbling seaside inn filled with misfit long-term residents. When a ruthless crime boss moves into town, Bill and his unlikely housemates must decide whether to flee—or fight for their new home.

Now back inside the Bureau, Emmy Dockery tracks a pattern in deaths that all look accidental just as someone begins leaking FBI secrets. While her fiancé Books investigates whether she is the mole, Emmy races to prove a terrifying new killer is real.

The murder of a glamorous Washington socialite brings Alex Cross into a case of hidden identities and dangerous connections. What begins as a puzzling death soon reaches into a world where money, influence, and violence overlap.

Attorney Rhonda Bird returns to Los Angeles to settle her estranged father’s estate and discovers he’s left her both a scruffy private detective agency and a teenage half-sister. Their first case—a young man claiming abduction by a thrill-seeking rich-kid clique—throws the mismatched sisters into deadly trouble.

Alex Cross is caught in a web of assassins and faces the brilliant enemy who has stalked him and his family for years. The investigation becomes a final, deeply personal fight against someone who knows exactly how to hurt him.

Still branded a troublemaker after exposing police corruption, Chicago detective Billy Harney joins an elite task force investigating a drive-by shooting that kills a child. As political pressure mounts, Billy uncovers a deeper conspiracy that reaches into his own past.

Chicago detective Billy Harney is called in when a deadly jailbreak frees a billionaire crime boss and a notorious killer. As taunting clues appear and a kidnapped girl’s life is put on the line, Billy races to stop a game designed just for him.

Alex Cross hunts a precise serial killer who wipes out entire families and leaves few clues behind. As the pattern becomes clearer, Cross realizes the murderer’s attention may be shifting toward the people he loves most.

A jet is shot down near Reagan Airport, and Alex Cross and John Sampson race to find the killer behind it. The attacker is expanding his mission, and Cross soon learns that he may be the next intended target.

Military-style attacks gravely injure Alex Cross, leaving John Sampson to lead the response alone. As a shadowy force advances on Washington, Sampson must protect the Cross family, his own daughter, and the nation’s leaders.

When Hawaii’s Mauna Loa shows signs of catastrophic eruption, volcanologist John “Mac” MacGregor races to warn officials and protect the island. Then a buried military secret raises the stakes, turning a natural disaster into a race against time.

Marcie Bowers is a small-town lawyer and mother whose husband David becomes a media hero after rescuing a stranger from a river. His sudden fame draws dangerous figures out of the shadows, forcing Marcie to question whether she married a good man or a hidden killer.

Supreme Court candidates are being murdered as a new president prepares to take office. Alex Cross and John Sampson must enter the killer’s mind and stop the attacks before fear and bloodshed reshape the country’s future.

Back on the storm-battered Massachusetts coast, Bill Robinson is running The Inn by the Sea when a crime boss brings a new wave of violence to town. As bodies begin to surface, Bill and his tight-knit residents must expose the killer before their refuge becomes a graveyard.

Now full partners in their Los Angeles detective agency, Rhonda and "Baby" Bird take on a loner accused of making his glamorous wife disappear. The sisters must untangle toxic marriages, media spin and their own clashing styles to learn whether their new client is victim or killer.

A notebook left by Gary Soneji reveals clues about crimes from before Alex Cross first knew him. Cross must revisit a rookie investigation, question his own mistakes, and confront the legacy of the killer who became his first great enemy.

John Sampson investigates a suspected terrorist attack in Washington, DC, while Alex Cross searches for his missing son in Chapel Hill. Their separate cases may be linked, testing a friendship and partnership built over a lifetime.

In this forthcoming thriller, Alex Cross investigates baffling murders in Washington, DC, while a family crisis threatens to upend his world. Each step into the city’s hidden underworld puts his promise to Nana Mama, and his loved ones, at risk.

A murder linked to Adolf Hitler’s young lover sets a century-spanning investigation in motion. A detective and a journalist confront the growing Nazi regime, while a present-day American professor follows evidence guarded by neo-Nazis determined to keep the past buried.