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In my capacity at Just Adventure, I’ve had the opportunity to meet a few well-known authors and James Patterson is easily the most unassuming and gracious ‘big-name personality’ I’ve yet had the pleasure to meet.

In his early 60’s, Mr. Patterson presents a very striking, but laid-back figure – and yes mom, he does look like the photos on his dust jackets.  Extremely approachable, you never feel as though he’s listening to what you have to say just to be polite, but that he is actually interested in and mulling over your questions to the point that he eventually feels comfortable shooting a few zingers my way. 

Why a computer game?  First of all, the man is a marketing genius who wants to encourage people to read by any means possible.  While the more rabid fans will want to play the downloadable version of the game as quickly as possible, the boxed version to be released retail in August will contain the added incentive of a novelization of the game’s storyline.  Sequels are already in the planning stage and why not, is anybody seriously questioning that this game won’t be a best-seller?  As for Women’s Murder Club action figures, the jury is still out on that, but I do have first dibs.

Probably most telling though is the unique perspective that Patterson brings to the industry as an outsider who believes that, “people surely want more from their games than violence.”  And guess what - all of you adventure game fanatics - when James Patterson speaks, people listen and he has the contacts and influence to thrust the adventure genre back into the spotlight (Oh, did I forget to mention that he is working in conjunction with award-wining designer Jane Jensen?  More about her in the review below!).

In many ways he reminds me of my 16-month old granddaughter, as he too seems to have his hands into everything (though in a more constructive manner!): best-selling books that he has both authored and co-authored, Hollywood movies, television, graphic novels and now computer games.  But most importantly, is that Mr. Patterson is someone who ‘puts his money where his mouth is’ as he is sincerely devoted to encouraging kids and young adults to read by sponsoring both reading incentive programs for schools and The James Patterson Page Turner Awards, which provides $250,000 in annual cash prizes to the people, companies, schools and other institutions who find original and effective ways to spread the excitement of books and reading.   In fact, when he learned that my son Jonathan had not been much of a reader until discovering his books this past year, he found time to take him aside and speak to him privately, even though a local television station was waiting to conduct an interview.  That one encouraging moment made the entire trip worthwhile and spoke volumes about the man himself.

A huge thanks to everyone who made our trip worthwhile: Sheree Johnson and Tara Bruno of Highwater Group, Don Ryan of I-play, Wim Stocks of Elephant Entertainment and of course, James Patterson.

James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club: Death in Scarlet Review