Book 1

Step on a Crack

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published 1 January 2007
A powerful and political thriller from the master of the genre. The scene is set for a huge funeral in St Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The rich and the famous from all over America -- and beyond -- have arrived to honour a former First Lady after her sudden, unexpected death. Then follows an attack that was three years in the planning. Hostages are taken -- the ex-President among them -- ransoms demanded, a couple of hostages shot to show the kidnappers mean business. It's all brilliantly and chillingly co-ordinated, and Michael Bennett, the detective in charge of the case, knows it will be his biggest ever challenge.

Book 2

Run for Your Life

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published 1 January 2009
Detective Michael Bennett is back and the race is on to catch a deadly killer terrorising New York.

The Teacher has a meticulous and calculated plan. Cold-hearted and cunning, no one knows who he is or where he came from. Until now. Now it is time for everyone to learn his name as he teaches New York a lesson it will never forget.

Intent on exacting revenge and causing mass hysteria, he embarks on the worst killing spree the city has ever seen. The whole New York Police Department is tested to its limits, none more so than Detective Michael Bennett. As the Teacher leads him on a terrifying chase, Bennett follows in his tracks but just as he seems to be on the brink of a breakthrough, he is pulled deeper and deeper into an unfolding terror. The killer has one more victim in his sights and it brings Bennett's investigation frighteningly close to home.

With only one man standing in his way, how far will the Teacher go to complete what he set out to do? And at what price?

Book 3

Worst Case

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published 1 January 2010

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One wrong answer means death...

The son of one of New York's wealthiest families is snatched off the street. His parents can't save him, because this kidnapper isn't demanding money. Instead, he quizzes his prisoner on the price others pay for his life of luxury. In this exam, wrong answers are fatal.

Detective Michael Bennett leads the investigation. With ten kids of his own, he can't begin to understand what could lead someone to target anyone's children. As another student disappears, one powerful family after another uses their leverage and connections to turn up the heat on the mayor, the press, anyone who will listen, to stop this killer. Their reach extends all the way to the FBI, who send their top Abduction Specialist, Agent Emily Parker. Bennett's work life - and love life - suddenly get even more complicated.

Before Bennett has a chance to protest the FBI's intrusion on his case, the mastermind changes his routine. His plan leads up to the most deadly demonstration yet - one that could bring cataclysmic devastation to every inch of New York.


Book 4

Tick Tock

by James Patterson

Published 25 December 2010
NYC's number one detective, Michael Bennett, has a huge problem - someone is recreating the crimes of infamous killers from New York's history. The city has never been more terrified.

A rash of horrifying crimes tears through the city, throwing it into complete chaos and terrorising everyone living there. Immediately, it becomes clear that they are not the work of an amateur, but of a calculating, efficient, and deadly mastermind.

The city calls on Detective Michael Bennett, pulling him away from a seaside retreat with his ten adopted children, his grandfather, and their beloved nanny, Mary Catherine. Not only does it tear apart their first vacation since Michael's wife Maeve died - it leaves the entire family open to attack.

Bennett enlists the help of a former colleague, FBI Agent Emily Parker. As his affection for Emily grows into something stronger, his relationship with Mary Catherine takes an unexpected turn. All too soon, another appalling crime leads Bennett to a shocking discovery that exposes the killer's pattern and the earth-shattering enormity of his plan.

Book 5

I, Michael Bennett

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published 1 January 2012

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What happens when the justice system comes under assault?

Detective Michael Bennett arrests infamous South American crime lord Manuel Perrine in a deadly chase that leaves Bennett's lifelong friend Hughie McDonough dead. From jail, the prisoner vows to rain terror down upon New York City - and to get revenge on Michael Bennett.

Perrine's men create chaos: police officers are shot, judges murdered. As Bennett is engulfed in the struggle against this widening organised violence, he realises that not only is he being targeted, but that the lives of everyone he loves are under threat.

A no-holds-barred, pedal-to-the-floor, action-packed novel, I, Michael Bennett is James Patterson at his most personal and most thrilling best.


Book 6

Gone

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published 1 January 2013
Forced into hiding from a mass murderer seeking vengeance, Detective Michael Bennett must decide whether to stay and protect his family, or hunt down the man who is hunting them. When Bennett arrested Manuel Perrine, he thought he had brought an end to the drug cartel boss's reign of terror and would get justice for the murder of his best friend. But then, during the trial, Perrine escaped. In a bloody shoot-out, Bennett killed Perrine's wife. Now he wants nothing more than to make Bennett suffer, to make him pay. The whole family are moved to a safe-house in California. But as Perrine's attacks on US soil become more vicious and more daring, it's clear there is a war coming. No one, anywhere, is safe.

Book 7

Burn

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published 1 January 2014
Detective Michael Bennett finally returns to New York City - and to the most unsettling, horrific case of his career. At last, Detective Michael Bennett and his family are coming home to New York City. Thanks to Bennett, the ruthless crime lord whose vengeful mission forced the Bennett family into hiding has been brought down for good. Back in the city that never sleeps, Bennett takes over a chaotic Outreach Squad in Harlem, where he receives an unusual call: a man claims to have seen a group of well-dressed men holding a bizarre party in a condemned building. With no clear crime or evidence, Bennett dismisses the report. But when a charred body is found in that very same building, he is forced to take the caller seriously - and is drawn into an underground criminal world of terrifying depravity.

Book 7

Burn

by James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge

Published 29 September 2014
At last, Detective Michael Bennett and his family are coming home to New York City. Thanks to Bennett, the ruthless crime lord whose vengeful mission forced the Bennett family into hiding has been brought down for good. Back in the city that never sleeps, Bennett takes over a chaotic Outreach Squad in Harlem, where he receives an unusual call: a man claims to have seen a group of well-dressed men holding a bizarre party in a condemned building. With no clear crime or evidence, Bennett dismisses the report. But when a charred body is found in that very same building, he is forced to take the demented caller seriously -- and is drawn into an underground criminal world of terrifying depravity.

Book 8

Alert

by James Patterson

Published 16 July 2015
Every New Yorker's worst nightmare is about to become a reality.

New York has seen more than its fair share of horrific attacks, but the city is about to be shaken in a way it never has before. After two devastating catastrophes in quick succession, everyone is on edge. Detective Michael Bennett is assigned to the case and given the near impossible task of hunting down the shadowy terror group responsible.

With troubles at home to contend with, Bennett has never been more at risk, or more alone, fighting the chaos all around him.

Then a shocking assassination makes it clear that these inexplicable events are just the prelude to the biggest threat of all. Now Bennett is racing against the clock to save his beloved city – before the most destructive force he has ever faced tears it apart.

Book 9

Bullseye

by James Patterson

Published 1 January 1999
As the most powerful men on earth gather in New York for a meeting of the UN, Detective Michael Bennett receives intelligence warning that there will be an assassination attempt on the US president. Even more shocking, the intelligence suggests that the Russian government could be behind the plot.

Tensions between America and Russia are the highest they've been since the Cold War, but this would be an escalation no one could have expected.

The details are shadowy, and Bennett finds false leads and unreliable sources at every turn. But he can’t afford to get this wrong. If the plotters succeed, the shockwaves will be felt across the globe.

Book 10

Haunted

by James Patterson

Published 18 September 2017

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You can take Michael Bennett out of New York City, but you can't take the cop out of Michael Bennett.

Detective Michael Bennett is ready for a vacation after a series of crises push him, and his family, to the brink.

He settles on an idyllic small town in the beautiful Maine woods. But just when Bennett thinks he can relax, he gets pulled into a case that has shocked the tight-knit community. Kids are disappearing with no explanation - until several bodies turn up in the woods.

Far from the city streets he knows so well, Bennett is fighting to protect a town, the law, and the family that he loves above all else.


Book 11

Ambush

by James Patterson and James O Born

Published 8 October 2018
Only Detective Michael Bennett stands in the way of two lethal cartels fighting for New York City's multi-million-dollar opioid trade. And they know where he and his family live.
An anonymous tip about a crime in Upper Manhattan proves to be a setup. An officer is taken down -- and, despite the attackers' efforts, it's not Michael Bennett.
New York's top cop is not the only one at risk. One of Bennett's children sustains a mysterious injury. And a series of murders follows, each with a distinct signature, alerting Bennett to the presence of a professional killer with a flair for disguise.
Bennett taps his best investigators and sources, and they fan out across the five boroughs. But the leads they're chasing turn out to be phantoms. The assassin takes advantage of the chaos, enticing an officer into compromising Bennett, then luring another member of Bennett's family into even graver danger.
Michael Bennett can't tell what's driving the assassin. But he can tell it's personal, and that it's part of something huge. Through twist after twist, he fights to understand exactly how he fits into the killer's plan, before he becomes the ultimate victim.

Book 12

Blindside

by James Patterson and James O Born

Published 23 January 2020

Brought to you by Penguin.

The mayor of New York has a daughter who's missing. Detective Michael Bennett has a son who's in prison. Can one father help the other?

Bennett and the mayor have always had a tense relationship, but now the mayor sees in Bennett an exceptional investigator who might be willing to take on a case that needs to be kept under the radar. The two men strike the deal.

Sources lead Bennett to a homicide in the Bronx. The victim has ties to a sophisticated hacking operation - and also to the mayor's missing daughter. But this murder is part of a serial killing spree, one with national security implications. And suddenly Bennett is at the centre of a dangerous triangle anchored by NYPD, FBI and an international crime organization.

Michael Bennett has always been an honourable man, but sometimes honour has to take a back seat. Survival comes first.

(c) James Patterson 2020 (P) Penguin Audio 2020


Book 13

The Russian

by James Patterson and James O Born

Published 25 January 2021

As Michael Bennett's wedding day approaches, a killer has a vow of his own to fulfil in the thirteenth thriller featuring the NYPD's finest detective

Weeks before NYPD Detective Michael Bennett is to marry his long-time love, Mary Catherine, an assassin announces their presence in the city with a string of murders.

All of the victims are young women, and each has been killed in a manner as precise as it was gruesome.

Tasked with working alongside the FBI, Bennett uncovers multiple cold-case homicides across the country that fit the same distinctive pattern.

He promises Mary Catherine that the case won't affect their upcoming wedding, but, as he struggles to connect the killings, Bennett may be walking into a deadly trap.

INCLUDES AN EXTRACT FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DAUGHTER, BY BILL CLINTON AND JAMES PATTERSON


Tick Tock - Free Preview

by James Patterson

Published 24 January 2011

Manhunt

by James Patterson

Published 2 November 2017

James Patterson’s BookShots. Short, fast-paced, high-impact entertainment.

Michael Bennett, be grateful you're alive.

Someone attacked the Thanksgiving Day Parade directly in front of Michael Bennett and his family. The television news called it 'holiday terror' – Michael Bennett calls it personal. The hunt is on...


Chase: A Bookshot

by James Patterson

Published 2 August 2016
A man plunges to his death from the roof of a Manhattan hotel. It looks like a suicide-except the victim has someone else's fingerprints and $10,000 in cash. Enter Detective Michael Bennett.

Crosshairs

by James Patterson

Published 1 February 2024

The sixteenth thrilling instalment in the globally bestselling Michael Bennett series.

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How do you catch a killer who leaves no trace?

In New York City, a sniper dubbed 'The Longshot Killer' is taking out impossible targets.

Nothing links the victims - except the brutal circumstances of their deaths.

Detective Michael Bennett quickly develops a profile of the killer. Great with a gun. Probably ex-military.

A profile that his new partner, Rob Trilling, fits to a terrifying degree.

With Trilling taking ever more suspicious absences from duty, Bennett must find out the truth - before the Longshot Killer strikes again.

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PRAISE FOR JAMES PATTERSON


'It's no mystery why James Patterson is the world's most popular thriller writer ... Simply put: nobody does it better.' JEFFERY DEAVER

'No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades.' LEE CHILD

'Patterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves a plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind.' MICHAEL CONNELLY

'James Patterson is The Boss. End of.' IAN RANKIN

'The master storyteller of our times' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

'One of the greatest storytellers of all time' PATRICIA CORNWELL

'Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried ... there's no stopping his imagination' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

'Patterson is in a class by himself' GUARDIAN


Paranoia

by James Patterson

Published 30 January 2025

From the greatest thriller writer comes a new novel in the globally bestselling Michael Bennett series...
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A serial killer is taking out cops in NYC. Could Detective Michael Bennett be next?


Michael Bennett says a prayer every time he witnesses a death. In his line of work, it happens too often.

But lately he’s attended so many police funerals that his deepening sadness is crossing into the zone of suspicion.

Bennett must find the person responsible for the deaths of his friends – before he becomes their next target.

With a new baby on the way, Bennett’s protective instincts – as a father, a colleague and a detective – have never faced a bigger test.
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Readers LOVE the Michael Bennett series...

*****
'What a thrilling read!'
***** 'I've read many Michael Bennett stories and have never been disappointed. Can't wait for the next one!'
***** 'I love reading James Patterson's books! Just when I thought I had this one figured out the story took a turn that I didn't see coming!'
***** 'Great read!'
***** 'The Michael Bennett series is one of my favourites.'
_____________________________________

PRAISE FOR JAMES PATTERSON


'It's no mystery why James Patterson is the world's most popular thriller writer ... Simply put: nobody does it better.' JEFFERY DEAVER

'No one gets this big without amazing natural storytelling talent - which is what Jim has, in spades.' LEE CHILD

'Patterson boils a scene down to the single, telling detail, the element that defines a character or moves a plot along. It's what fires off the movie projector in the reader's mind.' MICHAEL CONNELLY

'James Patterson is The Boss. End of.' IAN RANKIN

'The master storyteller of our times' HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

'One of the greatest storytellers of all time' PATRICIA CORNWELL

'Patterson knows where our deepest fears are buried ... there's no stopping his imagination' NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

'Patterson is in a class by himself' GUARDIAN