15 Gripping Thriller Books For Fans of James Patterson

East Texas has its own ideas about law and order—a fact that Texas Ranger Darren Matthews knows all too well. Darren was the first of his family to run as fast as he could from the Lone Star State, but duty has called him home.

With his hometown loyalty putting his job in jeopardy, he travels to the small town of Lark to the scene of a double homicide.

The murders of a black Chicago lawyer and a local white woman have unearthed a well of resentment, and Darren must serve justice before racial tensions erupt.

In a series that Entertainment Weekly calls “America's most convincing and engaging professional female private eye,” a knock at the door in the middle of the night changes V.I. “Vic” Washawski's life forever. An arsonist is at large, and someone is dead. Vic might be next if she can't work out the mystery.

To do it, she'll need to learn more about the dark world of Chicago's unhoused population—and the even darker world of the powerful and affluent…

Beauregard “Bug” Montage used to be one of the best getaway divers on the East Coast. He's settled into life as an honest mechanic, attentive husband, and devoted father. He was sure he left the wildlife behind—but his comfortable life starts to crumble as he's dragged back into a world of danger.

A slick former associate hits up Bug with an enticing jewelry store heist that he can't turn down. Now, Bug must reconcile the man he used to be with the family man who knows all too well what happens when a father disappears on a child who needs him.

The second book in the OPSIG Team Black series follows the team as they investigate an explosion that destroys the president-elect’s helicopter on election night. They soon find that the people behind the attack are attempting to turn America’s political system on its head.

The fast-paced thriller is perfect for those looking for more of the action and suspense found in Alex Cross novels. 

Looking to take the mystery abroad? Donna Leon's New York Times-bestselling Commissario Brunetti series is 33 books long and follows a Venetian investigator.

In Death and Judgment, there is something connecting a truck crash and the death of a prominent international lawyer. A seedy bar may well hold the answer, but more people will die before Brunetti can work it all out.

When Stone Barrington witnesses a horrific crime, his life is turned upside down. Now, he’s entangled in the death of the country’s most popular television anchorwoman, Sasha Nijinsky, and though he fights to stay away from it…he can’t help being thrown into a web of lies, crimes, and danger all revolving around Sasha.

Fans of James Patterson’s Michael Bennett series, which begins with Step on a Crack, will enjoy Wood’s plots that include famous victims and New York City detectives.  

The first book in the Karen Vail series introduces us to the titular FBI agent, currently heading up the task force to investigate a serial killer known as “Dead Eyes.”

But this killer knows more about the FBI’s strategy than usual, and Vail will have to unlock secrets of her own in order to find the psychopath.

Much like the crime-solving quartet in Patterson's Women’s Murder Club series, Vail must rely on her own instincts to solve these murders.

Robert Ludlum is best known for the Jason Bourne series, as well as The Scarlatti Inheritance and The Chancellor Manuscript, but The Ambler Warning is perfect for James Patterson fans.

Published post-mortem, the story follows an agent who must investigate both himself and those who held him captive on a restricted island off the coast of Virginia.

Dr. Kay Scarpetta first launched her career as a forensic pathologist in Virginia—and now, after years away she's made her return  to Old Town Alexandria as the chief medical examiner.

With her new position, she inherits a clingy secretary and a department that may be corrupted. She's barely had time to settle in before she's called to a scene by the railroad tracks. A woman's throat has been cut through to the spine, and as Scarpetta trails the evidence, it brings her uncomfortably close to her own neighborhood.

Meanwhile, a top-secret laboratory out in space is the site of a major catastrophe that puts the lives of two scientists at risk. As part of a highly classified Doomsday Commission, Scarpetta is summoned to the White House to find out what happened. But as she tries to solve a space case, the killer on her home turf strikes again.

The first book in Linda Fairstein’s Alex Cooper series follows Manhattan’s top sex crimes prosecutor as she awakens to the shocking news of her own murder.

Of course, the victim turns out not to be her, but rather a Hollywood film star, Isabella Lascar. Cooper must discover if the killer was Lascar’s stalker, or if they mistook the starlet for Cooper herself.

Similar to the NYPD Red series, which follows the team that protects New York City’s elite, Final Jeopardy is a twisted thriller that will keep you on your toes.

If you're a fan of long-running series featuring investigative men like Alex Cross, there's a good chance you'll enjoy following the adventures of Wyoming gamekeeper Joe Pickett, too. There are more than 20 titles in the series, starting in 2001 with Open Season. 

Surprisingly enough, Joe Pickett is not in the Joe Pickett series. Instead, it's part of a series of works by some of the most famous authors in the world, who take readers behind the scenes a bit to show how a character is made.

In Joe Pickett, the author lets the readers follow the perspective of Sheridan, Joe's daughter, who wants to solve the ultimate mystery: her father.

Steve Martini’s Paul Madriani series is perfect for those looking for fast-paced legal thrillers. But when looking for a book similar to Patterson’s Truth or Die, the thirteenth installment in the Mandriani series is sure to satisfy.

In The Enemy Inside, successful lawyer and keeper of dirty secrets, Olinda Serna, is killed in a roadside crash, causing leaders in Washington to worry that their secrets aren’t safe anymore.

Though he can’t remember the previous night’s events, Alex Ives wakes up in a hospital room accused of the vehicular manslaughter of Serna.

Now, it’s up to Madriani to defend an innocent young man and uncover the truth behind what really happened.

The ninth book in the popular Rizzoli & Isles book series, which has also been adapted for television, follows the duo as they investigate the murder of a woman in Boston’s Chinatown.

Though evidence is scare, what’s more important is the setting: the victim’s body was found on the rooftop of a restaurant where a massacre occurred nineteen years before…and one woman connected to those murders might be the answer to cracking the case. 

Like Patterson’s Now You See Her, secrets and lies unravel in this suspenseful mystery. 

When Emma heads to her grandmother’s remote island to prepare it for sale, she ignores the rumors that it’s cursed. But when she gets there, she can no longer avoid the fact that something strange is going on.

With plenty of bizarre and horrific events like Patterson’s Zoo, this book will have you constantly checking over your shoulder.

Carl Logan devoted nearly twenty years of his life to the Joint Intelligence Agency. He's adopted a new identity as James Ryker, and he craves an anonymous existence in order to be free to start fresh—without all the turmoil, brutality, devastation, and deception of his life as a spy.

Ryker's dreams of an idyllic life soon prove too good to be true. His former JIA boss, Peter Winter, discovers his location and identity, effectively ending Ryker's peace.

The infamous woman killer known by the monicker "the Red Cobra"—whose fingerprints match Kim Walker's—was murdered in Spain. Winter enlists Ryker's help in finding her murderer...and he's back in the game.