I have read almost all of James Patterson's books....do you have any similar recommendations?

Answer 1

Biography
Patricia Cornwell writes crime fiction from an unusually informed point of view. While many writers are, as she says, conjuring up "fantasy" assumptions regarding what really goes into tracking criminals and examining crime scenes, Cornwell really does walk the walk, which is why her novels ring so true.

Before becoming one of the most widely recognized, respected, and read writers in contemporary crime fiction, before she began publishing a string of number one bestsellers that include Postmortem and Isle of Dogs, she worked as a police reporter for The Charlotte Observer and as a computer analyst in the chief medical examiner's office in Virginia. During this period of her life, Cornwell observed literally hundreds of autopsies. While the vast majority of people would surely regard such work unsavory beyond belief, Cornwell was acquiring valuable information that would help her write the groundbreaking study Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper -- Case Closed but would also enrich her fiction with uncommon authenticity.

"Most of these crime scene shows... are what I call ‘Harry Potter' policing," she said in a candid, heated interview on her web site. "They're absolutely fantasy. And the problem is the general public watches these, 60 million people a week or whatever, and they think what they're seeing is true." If Cornwell comes off as a bit vehement in her criticism of television shows meant to simply entertain, that's just because she takes her work so seriously.

Not that Cornwell's novels are ever anything short of entertaining, even if their grisly details may require extra-strong stomachs of her readers. She has created a tremendously well-defined and complex character in her favorite fictional crime solver Dr. Kay Scarpetta. Cornwell introduced medical examiner Scarpetta in her first novel Postmortem in 1990, and more than fifteen years later, Scarpetta is still cracking cases and cracking open cadavers. She has not only boogied her way through more than a dozen novels, including Body of Evidence, Black Notice, and Trace, but she has even inspired a cook book called Food to Die For: Secrets from Kay Scarpetta's Kitchen. Scarpetta's latest adventure, Predator, finds her in sunny Florida, but she isn't there to soak up rays or catch waves. While doing a freelance job for the National Forensic Academy she finds herself on the trail of a serial killer that may not be working alone.

This chilling tale, which The New York Times says that Cornwell has brought "to full, frightening life," only hit bookstore shelves in October of 2005, but the ever-prolific Cornwell wasted no time in moving on to her next project. Slotted for a 2006 release, Cornwell's next book is called At Risk, and it deals with the use of DNA technology in crime solving. The book is not only receiving a traditional release, but it is also being serialized in The New York Times Magazine. The project is one that Cornwell is greeting as an exciting challenge. "If you can take a very short format of a novella that's serialized and make it compelling, make it so people can't but it down, yet make it hold together as a complete story," she explains, "then you have learned something that should make your full-length novels better next time around."

Jeffery Deaver
Wisely taking the advice given to him by legendary mystery writer Mickey Spillane -- "People don't read books to get to the middle. They read to get to the end" -- Jeffery Deaver has earned a reputation for prodigious pacing and slick suspense with his string of bestselling Lincoln Rhyme thrillers.

John Sandford
John Sandford began his career as a journalist using his real name, John Camp. He won a Pulitzer for feature writing before turning to mystery-suspense novels, simultaneously releasing two “first” novels under two different names in 1989

John Grisham
The master of the legal thriller, John Grisham was a criminal and civil lawyer in Mississippi when his first book, A Time to Kill, was published. But it was his next book, The Firm, that became a blockbuster and established him as king of the genre.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/writers/writer.asp?z=y&cid=968077

Answer 2

Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels, Ed McBain's 87th Precinct novels, Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware novels, and John Sandford's Prey novels are the top four authors that I would recommend. Cornwell's style is almost identical to Patterson and her locations overlap with his.

Answer 3

Sydney Sheldon, Stephen King, Dan Brown etc.