On the back of The Midnight Club by James Patterson, the San Francisco Examiner was quoted as saying that James Patterson was in the same elite company as John Sandford and Thomas Harris. At that time I hadn't heard of John Sandford, but I was a fan of James Patterson. Now Sandford (or John Camp, his real name) is one of my favorite authors.
(Click on a book to learn more about the story directly from John Sandford's website.)