in patterson's defense, I was at the beach and re-read one of his first books that was on the shelf. It reminded me of why I started reading him. But his new stuff is just slapping his name on the cover and collecting money. I just finished the latest Jack Reacher story and felt the same way.
One good think about Tom Clancy characters, one guy that he wrote with is the author of this Gray Man series. i've read a couple of those and enjoyed them. If you like the Mitch Rapp genre (semi-mindless killing of bad people), the Gray Man isn't bad, at least for the first couple that I've read. I find myself getting older books that I really liked in the 90s and re-reading them. I forgot much of the story, but remembered why I liked the other so much.