Richard North Patterson

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Richard North Patterson (born February 22, 1947 in Berkeley ) is an American writer and lawyer .

Life

Patterson first studied at Ohio Wesleyan University , where he received his bachelor's degree in 1968. In 1971, he graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a master's degree in law, was admitted to the state of Ohio and then worked for the Attorney General . From 1973 he worked for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission , in 1978 he went to San Francisco and worked as a partner in a law firm. In the meantime, Patterson, who gives Ross Macdonald as a literary role model, attended a course in creative writing at theUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham and wrote his first novel, which was accepted for publication by WW Norton & Company .

From 1983 he devoted himself entirely to writing for two years, but after the initial failure of his fourth novel Private Screening , which only had a hardcover print run of 5,000 copies, he temporarily resumed work as a lawyer. In 1993 he made a comeback with the novel Degree of Guilt , the first edition of which was printed in 250,000 copies, was awarded the Grand prix de littérature policière and was made into a film in 1995 for the television station NBC . Patterson benefited from the fact that justice thrillers were in vogue at the time, thanks in part to the success of John Grisham . In his subsequent works, Patterson devoted himself to various domestic and foreign policy issues, such as the misuse of firearms in Balance of Power , the death penalty in Conviction , the Middle East conflict in exile , the presidential elections in The Race and human rights violations in the oil industry in Africa in the fate of Ken Saro- Wiwas inspired the novel Eclipse .

Patterson is married with five children. He lives alternately in San Francisco and on Martha's Vineyard .

Awards

Works

  • The Lasko Tangent (1979, German The Seal of Silence )
  • The Outside Man (1981)
  • Escape The Night (1983)
  • Private Screening (1985, German convicted )
  • Degree of Guilt (1993, dt. The amount of debt )
  • The Final Judgment (1995, German in the last instance )
  • Eyes of a Child (1995, closed doors )
  • Silent Witness (1997, German Days of Innocence )
  • No Safe Place (1998, German The candidate )
  • Dark Lady (1999, German Night Black )
  • Protect and Defend (2000, Ger. A question of honor )
  • Balance of Power (2003, In the circle of power )
  • Conviction (2005)
  • Exile (2007)
  • The Race (2007)
  • Eclipse (2009)
  • The Spire (2009)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Entry in the Internet Movie Database

literature

  • Contemporary authors , Vol. 85–88. Gale Publishing, Detroit 1980, ISBN 0-8103-0047-8 , pp. 456-457
  • Steven M. Zeitchik: Richard North Patterson, the comeback candidate. Publishers Weekly , July 6, 1998, pp. 37-38

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Patterson, Richard North
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer and lawyer
DATE OF BIRTH February 22, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Berkeley