The Great American Read

(dramatic music) Most of the people I write about are everyday heroes. I think that the most positive thing about heroic characters is it just says, it's not that we necessarily can all get to that level as much as we can up our game. -

Woman

Author James Patterson knows a thing or two about everyday heroes. His detective character, Alex Cross, is the star of one of the most successful book series of all time, 24 and counting. Since the first book, Along Came a Spider, in 1993. Alex is a policeman, a detective, in Washington D.C. but he's also an incredible family person and he's balancing that. He works on some of the hardest cases and D.C.'s a tough town. Alex is a real flesh and blood character. He's complex and he solves very grizzly murders frequently and that has an effect on him, and it has an effect on his family. Hi, I'm Shaquille O'Neal and my favorite book to read is the Alex Cross series. He's a real life hero and whenever you can save someones lives or figure out information that helps you solve a crime, definitely makes you a hero. When I write the books, I'm solving a puzzle and figuring out what the story needs to be, the mystery, how it proceeds, the twists and the turns and Alex must solve the mysteries. I think we spark to everyday heroes because we wish to be them, we celebrate the every man, the every person and you even see that in moments of great tragedy. 9/11, I think you see how people are really drawn to firefighters or emergency workers or the people who went beyond their job. They rushed in where angels fear to tread. I think one of the reasons that people love the series is they can identify with what you have to do for your work and then your family life. -

Charles

I kissed my grandmother on the way out the kitchen door. We've done that since I was eight years old. We also say goodbye, just in case we never see each other again. It's been like that for almost 30 years, ever since Nana Mama first took me in and decided she could make something of me. She made a homicide detective, with a doctorate in psychology, who works and lives in the ghettos of Washington, D.C. Alex has turned down several jobs that would make him a bigger person in the department. He prefers to work where he grew up, where he considers there'd be a lot of problems and I admire that about him. Mr. Patterson, I would like to say thank you for allowing me to step out of the Shaq character and become Alex Cross. And if you ever wanted to do a book and call it Shaq Cross, I'm in. Get out there and vote for the Alex Cross series or else.