James Patterson

"Final Acts" is a mishmash of idealism and horror, sensation and sentiment, political correctness and aberrant cults. A cult is a deviant religious sect with its own form of worship; and, oh boy, are Alex Abella's cultists ferociously deviant! Girls slaughtered, skinned alive, hacked to death, heads chopped off: Blood-stained offerings to dark spirits and the credulous cuckoos who obey their demands spill out of his pages.

At 46, with the real and attractive prospect of becoming CEO of J. Walter Thompson--one of the world's largest advertising agencies--looming before me, I decided to move on to a second career. What I was doing--"second careering"--is probably a recurring daydream for many of you reading this column. So here's what happened to this ship jumper. For openers, I'm not really much of a dreamer, so I had begun to act on my second career years before I actually left my job at Thompson.

The family of one of four Orange County youths killed in a drunk-driving accident in the Mojave Desert a year ago has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the teenage driver and his parents. The suit brought by the mother and sister of 17-year-old accident victim Anthony Fuentes Jr. claims that negligence by driver James Virgil Patterson and his parents caused Fuentes' death.

Fans of literary radio broadcasts across America recognized the voice of Isaiah Sheffer, the founding artistic director of Symphony Space in New York. Sheffer hosted its program, "Selected Shorts," which broadcast on 130 public radio stations nationwide, reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners each week. On its website Friday, Symphony Space announced that Sheffer, 76, has died. "Selected Shorts" began in 1985 as a stage performance. In the show, actors read short fiction; it's a great combination.

It used to be that the only adults who read young adult literature were those who had a vested interest -- teachers or librarians or parents who either needed or wanted to keep an eye on developing readers' tastes. But increasingly, adults are reading YA books with no ulterior motives. Attracted by well-written, fast-paced and engaging stories that span the gamut of genres and subjects, such readers have mainstreamed a niche long derided as just for kids. Thanks to huge crossover hits like Stephenie Meyer's bloodsucking "Twilight" saga, Suzanne Collins' fight-to-the-death "The Hunger Games" trilogy, Rick Riordan's "The Lightning Thief" and Markus Zusak's Nazi-era "The Book Thief," YA is one of the few bright spots in an otherwise bleak publishing market.

Taking a page from the movie industry's marketing playbook, global book club DirectGroup said Thursday that it will sell the latest thriller from bestselling author James Patterson to its members in 16 countries in eight languages simultaneously. "Honeymoon," whose female protagonist is a murderous, gold-digging interior decorator, also will be available exclusively to book club members for at least six weeks -- and in some countries for up to a year -- before it is sold in stores.

Time Warner Inc. is selling its book publishing division to the French conglomerate Lagardere for $537.5 million, the companies said Monday. Time Warner Book Group is the fifth-largest U.S. book publisher, with a stable of writers that includes Nelson DeMille and James Patterson. Its major imprints include Warner Books and Little, Brown. The deal would make Lagardere's book-publishing unit the third-largest worldwide.

The parents of a teenager killed in a crash in Victorville last summer along with three other teens have sued the driver and his parents. The parents of Jonothon Croweagle Fabbro Curtis of Garden Grove are seeking unspecified damages from the parents of James V. Patterson of Anaheim, who admitted to drinking 10 beers before the July 29 desert wreck, according to a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court.