James O. Born

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About James O. Born

I was always interested in writing and even took a shot as an undergrad at Florida State but aside from one article on street construction in Tallahassee I was unsuccessful.

I moved on to police work. When I was new to police work, as an agent with U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, I had an unrealistic view of what my job would be like. On television, DEA agents are in shoot-outs and get the chicks but in real life they follow suspected drug violators around until they can make a case. If you're a new guy, no one in the DEA much cares about family life or other interests, you just drive. I read a lot of Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin because I liked the idea of learning something about the military. I would read the occasional police book but felt the books didn't reflect my experience as a cop. I was not a CIA trained assassin. I could not rip a shotgun out of someone's hands without suffering a catastrophic injury. I didn't crawl out of crushed police cars and shake off the injury. Neither did any cop I knew. So I wrote a book based on real police work with a ficitonal plot.

The most exciting part of being an author is that my editor, Neil Nyren, is also the editor of my two favorite military writers, Tom Clancy and W.E.B. Griffin.

The third book in the series, Escape Clause, was released in February, 2006. The story follows the main character to a prison to investigate an in custody death that isn't what it appears. By chance, I was assigned to investigate a death at South Bay correctional, the area I had used as a model for the town and prison in my book. Talk about life imitating art. Then, once at the prison, a Department of Corrections Inspector asked me if I was the guy who wrote the books. I gave him a post card for Escape Clause and watched his face as he realized I had written about the Department of Corrections.

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Author Updates

Titles By James O. Born

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Blindside (Michael Bennett Book 12) Feb 24, 2020

by James Patterson , James O. Born

( 4,110 )

$11.99

When New York City's Mayor is desperate to find his missing daughter, Detective Michael Bennett steps in to help the Mayor and strike a deal to save his son in prison.

Bennett and the mayor have always had a tense relationship, but now the mayor sees in Bennett a discreet investigator with family worries of his own. Just one father helping another.

The detective leaps into the case and sources lead him to a homicide in the Bronx. The victim has ties to a sophisticated hacking operation—and also to the mayor's missing daughter, Natalie, a twenty-one-year-old computer prodigy. The murder is part of a serial killing spree, one with national security implications. And suddenly Bennett is at the center of a dangerous triangle anchored by NYPD, FBI, and a transnational criminal organization.

Michael Bennett has always been an honorable man, but sometimes—when the lives of innocents are at stake—honor has to take a back seat. Survival comes first.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

Ambush (Michael Bennett Book 11) Oct 8, 2018

by James Patterson , James O. Born

( 2,745 )

$9.99

Only Detective Michael Bennett stands in the way of two lethal cartels fighting for New York City's multi-million-dollar opioid trade. And they know where he and his family live.
An anonymous tip about a crime in Upper Manhattan proves to be a setup. An officer is taken down -- and, despite the attackers' efforts, it's not Michael Bennett.
New York's top cop is not the only one at risk. One of Bennett's children sustains a mysterious injury. And a series of murders follows, each with a distinct signature, alerting Bennett to the presence of a professional killer with a flair for disguise.
Bennett taps his best investigators and sources, and they fan out across the five boroughs. But the leads they're chasing turn out to be phantoms. The assassin takes advantage of the chaos, enticing an officer into compromising Bennett, then luring another member of Bennett's family into even graver danger.
Michael Bennett can't tell what's driving the assassin. But he can tell it's personal, and that it's part of something huge. Through twist after twist, he fights to understand exactly how he fits into the killer's plan, before he becomes the ultimate victim.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

Haunted (Michael Bennett Book 10) Sep 18, 2017

by James Patterson , James O. Born

( 2,701 )

$9.99

Detective Michael Bennett and his family are ready to escape New York for a vacation in Maine-but a shocking scene deep in the woods reveals a dark world of drugs and murder.
Haunted by guilt and shame, Michael Bennett is living with a father's worst nightmare. Reeling from a crisis that would destroy lesser families, the Bennetts escape New York for a much-needed vacation. But it turns out the brochures don't tell the full story; the seemingly perfect community has a deadly vice.
When local cops uncover a grisly crime scene buried deep in the woods, they consult the vacationing Bennett, who jumps at the chance to atone for his own sins. But far from the city streets he knows so well, no one will talk to the big-city detective, and the bodies keep piling up.
A young and forgotten girl is the closest thing Bennett has to a partner in his frantic hunt for the ghostlike perpetrator behind the violence. Will Bennett and his unlikely ally unmask the culprit before anyone else winds up haunted?

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

Lost Jan 13, 2020

by James Patterson , James O. Born

( 2,507 )

$14.99

In this action-packed thriller, Miami just got a lot more dangerous—especially for one innocent young woman running for her life.

The city of Miami is Detective Tom Moon's back yard. He's always kept it local, attending University of Miami on a football scholarship, and, as a Miami PD officer, protecting the city's most vulnerable.

Now, as the new leader of an FBI task force called "Operation Guardian," it's his mission to combat international crime. Moon's investigative team discovers that the opportunistic "Blood Brothers"—Russian nationals Roman and Emile Rostoff—have evaded authorities while building a vast, powerful, and deadly crime syndicate throughout Europe and metropolitan Miami.

Moon played offense for U of M, but he's on the other side of the field this time. And as the Rostoffs zero in on a target dear to Tom, they're not playing by anyone's rules.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Paperback , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

Manhunt: A Michael Bennett Story (Kindle Single) Nov 7, 2017

by James Patterson

( 1,901 )

$3.99

On Thanksgiving Day, a mysterious attacker strikes New York's parade-and it's up to Michael Bennett to hunt them down.
Michael Bennett, be grateful you're alive.
Someone attacked the Thanksgiving Day Parade directly in front of Michael Bennett and his family. The television news called it "holiday terror"-Michael Bennett calls it personal. The hunt is on . . .
BookShots
Lightning-fast stories by James Patterson

Novels you can devour in a few hours
Impossible to stop reading
All original content from James Patterson

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , Audio CD

Malicious: A Mitchum Story (Kindle Single) (BookShots) Feb 7, 2017

by James Patterson

( 382 )

$3.99

A Navy SEAL dropout will break every rule to expose the truth -- even if it means destroying the people he loves.

Mitchum is back. His brother's been charged with murder. Nathaniel swears he didn't kill anyone, but word on the street is that he was involved with the victim's wife. Now, Mitchum will do anything to get even . . . no matter what the cost.
BookShots
Lightning-fast stories by James Patterson

Novels you can devour in a few hours
Impossible to stop reading
All original content from James Patterson

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , Audio CD

Hidden: A Mitchum Story (Kindle Single) (BookShots) Jan 3, 2017

by James Patterson

( 268 )

$3.99

When his beloved cousin is kidnapped, a small-town private eye and would-be Navy SEAL uncovers a government conspiracy that forces him to use every lethal skill he's learned.
Rejected by the Navy SEALs, Mitchum is content to be his small town's unofficial investigator, until his beloved 14-year-old cousin is abducted. Now he'll do whatever it takes to track her down -- but nothing is what it seems . . . .

BookShots
Lightning-fast stories by James Patterson

Novels you can devour in a few hours
Impossible to stop reading
All original content from James Patterson

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , Audio CD

Let's Play Make-Believe (BookShots) Aug 2, 2016

by James Patterson

( 372 )

$3.99

A sexy game of romantic make-believe goes too far in this intense thriller from the world's #1 writer.
Both survivors of the divorce wars, Christy and Martin don't believe in love at first sight and certainly not on a first date. But from the instant they lock eyes, life becomes a sexy, romantic dream come true. That is, until they start playing a strangely intense game of make-believe -- a game that's about to go too far.
BookShots
Lightning-fast stories by James Patterson

Novels you can devour in a few hours
Impossible to stop listening
All original content from James Patterson

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Paperback , Audio CD

Escape Clause (Bill Tasker Book 3) Sep 7, 2014

by James O. Born

( 29 )

$3.99

FDLE agent Bill Tasker's boss is worried about the stress Tasker's been under, but he has a solution. The governor wants somebody from the outside to take a look into an inmate homicide at Manatee Correctional Prison, and the boss figures he can do the state a favor and give Tasker a break at the same time. Some break. Turns out there's a whole lot going on at Manatee. The prison captain likes to enforce discipline by fairly unorthodox methods. The psych ward has been known to misplace a mental patient occasionally. A trustee named Luther has far more on his mind than working in the prison library-though the rods holding up the shelves do make very nice shivs. The prison inspector is carrying a number of very uninspector-like secrets. And something very bad is about to happen to Tasker's next-door neighbor.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, after all.

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Scent of Murder: A Novel Apr 7, 2015

by James O. Born

( 53 )

$11.99

Two years after being tossed from the detective bureau for using questionable tactics while catching a child molester, deputy Tim Hallett's life is finally on track. Assigned to a special K-9 unit with the best partner in the world, a Belgian Malinois named Rocky, Hallett has finally learned to balance police work with his family life. But that all changes in the heat of a Florida sugarcane field.

While searching for a kidnapper, Rocky locks onto the scent of a predator unlike anyone has ever seen. Or have they? The more Hallett digs, the closer he comes to his old issues when the case that ended his career as a detective appears to be the key to a series of kidnappings.

When the trail turns to murder, Hallett risks everything to catch the killer, even if it means clearing the child molester who drove him to violence and ruined his career. Along the way, Hallett and his partners learn the true meaning of loyalty and courage as their canine companions take police work to a new level and show that instinct means more than training.

Scent of Murder is a gritty police thriller from veteran law enforcement agent and author James O. Born

Other Formats: Hardcover

Shock Wave (Bill Tasker Book 2) Jul 16, 2014

by James O. Born

( 19 )

$3.99

Florida lawman James Born follows one of the most highly praised crime debuts of the year with a literally explosive novel of hunter and hunted.

FDLE agent Bill Tasker, still smarting from a run-in with the FBI that almost got him killed, reluctantly teams up with the bureau again on a case involving a stolen Stinger missile. The op goes smoothly enough (though the feds take all the credit-what else is new?), but something about the whole setup just doesn't feel right to him. Tasker pokes around a bit-and stirs up more trouble than a nest of rattlesnakes: with his boss, with the FBI, with the ATF, and, worst of all, with a certain gentleman who loves to see things blow up . . . bigger and bigger things,as it turns out. The bomber hasn't killed anybody yet, but if this FDLE agent keeps interfering-well, there's always a first time, isn't there?

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

Walking Money (Bill Tasker Book 1) Jul 3, 2014

by James O. Born

( 66 )

$3.99

For more than seventeen years with the U.S. Marshals Service, DEA, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Jim Born has seen just about everything Florida crime and criminals can throw at him, and he's put it all into as entertaining and accomplished a first thriller as you'll find anywhere this year.

State cop Bill Tasker has had problems in the past, but nothing compared to what's about to happen to him. A satchel with a million and a half in skimmed money is about to go walking. A phony community activist has decided to cash in, but a local FBI agent also has his eyes on the prize, a key witness gets murdered, and it's Tasker who ends up framed for the whole thing. Soon, other people become seduced by the cash as well, and as the bag passes from hand to hand and the body count mounts, Tasker realizes it's all up to him. If he doesn't retake his life right now . . . someone's going to do it for him.

Filled with a rich array of characters, a constantly twisting plot, and an authenticity so deep you can't help wondering how much of this is actually true, Walking Money is indeed proof that "Jim Born is the real thing."

Other Formats: Audible Audiobook , Hardcover , Mass Market Paperback , Audio CD

This title and over 1 million more available with Kindle Unlimited.

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