Patterson to Collaborate with Swedish Bestseller Marklund
by Matthew Thornton -- writing in Publishers Weekly, 3/2/2009

James Patterson, no stranger to collaboration, is writing a novel with bestselling Scandinavian crime writer Liza Marklund, to be published in Sweden by Marklund's usual publisher, Piratforlaget, in 2010. The untitled thriller, mostly set in Stockholm, is “violent, emotional and fast paced,” said Marklund in a release.

The collaboration was announced late on Friday, so deals in other territories, including one with Patterson’s longtime U.S. publisher Little, Brown, are not yet in place for the book. The project is represented in Sweden by Salomonsson Agency; Bob Barnett will handle U.S. and U.K. and Linda Michaels will represent rights in the rest of the world.

While Patterson’s latest venture is a clear nod to the currently hot Scandinavian thriller vein, it stands to benefit Marklund more significantly by introducing her to American readers. Although she is a bestseller in Sweden, has sold over 9 million copies, and been translated into 30 languages, Marklund has not broken out in the U.S., although Atria has released two of her titles The Bomber and Studio Sex. Patterson is published in Sweden by Prisma.