Skip to main content

David Ellis

Biography

David Ellis

David Ellis is a judge and a #1 New York Times-bestselling, Edgar Award-winning author of 11 novels of crime fiction, as well as nine books co-authored with James Patterson. In December, 2014, Dave was sworn in as the youngest-serving Justice of the Illinois Appellate Court for the First District. Ellis lives outside Chicago with his wife and three children.

David Ellis

Books by David Ellis

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Everyone in Hemingway Grove, Illinois, knows David and Marcie Bowers. David owns the local pub. Marcie is a former big-city lawyer who practices family law. When David jumps into Cotton River to save a drowning stranger, he’s celebrated as a hero. His muscled physique, shaved head and piercing blue eyes are broadcast on every news outlet. For most people, newfound fame is a lifeline. For David Bowers, it’s a death sentence. For Marcie Bowers, it’s a test. A wife knows the difference between a loving husband and father and a cold-blooded assassin. Right?

by David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Leo Balanoff is a diagnosed pathological liar with unthinkable skeletons in his family's closet. He's also a crusading attorney who seeks justice at all costs. When a ruthless drug dealer is found dead and Leo’s fingerprints show up on the murder weapon, no one believes a word he says. But he might be the FBI’s only shot at taking down the dealer’s brutal syndicate. Risk his life going undercover for the feds or head straight to prison for murder? Leo accepts the FBI’s offer --- but it comes with a price, including a collision course with his ex, Andi Piotrowski, a former cop and “the one who got away.” Forced to walk a tightrope between an ambitious FBI agent and a cruel, calculating crime boss, Leo is trapped in a corner. But he has more secrets than anyone realizes, and a few more cards left to play.

by David Ellis - Fiction, Mystery, Psychological Suspense, Psychological Thriller, Suspense, Thriller

Simon and Vicky couldn’t seem more normal: a wealthy Chicago couple, he a respected law professor, she an advocate for domestic violence victims. But one thing’s for sure: absolutely nothing is what it seems. The pair are far from normal, and one of them just may be a killer. When the body of a beautiful socialite is found hanging in a mansion in a nearby suburb, Simon and Vicky’s secrets begin to unravel. A secret whirlwind affair. A 20-million-dollar trust fund about to come due. A decades-long grudge and obsession with revenge. These are just a few of the lies that make up the complex web...and they will have devastating consequences. And while both Vicky and Simon are liars, just who exactly is conning who?

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

As Chicago PD’s special-ops leader, Detective Billy Harney knows well that money is not the only valuable currency. The filthy rich man he’s investigating is down to his last 20 million. He’s also being held in jail. For now. Billy’s unit is called in when an escape plan results in officers down and inmates vanished. In an empty lot, Billy spots two Kevlar vests. Two helmets. Two assault rifles. And a handwritten note: Hi, Billy, Are you having fun yet?

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

When a drive-by shooting on Chicago's west side turns political, Detective Billy Harney leads the way to a quick solve. But his instincts --- his father was once chief of detectives, and his twin sister, Patti, is also on the force --- run deep. As a population hungry for justice threatens to riot, he realizes that the three known victims are hardly the only casualties. When Harney starts asking questions about who's to blame, the easy answers prove to be the wrong ones. On the flip side, the less he seems to know, the longer he can keep his clandestine investigation going…until Harney's quest to expose the evil that's rotting the city from the inside out takes him to the one place he vowed never to return: his own troubled past.

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

FBI agent Emmy Dockery is young and driven, and her unique skill at seeing connections others miss has brought her an impressive string of arrests. But a shocking new case has left her utterly baffled. The victims all appear to have died by accident and seemingly have nothing in common. But this many deaths can't be a coincidence. And the killer is somehow one step ahead of every move Dockery makes. To FBI special agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, everyone in the FBI is a suspect --- particularly Emmy Dockery (the fact that she's his ex-fiancee doesn't make it easier). But someone else is watching Dockery. Studying, learning, waiting. Until it's the perfect time to strike.

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Being a cop runs in Billy Harney's family. The son of Chicago's Chief of Detectives, there's nothing Billy won't give up for the job --- including his life. Left for dead alongside his tempestuous former partner and a hard-charging assistant district attorney out for blood, Billy miraculously survives. But he remembers nothing about the events leading up to the shootout. Charged with double murder and desperate to clear his name, Billy retraces his steps to get to the bottom of what happened. When he discovers the existence of a little black book that everyone who's anyone in Chicago will stop at nothing to get their hands on, Billy suspects it contains the truth that will either set him free...or confirm his worst fears.

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

No. 7 Ocean Drive is a gorgeous, multi-million-dollar beachfront estate in the Hamptons. But its beautiful gothic exterior hides a horrific past: it was the scene of a series of depraved killings that have never been solved. Neglected, empty and rumored to be cursed, it's known as the Murder House, and locals keep their distance. When a Hollywood power broker and his mistress are found dead there, the gruesome crime scene rivals anything Detective Jenna Murphy experienced as a New York City cop.

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Everyone thinks Emmy Dockery is crazy. Obsessed with finding the link between hundreds of unsolved cases, Emmy has taken leave from her job as an FBI researcher. Not even Emmy's ex-boyfriend, field agent Harrison "Books" Bookman, will believe her that hundreds of kidnappings, rapes and murders are all connected. That is, until she finds a piece of evidence he can't afford to ignore.

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Unable to control his racing thoughts, Ben is consumed by his obsessions --- especially Diana Hotchkiss, who Ben knows he can never have. When Diana is found dead outside her apartment, his infatuation drives him on a hunt to find out what happened to the love of his life. Ben soon discovers that the woman he pined for was hiding a shocking double life. And now someone is out to stop Ben from uncovering the truth about Diana's illicit affairs.

by David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Two women have recently been murdered, seemingly by the same killer, and James Drinker thinks he will be the police’s main suspect. He is the only link between the victims and has no alibi for the night of either murder, so he hires Jason Kolarich for his defense. As Kolarich begins to probe his client’s life and story more closely, it quickly becomes clear that nothing about James Drinker is what it seems…and that the target of the frame-up isn’t Drinker, but Kolarich.

by David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

While on vacation in the Florida Keys, Kit Finn meets Matt Healy, a rugged stranger she literally bumps into at her hotel. He offers to cook her dinner when they’re both back in the city. But when Kit arrives at his luxury apartment ready for the date of a lifetime, she is shocked. How could she have been taken in by the deceptions of a con man? And why has he targeted her? Now the only way out is to expose the vicious puppet master who’s turned her life upside down.

by James Patterson and David Ellis - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

Only minutes after Abbie Elliot and her three best friends step off of a private helicopter, they enter the most luxurious, sumptuous and sensually pampering hotel they have ever been to. Little did any of them know that they all would be arrested and accused of the foulest crime imaginable. Now the vacation of a lifetime becomes the fight of a lifetime --- for survival.

by David Ellis - Fiction, Thriller

Jason Kolarich’s wife and daughter were killed while he was at the office, awaiting a call from a confidential informant named Ramirez --- a call that never came. He can't bring back his family, but he can find out who killed Ramirez and bring the killer to justice.