David Ellis

David Ellis is an American novelist and judge, currently serving on the Illinois Appellate Court, whose legal career runs alongside a long fiction-writing career that began with the Edgar Award-winning courtroom thriller Line of Vision. His experience as a prosecutor and defense attorney gives his legal thrillers, including the Jack McCoy-adjacent standalone novels and character-driven courtroom dramas, a level of procedural authenticity uncommon in the genre. Ellis became one of James Patterson's regular co-authors, working on the Michael Bennett series as well as standalone thrillers including Invisible and Patterson's Billy Harney sequence, contributing his legal expertise and plotting skill to Patterson's high-volume collaborative model. His solo novels frequently pivot on unreliable narration and courtroom twists, reflecting his firsthand familiarity with how trials and investigations actually unfold. Ellis has managed a rare dual career, serving in Illinois's judiciary while continuing to publish commercially successful thrillers, and he remains one of the more distinctive voices among Patterson's co-authors due to his direct legal background.