Today, James Patterson started a reading revolution. Its name is BookShots, a new imprint under Little, Brown and Company. What makes these books so special? Each title will be under 150 pages, competitively priced at less than $5, and will be available in a new compact paperback format (and as ebooks and audiobooks). Patterson will be writing, collaborating on, or personally curating every title. Oh, and there’s already 117 of them ready to go.

According to the world’s best-selling author, “BookShots are designed to help people fit reading into their busy lives. They’re stories that you can devour in an hour or two, and that will keep you engaged throughout. People will want to pick one of these up because they won’t be intimidated by the length, or ever bored by the plot.” Patterson’s aim in launching the imprint is simple: “Nearly a third of Americans have not read a single book in the past year,” he said. “My hope is that BookShots will get people reading now and reading more often.”

The first two BookShots titles were released today. They are Cross Kill, starring Patterson’s popular recurring character Alex Cross, and Zoo 2, the second installment in his Zoo series. I read Cross Kill today, and it was the first time I ever completed a book in a single day. As Patterson stated in a press conference yesterday, “These are thrillers with the fat cut out.” This was apparent to me while reading Cross Kill. It’s purely action and dialogue, with very little descriptive language. Since I tend to dislike too much florid description in books, I enjoyed this minimalist approach. 

The 2016 BookShots publishing schedule includes two to four thriller and romance titles per month. Readers will see expansion into other genres later this year, including nonfiction, with Trump vs. Clinton: In Their Own Words (on sale September 27), a BookShots title tied to the upcoming election.

James Patterson proposed this idea to his publisher last year. Since then he’s written 117 BookShots, and over 50 of them will be released this year…in addition to his already insane release schedule of full-length novels. Needless to say, you’ll never be without a new James Patterson book to read.

Now that I’ve finished Cross Kill, I look forward to reading Zoo 2; and I’ve preordered several of his upcoming BookShots titles. It’ll be interesting to see how this new book format is received by the public and whether or not James Patterson’s reading revolution takes hold.