New York, New York - Bestselling crime writer James Patterson has announced he is co-authoring a book about the alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson by Luigi Mangione.

Mangione is currently on trial facing allegations that he gunned down Thompson outside the Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan in December 2024.

Now, Patterson has teamed up with investigative journalist Vicky Ward to publish a book recounting his story. It will be published by Little, Brown and Company.

In a statement, Patterson explained that "like millions around the world," he and Ward were "riveted" by the media coverage of the five-day manhunt that preceded the shooting.

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"This is a story about the American Dream Gone Wrong," Patterson said of their upcoming book. "It's also a story of one young man's descent from Ivy League graduate to notorious accused killer to so-called political martyr."

After his arrest, Mangione became something of a cultural phenomenon, as his story spoke to the ills of America's for-profit healthcare system. He has since become something of a celebrity, with some viewing his actions as noble and calling for his release.

Ward said that Mangione's story "touches all of us" as it "goes to the heart of the social, cultural, and political issues dividing the US right now."

"Nothing is more of a reviled black box than the health insurance industry, and it’s time to open it up, through a crime that has caught the attention of the country," Ward added.