Bestselling author Brendan DuBois charged with possession of child sexual abuse material

EXETER, NH — Bestselling author Brendan DuBois was arraigned Thursday on multiple counts of possession of child sexual abuse material after police discovered dozens of “sexually explicit conduct.”

DuBois was arrested Wednesday after police in Exeter, New Hampshire, along with the Internet Crimes Against Children Taskforce, launched a child abuse investigation in the city. The 64-year-old Exeter resident was charged with six counts of possession of child abuse material.

DuBois possessed “at least 35 graphic depictions of children under the age of 18 engaged in various sexual acts,” authorities said.

DuBois is in the Rockingham County Jail. His attorney, Harry Starbranch, did not respond to a request for comment.

DuBois is a New York Times bestselling crime writer who has written 29 novels, according to his website. He co-wrote several of those novels with James Patterson, including “The Summer House” and “Blowback.” Severn River Publishing, which published his latest novel, “Terminal Surf,” and reissued 11 of his other novels, has removed all of his books from its website.

“We are deeply troubled by the serious allegations against Brendan DuBois,” the company said in a statement. “While we respect the legal process, we have decided to immediately cease all promotion and sales of Mr. DuBois’ books. We believe these steps are necessary to uphold our values ​​and maintain the trust of our readers, authors and the publishing community.”