How can you possibly like (insert author here)?

(note to the mods: I'm not entirely sure this ought to go here, but it seemed like the best fit for it.)

I'm noticing this here and there in the forum at large, and thought I'd open the issue up to comment. Is there an author that seems to get bashed a lot, but whom you enjoy reading anyway? Sort of a "guilty pleasure" author?

(Or perhaps, more accurately a "guilty pleasure when I'm among writers" author. )

I'm going to lead off by confessing I actually like Jonathan Kellerman. I've read all the Alex Delaware novels, and while like any author some were better than others, I found them all to be good, fun reads.

Serious literature, no, but still enjoyable. Which I'm almost afraid to say, bcs I've seen poor Mr Kellerman bashed repeatedly here in the past few days.
And I say *poor* Mr Kellerman in full awareness that's he's done quite well for himself. (I wonder: Do we bash these authors because on some level we're jealous of their success? A form of writing snobbery, based on our idea that we could do it so much better, only we aren't getting the attention.)

So... who is it for you?

Regarding James Patterson:

There was a bit on "This American Life" this past Sunday that involved these two hamsters waiting for their guy to come back and feed them. Amongst the religious overtones and what not, there was a brief aside about Patterson.

Which, coming from hamsters, was hysterical.