Is any of these authors any good?

I find John Grisham and James Patterson to be entertaining enough, but their books become extremely formulaic after a while. Stephen King, on the other hand, is a phenomenal writer -- particularly in his older novels and the Dark Tower series. But I have always found him to be most brilliant as a short story writer. I had English professors in college who would even admit that he is among the best short story authors of our time. And the novellas he wrote under the pen name Richard Bachman are great.