James Patterson: Great Author or Lazy Editor?

Who here reads books by James Patterson? His books include Maximum Ride, Alex Cross, The Women's Murder Club, and some other teen series I won't mention because they would be a waste of your time if you read them. Anyway, I was surfing the web yesterday, looking at different favorite authors, and  kept seeing references to James Patterson. I did some research and found out that this guy doesn't even write his own books. He just writes out an outline and gets a co-author to actually write the book. When thats done, he just gives it a quick lookover and sends it in. And the writing isn't even that good. I mean for example, one of his books in the Women's Murder Club series, The Ninth Judgement, is just chock full of strange and vague metaphors, short and choppy sentences, and uncharicteristic dialogue. What do You think? is getting someone else to write his books, a cool, new, quick method, or a disgrace and insult to those who actually write their own books?