James Patterson is the world’s bestselling author. He has given us more enduring fictional heroes than any other novelist alive. In “Steal,” he again brings to life Dyland Reinhart, a professor of abnormal psychology at Yale.

Carter von Oehson was now a sophomore at Yale. He is the son of Mathias von Oehson, Yale class of ’86, who ran the world’s most profitable hedge fund. Fortune magazine listed his net worth at more than $24 billion, $100 million of which was earmarked for his beloved alma mater upon Carter’s graduation. “Like it or not, Carter, that’s where you’re goin...