I love mysteries, so I’ve read a lot of like James Patterson and Janet Evanovich, and the like, starting from when I was pretty young.

Is Prey the one with the nanobots? I think I read it around middle school as well, along with Congo.

Have you read any James Rollins or Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child? Some of their stuff might be up your alley.

From the original "pulp" era: Sax Rohmer. Love that 1920s pulp fiction. He's horribly racist, but it's enjoyable if you just swap the "heroes" and "villians" in your head as you read. (Fu Manchu is the most evil man in the world because... he wants to free China from British colonial rule? Right. Go Fu Manchu!)

Also, Doc Savage. I like Doc in the same way I like the 60s Batman TV show: I don't particularly like the "heroes", I just enjoy the environment. (In one Doc Savage story I read recently, Doc's plane is described as being so INCREDIBLY high-tech and bleeding edge, that the WHEELS RETRACT WHEN IN FLIGHT. Amazing. WHAT ELSE WILL THE FUTURE BRING!?!?)

I grew up on Lovecraft, but have discovered that what I like most in his work was done better, previously, by Lord Dunsany. (Particularly the Dream Quest stuff.)

I own a few magazines from the end of that era. These are issues #2 & #3 of Fantastic Magazine, 1952:

There's a guy named Steve Perry who made bank writing a bunch of Star Wars and Aliens novels, but he has his own sci fi universe featuring high end space bodyguards called "Matadors".

The Man Who Never Missed
Matadora
The Machiavelli Interface

That's the key trilogy, then there are a dozen more or so other books highlighting individual characters.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Perry_(author)

My go-to author when I want something quick, easy to read, that’s not going to be too taxing is Stephen King. He’s so prolific that I think I’ll always have something new of his to read, and I like revisiting some of his works. Not sure how “pulpy” he is though.

I also enjoy Michael Crichton (like you mentioned), Blake Crouch, and Andy Weir for that same kind of thing.

Lee Child, the Jack Reacher series, so formulaic, so predictable, but just fun easy escapism.

I have fond memories of Sphere from back in the day, though I haven't touched a Crichton book in a few decades now. For a long time, my pulp guilt pleasure was Robert B Parker, but the last few times I've wanted pulp, I've gone for Elizabeth Moon's Paksenarrion books for pulp fantasy specifically. Haven't been so much into non-genre pulp in a bit.

I was also a middle school Crichton fan. I really like Chuck Palahniuk, I see him as pulpish.

I enjoyed Robert Ludlum for a while.