Former U.S. President Bill Clinton and best-selling novelist James Patterson are collaborating on a thriller.
The President is Missing is to come out in June 2018 as an unusual joint release from rival publishers Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Co. In a statement, the publishers called the book “a unique amalgam of intrigue, suspense and behind-the-scenes global drama from the highest corridors of power. It will be informed by details that only a President can know.”
Teaming up with a friend
Knopf has long been Mr. Clinton’s publisher, and Mr. Patterson has been with Little, Brown for decades. The President is Missing will the first work of fiction by Mr. Clinton, whose best-known book is My Life . For Mr. Patterson, it’s the chance to team up with a friend who knows as well as anyone about life in the White House.
“Working with President Clinton has been the highlight of my career, and having access to his firsthand experience has uniquely informed the writing of this novel,” Mr. Patterson said in a statement. “I’m a storyteller, and President Clinton’s insight has allowed us to tell a really interesting one. It’s a rare combination. Readers will be drawn to the suspense, of course, but they’ll also be given an inside look into what it’s like to be President.” Mr. Clinton, in his statement, said, “Working on a book about a sitting President drawing on what I know about the job, life in the White House and the way Washington works has been a lot of fun,” Mr. Clinton said in a statement. “And working with Jim has been terrific. I’ve been a fan of his for a very long time.”
Knopf and Little, Brown declined to offer any more details about the book, including whether it refers to U.S. President Donald Trump, who last year defeated Mr. Clinton’s wife, Hillary Clinton.
Financial terms for the novel, which the authors began working on late in 2016, were not disclosed. Mr. Clinton and Mr. Patterson share the same literary representative, Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who negotiated the deal.
Novels rare
Presidents and ex-Presidents have been turning out books for a long time, but novels are rare.
Jimmy Carter, a prolific author since leaving the White House in 1981, released the historical novel The Hornet’s Nest in 2003.
Penguin Random House, which has published both Mr. Clinton and Mr. Patterson, has U.K., Commonwealth and European rights to the collaboration.
“This unprecedented collaboration with its compelling mix of insider knowledge and edge-of-the-seat suspense is utterly irresistible,” Susan Sandon, divisional managing director at Penguin Random House, said in a statement.
