Bill Clinton and James Patterson Are Writing a Novel Together
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Bill Clinton and James Patterson are teaming up to write a thriller.
Publisher Little, Brown and Company tweeted recently that the two are collaborating on a new novel.
Thrilling James Patterson news! @JP_Books @billclinton @AAKnopf https://t.co/aveYvyuW06
— Little, Brown and Co (@littlebrown) May 8, 2017
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Alfred A. Knopf and Little, Brown and Company will jointly publish The President Is Missing in June 2018, according to a statement by both publishers.
In a statement, Clinton said he is a longtime fan of Patterson’s novels. “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,” he added.
“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,” 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.”
This project is unusual in the fact that both publishers, who are usually competitors, are publishing the novel together. Both company’s logos will be displayed on all editions.
The former president and the best-selling author reportedly became friends while playing golf more than ten years ago.
Patterson’s books have sold more than 365 million copies, making him one of the most successful authors in the world. In 2014, he topped the Nielsen Book Scan list of top-selling authors of the decade, ahead of Harry Potter writer J.K. Rowling.
Clinton is also an accomplished author of several non-fiction books, including his 2004 autobiography My Life.
Joe Klein, the political columnist and author of the 1996 novel Primary Colors, a fictionalized account of Clinton’s presidency, isn’t entirely surprised about his collaboration with Patterson.
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“Clinton was always protean and a devoted mystery reader,” Klein wrote in an email.
Primary Colors was later adapted for the screen in 1997 by the late Mike Nichols and starred John Travolta as Jack Stanton, an Arkansas governor turned President of the United States.
The former president’s wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, is apparently getting a roman à clef of her own. Curtis Sittenfeld is set to pen a fictional retelling of Ms. Clinton’s life for Random House.
Sittenfeld is the author of 2008’s American Wife, which is inspired by the life of former First Lady Laura Bush.
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