James Patterson Teams Up With Bill Clinton for New Political Thriller

Superstar author James Patterson is bringing an extra layer of realism to his upcoming political thriller. The President Is Missing, set for a June 2018 release, will draw from the personal accounts of former president Bill Clinton’s time in the White House, The New York Times reports.

The collaboration was announced by the book’s co-publishers Knopf and Little Brown on May 5. “Working with President Clinton has been the highlight of my career, and having access to his first-hand experience has uniquely informed the writing of this novel,” Patterson said in a statement. “I’m a story-teller, 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 really like to be president.”

Clinton and Patterson connected through Robert B. Barnett, the Washington D.C.-based attorney who represents both of them. It was Barnett who first came to Clinton with the idea that the two should work together on a novel. The former president, a long-time reader of Patterson’s work, naturally agreed. “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,” Clinton said in a statement. “And working with Jim has been terrific. I’ve been a fan of his for a very long time.”

While Bill Clinton has authored a few books on his own, this marks the ex-commander-in-chief’s first foray into fiction. He couldn’t have picked a better partner to explore the new territory with—throughout his career, James Patterson has sold 350 million copies of his 100-plus titles.

[h/t The New York Times]